Metal Detecting Dorset with Leigh Hammered silver again.

The Plants are growing.

Well since my last post the vegetables we have planted have mostly started to grow well, the potatoes and onions are doing particularly nice.

But along with the successes we have failures, the peas and runner beans have failed to show with the exception of a few pea plants, we have therefore purchased some plants to put in that should not fall foul of the pesky pigeons.
My parents had some spare runner bean plants so they will be going in this week to replace the failed runners, both the failures are we think due to wildlife rather than any type of problem with the soil.
the greenhouse is doing fine and I now have more tomato plants to bring on ready for planting out.
The green pepper plant is doing well but the Yellow pepper plant is the same size as when we planted it really so i don't know what this is going to do.

I also now have a cucumber plant.
Elena's little patch is doing very well with the seeds we planted all coming on nicely.
The sticks are there for the sweet peas that have come up so far.

We have been hard at work getting the old Kennels into shape as a chicken coop.

With working pop hole.

Ladder, perch for roosting.

And nesting boxes.
We have yet to get the fencing sorted, we plan to use electric fencing as it means we can move the run easily/
We intend to use the area next to the coop under the tree's for the hens to scratch around and shade them from the sun.

We intend to get the hens the middle of next month.
Our window boxes and hanging baskets are doing well with the petunia's starting to flower.

We should be in for some strawberries soon too.
We will keep updating as the garden continues to grow.
Thanks for looking.
Leigh Ali and Elena (4yrs)

The garden starts to take shape.

Hello all, sorry this update has taken so long, we have been very busy getting the house decorated and the garden tamed.
The weather has prevented us doing alot in the garden up until the last couple of weeks.
In those last two weeks we have been hard at it in the garden, we tried to dig over the rear veg patch but due to the length of time the area has been set-aside (is the best description) and  leigh snapping a fork off trying to dig it over we had to take more drastic action, (see video).

This may seem like being a bit lazy but trust me this really was the only realistic way we could have this plot producing this season.

the power harrowing was done on a thursday (after i removed the sky dish, lean to and half the fence to allow access for the tractor) we planted the plot out on the friday/saturday with 70 onion sets, swede seed, savoy cabbage seed, pumpkin seeds, loads of sunflower seeds, peas, sweet peas, runner beans, three different seed potato varieties, (all main crop) pak choi, carrots, raspberry canes (rescued on freecycle), courgettes and iceburg lettuce seeds.

we also have a small garden for our daughter at the front of the house with the black currant plants and a rhubarb which where transplanted from the back garden before the harrowing was done, they are about 25years old! still going strong which is suprising as they where under a large trampoline for much of that time, amazing. 

We also saved the old green house that was in the bushes and patched it up with some polysheeting we were given, we have two pepper plants and three tomatoes plants in there and more tomato seeds in trays which we will put out when ready.

we also plan to grow some cucumbers in there too but its too early for the plants to be in the garden centre's yet.

i will get some pictures posted soon, we have had to change computers and the pictures are on the old one, so will take some more tomorrow and post them.

We will finish updating later this week (with luck).

Can't belive we planted the seeds two weeks ago and they are nearly all showing already.

thanks for your support your coments are most welcome.

Here are the pictures of the planted plot as promised:

 

please let us know how you are getting on with your plot.

Leigh Alison & Elena (4yrs)

What to do with green tomatoes.

Our first frost has now finished off our tomato plants, i was about to dig them up anyway but was hoping to get the last ones ripened off a bit more before i dug them out.

So i had a lot of green tomatoes to do something with, (2 1/2 kilo's)

The obvious thing to do with them is chutney so i did a bit of hunting around and found a nice simple recipe on the net :http://www.blagger.co.uk/recipes/easy-green-tomato-chutney-recipe/

Nice and simple which allows you to add your own twist which is always a good thing, i have tried chutneys before but the recipe's can be very in depth and i like to make my own choices as far as hotness and spices go.

Washed toms.

Roughly chopped.

