It’s week five.
A momentous week.
It’s week five.
A momentous week. Hens arrived. Electric fencing arrived. A Maremma Guardian dog arrived. And a stack of plants.
We’ve also been cat sitting and it feels lovely to engage with a feline again. He’s super fluffy - a rag doll cat. Sable fur and massive blue eyes.
As I write, he leaps from under the bed, catching his claws on my sheets. Millimetres from my leg. Wide eyes peering at me. Pounces on to the bed and begins pounding at the covers with his front paws.
“Making biscuits” as number three would say.
Purring now and looking at me. Big round blue eyes watching me with interest as I write.
This morning I was woken by the dog outside my window. A long mournful howl. She yearns for company. I’m hoping she will bond with the hens. I’m crossing my fingers her instinct kicks in, as a Maremma dog is perhaps one of the most useful and incredible help in protecting hens from predators such as foxes and eagles.
Chicks chirp contentedly within earshot. It is familiar and reassuring. I am grateful to my beautiful friend Kaye who has gifted the seven hens and ten chicks. Along with a box full of succulent plants and Shasta Daisies.
Alongside the chicks I hear the gentle click of the electric poultry fence. 50 metres of electrified poultry wire surrounds the dog and the hens.
Keeping them in and any predators such as dogs and foxes out. (I’m hoping that Ava doesn’t become an internal predator). Playful in nature, it would only take one swipe of those massive paws to spell the end of life for a chick. Fragile and delicate, they are hardy but easily squashed.
My garden continues to take shape. Another bed added, already with a tiny line of broccoli planted this morning.
For the benefit of my new friend Pelin, I have made a video (which you can view here) on the process of no dig gardening.
The principle is as follows:
Lay down thick cardboard where you want your garden to be. The purpose of the cardboard is to stop growth underneath without disturbing the soil.
Cover cardboard with soil/compost. About 10-15cm deep.
Plant directly into soil - seeds or seedlings.
The benefits of this system are many. Not wearing yourself out digging is one of them. Eventually the cardboard breaks down. Any weeds that pop up are easily pulled out. Any vegetables planted are easily harvested (think carrots, parsnips etc).
My main garden predators appear to be slugs and what I think may be a rat. I haven’t seen the rat in action but I have seen some fairly serious biting activity on my sweet potatoes.
As the garden grows, both in size and plants, I’m excited at the prospect of having fruit and vegetables to harvest at some point in the not too distant future.
Aside from the mental health benefits, gardening brings with it an indescribable sense of pride at producing your own food.
From the tiniest tomato to the largest watermelon, each mouthful consumed is such a gift.
Today I transplanted some seedling broccoli and coriander into the newly formed bed.
Nuances of their taste wafted into the air when handled. Because coriander smells so “coriander-y”, even as a tiny seedling.
The garden is a mish-mash. Okra, interplanted with beans, interplanted with garlic, interplanted with onions.
My enthusiasm to grow and plant completely over rules any sense of order or recording.
Empty spots in the garden bed are filled with whatever happens to have sprouted from seed that week.
Seed packet instructions read hastily and vaguely followed. If you’re looking for a commercial growing system, probably best not to follow my lead.
But if, like me, you grow for sheer pleasure, read on… The joy of pushing a seed into soil, covering, watering and watching in wonder as a tiny green frond emerges is like no other.
Don’t be frightened to grow and fail. Keep planting. Keep watching. Enjoying. Relaxing. Being mindful.
And if you’re lucky somewhere along the line, you might even grow something to eat!
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