2017 in Pictures
A look back on our first year as we started out with our smallholding project.
9 Chickens, 0 Eggs?!?!
Latest news from Green Cottage is WE HAVE MORE CHICKENS. It’s very ‘eggciting’. We were lucky to get 6 Maran hens from a friend (Thanks Jane!) who had hatched too many this year. They are still young and haven’t started laying yet but should be good producers once they really get going in spring. They’ve…… Continue reading 9 Chickens, 0 Eggs?!?!
Pest Prevention
Whilst we can do a lot to keep pests off our veggies in the safety of the polytunnel, when it comes to our outdoor crops it gets a bit trickier. As all gardeners know only too well, the damage caused by pests can be devastating, sometimes destroying a whole crop in one fell swoop. So…… Continue reading Pest Prevention
May Madness (Inside)
During the first week of May everything went crazy in the tunnel while we were away for my birthday. We spent the days after we got back trimming leaves, tying up tomatoes, putting in support stakes and generally tidying up so things could grow in optimum conditions. Here’s a run down of everything that happened…… Continue reading May Madness (Inside)
Branching Out
We’ve reached maximum capacity in the poly tunnel and now that the weather has cleared we have started outside planting. This involved a great deal of rotavating the soil and pulling out couch grass, thistles and nettles. We also had to move the courgettes across in order to rotavate and square off our patch. (In…… Continue reading Branching Out
They grow up so fast….
Before we started planting I marked out each section with string as per the planting plan (see blog with pic here) and then labeled each section of the polytunnel with a sign hanging from the support battens so we can easily see at eye level where everything is. We then planted out all our seedlings…… Continue reading They grow up so fast….
Muck in and around
Getting to this stage…. Our lovely little plot was previously just a grassy patch of unused land tucked away on a Norfolk farm. This is wonderful for the nutrient levels in the soil as it has never been intensively farmed and grass doesn’t take much from the soil if simply left alone. After ploughing and…… Continue reading Muck in and around
Tunnel Vision
As you may have seen from our previous posts the construction of the polytunnel has taken a while (due to some terribly wet weather), so when we finally had a dry spell it was all hands on deck! Many thanks to Theo’s parents Hugh and Alison, and to Rodney who we couldn’t have done it without. Getting the…… Continue reading Tunnel Vision
Absolutely Potty!
While we waited for the weather to clear up we decided to give some of our plants a head start inside. What started off as a few chilli and pepper seeds germinating on the kitchen table soon became too many trays of baby plants to fit on the available surfaces. It was time to harden…… Continue reading Absolutely Potty!
Spring into action!
Whilst winter was the time for cleaning out the greenhouse and pouring over seed catalogues to find the tastiest crops, the welcome arrival of spring has seen us step up a gear. Not only did we get our livestock enclosure up and filled with chickens, we started getting ready for the poly-tunnel to go up.…… Continue reading Spring into action!
Green Cottage Vegetables 