Garden Landscaping

 With the earth that has been excavated for the garage we've created some banks in the garden to create areas of shelter and some interest. Sally sees them as perfect areas for shrubs and plants while I'm checking out the lines for the mountain bike. I'm really hoping Jake will be on my side when we come to 'discuss' the finer details of how to plant up the area.

There are just a few landscaping items to be done now. We need to clear the topsoil in the field where the track has been dug. Dig for the foundations for the retaining wall next to the campsite and tweak a few little bits next to the house.

A nice bank to carve on the bikes

Perfect shelter for a fire pit

The house is no longer in a hole

Look Dadda a bike ramp, ha ha. x

Everything is under control... honest

 The problem with doing a barn conversion is the number of times that you have to dig in the ground and move things. Well, perhaps i should say that the problem with this barn conversion is the number of times we have had to dig stuff up and rearrange the work that was already done some time ago. Perhaps more thought or more vision would have enabled us to avoid some of the chaos (or is that cost) we have created for ourselves. Anyway, we're keeping builders and diggers busy for the foreseeable future.

A muddle of water, electricity, waste and water harvesting.

Nearly there now

Nice and clean inside

Chooks

Our rescue chickens arrived on April 24th. There were six in total but Honey had a bad bottom so in her best interest we sent her away to join a more experienced home. She got the name Honey as we thought she may have a prolapse so smeared her bottom in honey and kept her in isolation for the night, we didn't just make this up apparently honey is a good cure. My grandmother always swore by a spoonful of honey but i didn't know its medicinal properties extended so far. Anyway, she still wasn't right in the morning so the nice lady from the rescue centre arranged to have her relocated before the other chickens pecked her to death. Apparently they do that kind of thing.

The chickens in boxes in the van

Inside the coup

Yes, you're chickens!

They are laying 3 to 4 eggs per day and the eggs are whoppers. At first, being ex barn hens they didn't want to leave the coup but now they're happily running around and love to peck at bare toes in the morning. We let them out around 8am, give them food and water then check back early afternoon for eggs and tuck them in for the night around dusk. Thankfully our neighbour Louise has very kindly looked after them on the numerous times we've been away.

Little Green Shoots

The raspberry canes and currant bushes are starting to shoot. So far so good. It's nice to see they haven't completely given up after being moved from what seemed like a perfect location to a wet and windy site. We need to net them too although bird damage is the least of our worries, we can always fix that next year depending on how well the plants perform after their move.

Currant bushes

Raspberries

The embers of the hedge cut back this season glow in the evening light but the very next day we're out planting a new hedgerow. I turn 40 this year, while i'm having great fun planting all these trees and putting in the infrastructure for a proper market garden. I sometimes wonder how i'll be feeling about all the maintenance required when i'm about to turn 50. I'll let you know about that one.

Everyone loves a fire in the evening

Jake and Sally planting the new hedge

Red Steel

We're waiting for the steel to arrive so that work can start on the roof. This means stage one and two invoices have been issued with one more stage to go. I hate it when there's building work to be done but the builders aren't here. It's way better to see them buzzing away and getting things done. The steel is scheduled for delivery on Wednesday this week.

When the roof and doors are complete and the builders finally leave it will be up to me to complete the internal carpentry while working alongside the plumber and electrician. I'm looking forward to this, it should be a laugh, hopefully nobody gets hurt in the process.

New Recruit

Our new recruit 'Jake' has been helping us plant a hedgerow down in the field. This will act as a wind break when we move the existing growing area to clear space for the second polytunnel. Having said that the first polytunnel is mostly full of junk from the garage, we do have some salad and a few veg growing in it though.

Jake struggled with the spade work
but was good at securing the guards, age 8 months

We're trying to get compost and manure delivered up to the growing area both of which our soil badly requires. The compost is on its way, it travelled from Michaelstow near Camelford across our neighbours field only to get bogged down and stuck when it got into our field. We're hoping to get manure from our neighbour too.

Hold still Jake this won't hurt a bit.

Mum, I love compost!

