My garden as it stands

I decided for my first blog post I would give a few pictures of my garden to have a starting point so the blog can follow it along as it changes. First off is the polytunnel, I decided to clear out all of this years crops today to make room for some winter salad crops. I found a few bits and pieces while clearing out so they are currently forming a chutney on the hob, the greenery went to the hens and compost pile.

The tunnel this morning

The tunnel this evening

I have already cleared our two raised beds of onions and half of the deeper bed of carrots. The parsnips are still there I will probably leave them there for another month or so, until the weather gets a bit colder. We have put in a few lettuce plants after the onions, probably too many to eat but the hens will get the rest. Here is a picture of the three beds. The parsnips are in the far bed as that is the deeper one. 

This year we made use of the additional growing space in what was the pig run last year. It will have pigs again next year, we decided to take a break from pigs for a year but I can't wait to get them back next spring. I have enjoyed the extra space for growing though so we will need to see if we can find extra space for growing veg next year. This year we grew potatoes, runner beans, peas, sweetcorn, brussel sprouts, swedes, broccoli, purple sprouting broccoli and cauliflower in the pig run. So I will really miss the space next year. I might have to build a few more raised beds next year.

The end of the pig run where the potatoes were

The pig run with mostly winter veg left

Beside the pig run we have the hen house and hen run. This is where we keep the laying flock of hens and ducks. We currently have 9 hens and 4 ducks. I have plans to add the breeding birds from the meat flock in here over winter to save the grass in the garden, and to make it easier for feeding.

Hens and ducks from the laying flock

The hen house, freshly cleaned today (kind of why I included the picture)

This was my first year keeping chickens for meat. I got 12 day old La Bresse in May, it turned out to be 7 cockerels and 5 hens. I kept them under heat until they were ready to go outside. I set up a pen with electric poultry netting on the lawn. I moved this around so the grass didn't get too worn anywhere. 3 of the cockerels are now residing in the freezer, so there is now 5 hens and 4 cockerels in the pen. I plan to keep the 5 hens and 2 of the cockerels for breeding next year. I will probably put them in with the laying hens over winter and seperate them in the spring for breeding. Otherwise I think the grass will turn to mud. I might use the electric poultry netting to let them out on some grass when the weather allows.

Some of the La Bresse in their electric netting run

 Today I also took in my harvest of cooking apples. This was mainly because I needed them for the chutney recipe. This was about 1 kg of apples haha. Well I did only plant the trees this spring so I am not too disappointed about that. I planted one bramley apple tree, one gala apple tree, two cox's orange pippin trees, two plum trees (one died), and I also have two pear trees which are in pots at the minute as I haven't cleared the ground for them just yet. There is also a crab apple tree beside the shed.

The Fruit Trees

Well that seems to cover most of the garden, I did say it was crowded! That is about it for today. I will probably be picking some elderberries during the week to make wine. I will probably make a blackberry wine, an elderberry wine and maybe a blend if I have enough fruit. 

Until then.