This photo shows the shoot on the right with two bunches so far, do I cut the second one off and also cut off the head of the shoot. I do know that later on I have to also thin out the bunches, less is more as they say!
Vines to prune
Unfortunately a fox killed our 3 chickens last month, so we have decided not to get any more. These are the first lot of chickens that we have lost to foxes in 5 years, but having to lock them up at night and let them out first thing in the morning was getting a bit of a pain. However, we will miss our own lovely fresh eggs with bright yellow yokes.
We have decided the turn the old chickenrun into another vegetable patch as the soil should be well enriched, I have planted out some cape gooseberries to see how they do outside, also some broccoli and Brussels sprouts and sown some French beans. The end near the lawn I have sown a strip of wild flowers, so we will see if they can compete against the weeds that will eventually come up with them.
The new Veg patch
They say it never rains but it pours and that certainly seems to be the case over the past year. I was diagnosed with Asbestosis last summer, even though I have never knowingly worked with it, but I am sure I had come in contact with it during my working life. This means that every year is even more precious and to be fair I am never happier that pottering about in the poly-tunnel and the garden, so no massive bucket list for me. We also lost or precious springer Bramble the Christmas before last, but our new springer Holly certainly keeps us amused and she is also so well natures like Bramble was.
Last weekend was another bombshell as our Appaloosa Dill had to be put down. She had various problems over the years, I think mainly due to her past hard life with her previous owners. She was such a gently giant and so well natured, we will miss her so much. Anna, our French trotter has been going crazy this past week missing her soul mate. So she has had lots of treats and scratches to show we care and we even gave her a nice grooming and a shower on Sunday as it was so hot.
Anna and Dill