Curse Of The Urban Fox

I went out this morning to feed and water our chickens. We have 3 egg layers in their own area and 11 meat birds who I moved to their new premises yesterday. Perhaps I should say had 11 meat birds.

I've reared them since they were day olds, much like our egg layers, and although I've no sentimental attachment to them I have spent a lot of time, and money, ensuring their comfort and wellbeing. A fox, or foxes, chewed their way through the base of the coop overnight and this morning 6 were missing, 2 were dead in the coop and 3 were left looking pretty traumatised although apparently unhurt. I thought it was safe for them and fox-proof, shows how wrong you can be - again!

We used to have 4 egg layers but Gloria was taken early one morning by a fox who had pushed through the chicken wire at a weak point and got her. We heard the commotion and managed to get out quickly but by then it was too late for her and the fox had gone.

Live and let live is a fair motto but it is annoying when something happens that overnight produces what is, in effect, a lot of wasted effort. Brassicas that are stripped by various fauna are aggravating enough but somehow when you lose an animal it feels that much more personal.

The 3 survivors are back in the garage where I was 'bringing them on' and they now have plenty of room to mess around in. I need to rethink the outside area and strengthen it accordingly before the meat birds truly see the light of day again. Something for the weekend, sir!

Where Did 2009 Go?????

About a year ago I decided to keep a blog of life at the cutting edge of self-reliance in the suburbs. It lasted almost 2 months and then withered and died on the vine as they say. Spring will soon hopefully have sprung and the urge to get hands dirty again will begin. I'll also have another go at trying to keep a blog too. One kind lady posted a comment which I've just discovered so I'd like to thank her, but really I'm only doing this for myself .

Work on the front garden and allotment also didn't progress as far as I'd hoped, due to a number of factors, but we still ate well from the space I'd cultivated.

Chickens made an appearance in our back garden last year and now we get 3 eggs most days (about 2 too many sometimes). It used to be 4 but my fox-proof enclosure wasn't and unfortunately one of our chickens paid the ultimate price!

So things did happen I just didn't get round to letting anyone who wants to know, know.

Hopefully 2010 will be different!

Next Stop The Great Outdoors

Onions, shallots and garlic. All should have been planted out to overwinter on the allotment but I never quite got round to it... Still they look happy where they are and now occupy the back garden to get a taste of some real weather. Hopefully they'll be making the acquaintance of Mother Earth later this week. I need the space for seedlings that have to be potted on.

The Engine Room

Having an allotment with soil that is far from breaking down to a fine tilth, as described in all good gardening books, I start most crops in modules. These 2 fine mini greenhouses are the engine room of my growing aspirations. Everything gets started in here, or overwintered, and then they are moved out to the back garden where they harden off or until I get round to planting them out.

They're only about 5' tall, with four shelves each, but they hold a surprising amount of seed trays and pots. The first one I bought about 3 years ago is now starting to break down. The plastic covering has an inner mesh work and the small plastic squares are starting to fall out. I've now developed a transitional stage where seeds are germinated in the perfect one, 'exposed' to some of the elements in the older one before moving to the back garden. Simple but effective and it seems to work.

How Not To Chit Potatos

Receive the seed potatos in December by post, in a box. Place box somewhere safe and frost free in the garage. Forget about potatos. 3 months later remember about potatos. Forget safe and frost free location of box. Turn garage upside down to find box. Find box and open it. Place netted and 'chitted' spuds into mini greenhouse as it's now too late in the day to plant them.

True Food On The Doorstep

The bottom pic is the current state of my main bed in the front garden and the top one is of the bed in front of our bay window. Many years ago it used to look quite good but now is just a mess. The planting has been swamped by weeds and self-seeding bullies and the soil is a mass of roots.

I have started cleaning it up and intend to keep a few structural plants but most will be planted with 'edible' crops. Against my neighbours new fence I've planted hedge of Cherry Plums and roses. Currently just some sticks in the ground, but in the years to come the basic ingredients for jellies and liqueurs.

The bay window bed will be mainly herbs and flowers. The seeds are sown, we now wait for the first signs of growth.

The Here And Now

These pics was taken this morning showing the bare bones of my plot in all it's glory. To the right of the bottom pic we have the 'Salad Bar', 3 baths filled with compost which normaly hold vegetables for the creation of wonderful salads. Currently the third bath contains a redcurrant and gooseberry that were given to me and have overwintered there while I dig out a bed for them. This bath is soon to be conveted into a sand pit so my daughter won't get bored after 10 minutes and want to go home. When she's too old for it I'll empty it on my sticky London Clay soil in the forlorn hope that it will do some good. Just behind that are the galvanised water tanks with slabs over the top which currently serve as my dining table and chair.

Comfrey and horseradish front my plot because these beds often get run over as drivers reverse onto them. The arch of rusty metal is meant to be a barrier but it doesn't seem to work!

As I clear an area I tend to create a bed, edging it with some bricks or wood from my pile of 'to-be-recycled' items left by the plot's former owner. Paths are normally slabs overlaid onto landscaping fabric. Bed size is arbitrary, giving a rather haphazard layout. I think the polite design word currently used for my plot is 'eclectic'.

I'm currently still cropping leeks and chard and that's about it. The rhubarb is coming through and the overwintered brassicas are now putting on a growth spurt. Next week, all being well, I'll start planting out my onions and garlic which I started last year in pots. Also my early spuds will get to make contact with mother earth in the very near future too.

The very top pic shows that I've still a lot of digging to do. The top end of the plot is basically 2 or 3 layers of carpet that has bindweed and grass growing through it. Back-breaking to get off but the soil underneath is very easy to work with little deep-rooted perenial weeds to dig out.

As there is a lot of bindweed and a bit of mare's tail on the site I won't use a rotovator for a few years until I get most of it out. I prefer use a fork and some grunt work and get out the roots in one long strand, rather than pick up hundreds of little chopped-up pieces of root. I saw a neighbour make that mistake..........