Next 6 small onions, regrettably shop bought as we did not have the option of growing much this season, the toms where grown in grow bags. 

 next  the sugar white or brown, some sultanas and ground black pepper, you can also add spices along with the vinegar if you like, i used white wine vinegar and added a little chinese 5 spice. Bring this to the boil and then reduce heat and simmer for about 90 mnutes or until

 the tomatoes brake down and reduce, you need to give it a stir ever so often to stop the chuntey catching due to the high sugar content.

I had to use two pans (well a pan and a wok) as i didnt have a pan big enough to fit all the ingredient's in in one. This gave me to option of making two different variations so i left the spice out of the other one only adding extra ground black pepper.

Whilst the chutney cooks down you can wash and sterilize your jars ready for potting up. (if thats the rite word)?.

Nice stuff too, well we are looking forward to our new home and all the extra space and garden we will have and opportunity's that this will offer.

Feel free to ask any questions on this or any other entries and check back to see how we are progressing.

Next task is the packing.

Oh goody!!!

Leigh

caravan repairs.

Now you know when then say  "if it seems too good to be true it usually is"?? well it's true.
I bought a caravan about a month ago it had everything with it, awning, porta potti, etc.

 
Well i also came with the dreaded DAMP!!!! AAAHHHHH!!! no not the damp!!!
Well it was more of a leak really, anyway suffice to say we couldn't use it as it was and i was not about to scrap it.
I decided to take the boards off of the offending area to have a look, the theory being "it's only a bit of damp and i can replace the board when i have sorted the leak.
OH MY GOD! the entire rear of the right hand wall and half of the rear wall was completely shot and i mean fall apart in your hands stuff.
So i decided it all had to come out, over the course of a few evenings and weekends it was all stripped out and the offending puncture wound located and repaired.
Next it was off  to the local DIY store to source some wood and sticky stuff and £70 later i was ready to start the rebuild.
I had marked out the outlines of the original wood so i set about cutting and fitting the replacements.

this is about half way through the frame work, you can see the marks on the tin where the wood still needed to be fitted.

Now its amazing the things you find out when you go headlong into a repair project like this, for instance, how many of you knew that a caravan is built from the inside out?.
Well i didn't until i was stripping this thing down and found that all the screws holding the thing together where put in from the outside,( the tin was fitted last).
So that was a joy trying to remove rusted screws from the wrong end.
anyway i managed to get it done and it was no mean feat i can tell you, i certainly wouldn't want to do another one in a hurry, but i did enjoy it in a "learning new stuff" kind of way. LOL

Just needs some textured paper and some paint and she is good to go.
Well that part is anyway.
I'm sure there is more but thats another entry.
I look forward to your comments.
Leigh

Tiddly-om-pom Poems: This blog has moved

Tiddly-om-pom Poems: This blog has moved

Chickens.

Well we are going to be keeping chickens in the garden, i have now read more books on keeping chickens than i care to remember and i think i am more confused now than i was before hand.
I do know that we wont be getting ex battery hens as our first hens.
This is only because we do not want to get put off as i know ex battery birds can be in an awful state, and not really for the beginner to get involved in.
We have been looking at housing for the birds, we like the look of some of these new recycled plastic ones,they offer great  protection against mites.

Recycled plastic hen house.

 we will have to see how much money its all going to cost though, i will probably end up getting the saw and nails out.
Any body got any plans for a chicken coup? ones like these are commonly available and not too expensive, but they will requires treating annually with non toxic treatment, and repairs periodically.

i know my wife has got ideas of which type of hens she wants and i know her and our daughter are going to be in charge of them, so i guess that means i just got to build the hen house. ha we will see!.
I have read that we will have to keep vermin under control , i think we will be ok there as we have two Jack russell terriers, and i have an air rifle if it comes to it.

Both our jack russels come from working stock however, Flynn (above) is a fat and happy house dog who has not got a clue when it comes to hunting, all mouth no trousers.

This is Woody, now he is a real hunter.

.

He used to catch the mice that the cat had  let go in the kitchen (like they do) so rat / mouse control will be his job, maybe he will teach Flynn?.

I don't agree with poisons unless there is no other way, the method is indiscriminant and just inhumane in my opinion.

Next to look at will be Fencing for our fine feathered friends run, i'm thinking about electric fencing, good for keeping out the fox, the dogs will help with this too and easy to move about.
Haven't had a chance to check prices yet so i will post these later.