Mad March - The Accidental Smallholder

Posted: Saturday 20 March, 2004

by Dan at 6:51pm in Anything goes 2 comments Comments closed

The inclement weather has kept us out of the garden today, with high, cold winds and torrential rain limiting activity to the greenhouse. The pigs have also taken to shelter, spending most of the day (apart from feeding time of course) in their ark. We've big plans for tomorrow though, weather permitting - the planting of several hundred onion sets, sowing of various herbs in the greenhouse and the blocking on of some tomato and pepper seedlings from 3/4 inch to 2 inch soil blocks.

Unfortunately my seed potatoes are struggling badly in the shed. In previous years they have been chitted in the house, but this year the redecoration of the front hall made me seek an alternative location. I think it's just been too cold at times in the unheated, uninsulated shed, and many of the shoots from the spuds have withered, and other tubers show signs of rot. I'll move them indoors tomorrow in the hope of rescuing some of them, but I'm resigned to buying more seed - very frustrating but I've learned an important lesson - ignore the cosmetic effect of chitting spuds indoors!

This morning I confined myself to the kitchen to prepare some lunch for a couple of (vegetarian) friends who were coming to see the pigs. The New Covent Garden Soup Company books provided the fare - Puy Lentil and Thyme soup, and a fantastic loaf of bread made with yoghurt which required no proving and was so simple to make. It's likely to become a regular!

I did find time this week to take some root cuttings from our most mature comfrey plant, and they have now been planted in the bed beside the permanent veg garden, so we now have 16 or so comfrey plants from which to make liquid feed and to act as a compost activator. We plan to sell the liquid feed and comfrey root cuttings in the future, so further expansion is likely later in the year once I've prepared a suitable site. http://www.comfrey.biz will be put to real use soon!