Nanny's Birthday

Sorry about my singing and that funny squeaking noise at the end but it was all done under Jake's direction and he's a creative type. Happy Birthday Mum xx

Shiver Me Timbers

 It's starting to look quite big next to the house but the footprint and the finished ridge height is going the same as the old garage. We'll be able to fit in a chest freezer to store fruit and veg and we're thinking of investing in a tumble drier to help with Jake's washable nappies... 

...Reading that back it sounds like Sally's had too much influence on the purpose of the garage and she's clearly lost the plot. It's obvious that we actually need a turbo trainer for my road bike, a climbing wall and somewhere to store some collectable surfboards (not that I have any). Maybe a beer fridge (actually Sally came up with that idea) a darts board, pool table and hell yeah lets have some ping pong too.

The roof space

Our new dividing wall

Looking down towards the doors

Six Million Jubilee Trees

Spring is upon us, its time to reflect on the efforts of kind friends and family who helped us plant our woodland 'Milkwood' late last winter. The trees are doing really well, some are poking out the tops of their guards and we're excited to see how much progress they'll make this year.

At the end of March this year the Jubilee Woodlands Project Patron HRH The Princess Royal planted the 6 millionth Jubilee tree, reaching their ambitious target and helping transform the UK's landscape.

The woodland Trust has passed on a message of thanks to all those involved, 'Thank you – we couldn't have done it without you. Your Jubilee wood is part of 5,000 hectares of new tree cover that will help strengthen our ecosystems and provide a lasting legacy for generations to come'. 

I'd say those words of thanks are every bit as relevant to the people that helped as those that made land available and we would like to thank our lovely volunteers once again. So thanks for your hard work but above all thanks for your company we had a great time.
Here's a video about the overall project: -

Yield

Garage Update

These aren't the most up-to-date pictures as the builders approach Easter but its fairly near the current progress. They're just getting to the finished block height so after Easter they'll soon be starting on the roof.

The view underneath

The view in

The view out

Is that Simba on a mole hill?

Robin da hood

The hedge that will act as a wind-break / screening for the polytunnel and fruit cage is now planted. Its a mix of 8 or so different species (hazel, dogwood, spindle, ash, guelder rose, Hawthorn, Blackthorn and something else). Due to the variety of species it should look more colourful than the hedge planted in the garden last season.

I have also been fixing the polytunnel doors and building a mesh screen to stop the pest that keeps sneaking in to dig up Sally's freshly sown seeds.

While working I was a little startled but pleased to have a visitor join me, his name was Robin. My grandfather on my dads side was always fond of Robins. Probably because he spent a fair bit of time in his garden growing veg. I can see now just how happy these little fellas are to spend time with humans when there are fresh live worms on the ground. The camera used to take these shots was an iPhone, there is no zoom, the Robin is within reaching distance. My sister thinks that when a Robin turns up it must be Grandad Virgin paying us a visit to say hello to see what we're up to. He had no hair on top just like me so my theory is that the only bird he could come back as would be a Bald Eagle which would be really cool if a little scary.

Robin announced his arrival at a polite distance

....and then moved in closer to have his portrait taken.

A Fruity Post

After collecting assorted currant bushes and raspberry canes from Ruben & Nellie we thought long and hard about how best to plant them on our soggy clay, windy site. To help the soil condition an obvious consideration is to construct raised beds but they seem such a lot of work and expense then there are the slugs that they seem to attract.

Fruit 

We settled in the end for raised beds but without a wooden boarder. This still involved a bit of work on my part. I wheelbarrowed one ton of course sand and two tons of compost from the house down to the field to the nearest point where I could load the link box for the tractor and carry it the last part of the journey to the growing area. Unfortunately digging a trench down our track has left it impassable by the tractor (i had to be rescued by a man with a swing shovel the other day). Eventually the track will be sorted out properly but in the mean time despite the extra work we're hoping we now have drier and richer beds for the fruit to grow in.

Sand and compost to condition the soil

The other consideration was the wind, we're working a two part solution for this. The longer term element is the hedge we're planting. This is also part of the condition for our planning approval. The other more immediate defence was to set up some windproof netting.

