Best wishes to all of our followers and we hope you have been OK during the forced lockdown
and other restrictions?
Getting back to The Stables update it has been a strange few weeks regarding the weather. It has either been too hot to work in or misty and damp. Our first tranche of concrete blocks has been delivered and is sitting in the driveway waiting to be moved up to the fields where they will form the wall around the growing area and the foundations for the hut.
We have moved 50 blocks up to the field to form the walls of the composting area and the first part of the wall has been completed. That only leaves 670 blocks to move now which takes the pressure off (ha, ha).
When the composting area is complete I shall post before, during, and after pics so you can see what was done. The photo below is where the area is going to be sited.
The site of the intended composting area.
The stone wall has been re-pointed and filled in where needed. The wall by the gate to the East field is complete and the other end has been started. This will provide 5 bays measuring 1 metre square fitted with wooden slats between the bays so the compost can be turned into another bay when ready.
The uprights will be constructed using the timbers from the fence posts from the fields, etc, and the roof will use the corrugated panels saved over from the stable block when we renewed the north roof over the workshops. So besides the concrete blocks on either side and some concrete laid to the front, it will use recycled materials already on the land and should, if it goes according to Paul’s plans, look rustic and olde worlde.
The third field will be the flower meadow housing the beehives.
The meadow above will have to wait until next year before that can be put into practice as there is much to do elsewhere. The main jobs from now until early 2021 are to build the wall around the growing area, fit the gates and get the hut built which is a big job on its own being some 18 x 24 feet.
Loraine is producing some great crops from her plantings and we have harvested good crops of Onions, Potatoes, and Tomatoes so far. We are awash with French Beans, Aubergines are just coming into fruition as is the Green Peppers. We have yet to lift the main crop of Potatoes which are looking very good and the Cucumbers have been excellent proving a tasty and prolific crop. Loraine has also harvested the Shallots which, like the Garlic, are drying out in the polytunnel prior to storage, both these crops have been very good.
The Squashes and Pumpkins are doing well and the Courgettes seem to be putting a spurt on at the moment. Although many gardeners have reported that their Blueberries have been somewhat disappointing this year, we had a heavy crop off the three plants we have so far. We have another 12 Blueberry plants ready to plant in a special South facing bed that Paul is going to construct for next year which will house all of our 15 bushes which means Blueberries galore, we hope!
The new Asparagus crowns have settled in well and are producing lots of spears which unfortunately we cannot harvest as they need to be left so they can store the energy to build a good root system this year. Next year, however, we can have a small crop from them to celebrate and we certainly are looking forward to tasting them.
Our new Asparagus beds with three varieties of ten crowns of each.
We have a lot of planting to do also later this year as we have 12 Hazel trees to go in to form a Hazelnut hedge between the orchard and the fruit field. There are also a dozen redcurrants, etc to be planted in the fruit field and of course, we shall have to purchase a new set of Raspberry canes seeing that the ‘Leather jacket’ grubs ate the roots off our first planting of canes. Lots to do, with a myriad of other chores mixed in but all in all very exciting and very rewarding too.