Elderflower Cordial

Elderflower Cordial
Originally uploaded by Owen Rhys Williams

Very nice it is too!
Got some Wine on the go as well.

Eating from the garden:
First Earlies and main crop potatoes
Cucumbers
Broad Beans
Lettuce
Spinach.

Garden 19/05

Garden 19/05
Originally uploaded by Owen Rhys Williams

P1010199
Originally uploaded by Owen Rhys Williams

Here is it, in all it's glory.
Still need some more stones / chippings to fill in the path but other than that, just about ready for the new season. Broad beans are already in

A New Year, a new start

Last year in the garden was a bit of a washout, for various reasons. Some things went well, broad beans in particular, but I let the garden get away from me for a while and never got round to catching up with it, so this year I'm determined to start afresh.
First thing I've done it split up my veg patch a bit, by putting a path through it. This has cut down on growing space, but it looks a lot better already. Also I think it's going to be a lot more manageable.
And I've decided that the extra patch I created last season isn't the best idea at the moment, so going to turf that (after digging up the turf last year!!!) and grow some fruit trees there. An apple tree defiantly, not decided on the other one though.

So, the patch has been dug over, I've put some good compost into one "plot" ready to plant my broad beans this weekend. Need to collect and dig in some manure to the rest of the plots now.

This year, I'm planning on growing;

Plot 1 - Potatoes (first early), Garlic, Onions
Plot 2 - French Beans, Runner Beans, Broad Beans
Plot 3 - Leeks, Cabbage, Spinach, Sweet corn
Plot 4 - Parsnips, Carrots, Celeriac.
Greenhouse - Tomatoes, Cucumber, Chilli

The French beans are (hopefully) going to grow up and over some hazel arches I'm going to put together to go over one of the paths. Saw it in the National Botanic Gardens in Carmarthen and it looked very good indeed.


We went away on holidays in January and when we were away one of them got killed by a ferret. When I returned the ferret was back in the run, looking to attack the other 2, so I shot it. The remaining 2 are fine now, didn't even stop laying. Don't think much upsets them!
So now we have 2 chickens again and it's the original 2! Don't think I'll bother buying expensive chickens again!

BlackBerry and Apple Wine

Picked about 1kg of Blackberries last night, so have started some Blackberry and Apple wine.
Loads of Blackberries about, so planning on going out again tonight to get some more to make some Jam again, which was lovely last year.

Penny R.I.P.

Penny
Originally uploaded by Owen Rhys Williams

Well, lost our first chicken yesterday.
She wasn't very well Monday night, had no energy at all, just lay there. She was the same Tuesday morning and when I got home from work on Tuesday she was dead.

It was very unexpected, she'd been the healthiest (and fattest) chicken out of the lot of them, always making loads of noise (when we got out of the car coming home from work, you could always hear her shouting for food!) and always giving Molly and peck whenever she could be bothered.

I'm sure she won't be the last chicken we lose unexpectedly, just part of life.

Have had the first of my Broad Beans. They are very nice indeed. Loads more left to eat now and looks like more are growing, so will be eating them for a while.
Potatoes are very nice, good size and very tasty.