He can also distinguish a Great Tit by its song!!

All the materials were sourced by Sally, the netting was erected by yours truly along with the marking out of the hedge. My best helper (Hi again Dad) stopped by on a gorgeous day (he carries the weather in his pocket) to help plant the raspberry canes and 30 or so hedging trees. Since then I planted another 60, maybe a few less, so i'm roughly half way to finishing the hedge. The trees are starting to come out in leaf so i need to keep cracking away with this despite popping off for a surf today.

The mercury on the level does not lie i tell you. 

Hedgerow marked out

At least the sheep like my work

The exciting bit...

Andy: You know when you want to do something, you think its a good idea but you're not absolutely sure. Well we had that, but we're feeling the fengshui love after clearing the levels between the house and the new garage. It's really exciting, it's a bit like the feeling you get after filing your cd's in alphabetical order (ask Sally) or tidying your tool box and sorting all your screws from your bolts and hooks from your hinges. Oh yes, i think this is all going to come good, i think we can see light at the end of a newly tidied tunnel.

The new levels between the house and the garage

Hedge Trimming

Andy: Back in August 2012 I mentioned that we received approval for our planning application to build poly tunnels, a shed and track across the top of the field. Well, the work to dismantle our garage and yard has given us huge piles of concrete so that we can start this work. The first job that I need to do to is clear the brambles and cut the hedge back along the access track so that we can get machinery down there.

Mole hills in the distance, almost the height of the house.

We set to last Thursday, thankfully my dad was on hand to help out. I was chopping and he was dragging the hedge into a big pile. I think he had the sharp end of the deal (that's part of a joke) and must have covered a mile or so of ground running back and forth with piles of brambles and hawthorn (and there's the punchline) Umm, sharp, hawthorn, brambles. Should I give up now?

The track to the field

All trimmed and looking tidy

Anyone for a bonfire?

Garage Update

 Andy: The retaining wall at the back of the garage is now complete. I'm guessing that the build will be fairly straight forward from here on in (crosses fingers). We've also laid insulation and poured in the concrete floor.

The retaining wall still drying

100mm of insulation to stop the chill in winter

Concrete, looks good enough to swim in

While all this is going on Sally and I have been either looking after Jake or working in the garden. Current projects include tidying up the parts of the garden that don't have massive mounds of subsoil in them and planning/preparing our fruit growing area.

Sally's meticulous planning

Mature currant bushes kindly donated by Nellie & Reuben

A van full of bushes and canes

Potatoes

 Andy: We left nearly a complete crop of potatoes in the ground in Autumn last year. Our reason was the ground being too wet to dig. Oh how foolish. As if it was ever going to get any drier?! The thing is if we were to dig the crop back then, admittedly in the wet, at least we'd have been rewarded with some lovely edible spuds. Ok i know it's obvious but I didn't really appreciate, or perhaps turned a blind eye to the fact that we'd have to dig up the potatoes at some point regardless. So there I am just the other day digging heavy wet soil to collect lots if stinky soggy potatoes mixed with a few that are still just about edible.

I'm not great at maths but while I was digging I was thinking there must be a mathematical way to determine the level of stupidity involved in planting potatoes and not harvesting them until they are rotten. Key variables would be: -

- Time spent planting
- Time spent harvesting and sorting rotten from good
- Time spent cleaning and again sorting rotten from good
- Time at osteopath sorting bad back
- Money involved from start to finish

- Opportunity cost of dicking about with soggy potatoes rather than doing something more constructive

The answer would be something like: yes we are incredibly stupid, particularly me as i'm the one who does the digging from start to finish.

The problem is that we couldn't just leave the potatoes in the ground, not for the obvious reasons like disease and escapees interfering with next years rotation plan but because an Irish friend (who shall remain nameless but loves potatoes) was due down for a long weekend and it would be just plain rude to leave unwanted potatoes in the ground during her visit. 

Come out come out wherever you are

A stinking waste

A few good ones amongst this lot