Please let it rain

I hardly dare i say it but we are in need of a few wet days, it's been very dry with just one wet day since the beginning of May and with temperatures in early may reaching 80 degrees plus things have dried out fast and i have had to do quite a bit of watering to keep things moving on. The short Carrots have come through nicely in the past week though the wild neighborhood Rabbit has eaten one or two, plus it takes a short cut through the Onions flattening some as it goes to and fro, still I'll leave it be as it's a bit of a favourite with my next door neighbour who feeds it porridge oats every morning, the Beetroot is also starting to show but as yet not a sign of the Parsnips which were planted at the same time. Last weekend I was even tempted to plant out some Dahlias and Runner Beans and surprise surprise tonight's weather forecast is predicting an overnight frost so its been a case of rushing round covering what might be at risk with a bucket, luckily i have an endless supply of old buckets that come with high energy feed for my farm stock during the winter months. The Broad Beans and Peas are coming along nicely in their pots and will soon be planted out I used to sow them direct but mice seem to bother them and i always had a lot of gaps so now i just start them in pots they were sown the same time as the Runner Beans which have just romped away and needed moving on so as not to give them a check. I decided to try growing some Brussel Sprouts this year and have got them well started and last weekend potted then on , it's been a bit since i had any Brassicas as i had some club root in the past but i have found some hopefully clean ground and splashed a bit of lime around to help so fingers crossed things should be OK.

Today Monday on the farm we have been dehorning and tagging the new born calves it's quite a fight with them as they don't like been handled and even though the are still young they can kick hard and fast and some of their mothers can be quite aggressive and protective of them so you have to have your witt's about you, thankfully it all went well and we should get the rest of them done tomorrow.

On the football front United lost out to Leeds in the promotion play offs which is a pity but it's still been a good season, hopefully they can kick on next year and get automatic promotion.

Starting planting

This weekend i managed to get stuck into some work in the veg plot and manages to get all my Onions /Shallots and Leeks planted it was pretty cold as it was blowing quite a strong easterly but i thought i couldn't hang about any longer when you don't get chance to do anything in the garden for about 3 weeks it's surprising how jobs start to pile up so although conditions were not perfect they should do fine the varieties that i planted are

Onions -Rijnsburger and Red Baron , Shallots -Red Sun, Leeks -Jolant

I all so potted up a dozen Mammoth Onions i like top grow some large onions just for fun, but Judy prefers the smaller types for use in the kitchen witch is the main purpose for growing them i suppose.

The early potatoes that planted mid march in a barrel are coming on well now although they did seem a bit slow to get going i have earthed them up once and lifted them out side so i will just have to keep an eye open for frost and cover them up if i need to and as i had the time i also planted out my main crop of potatoes in to the buckets that i set in to the ground last week they maybe could have been chitted a bit longer but i don't think it will make to

much difference.

A bit of all sorts

Have had a slow weekend, been down with a sod of a cold, by the time i'd done my work on the farm that was enough for me. I have watched a bit of sport on television ie Wales v France there will be no peace from the Welsh now, mind they did look a good side. It could have been a diffrent story if in their match against England, England had not fallen asleep in the second half. On the football side United had a decent draw at Swindon and when you consider both Doncaster and Swansea lost it looks an even better point.

This week work wise we are trying to cram in quite a bit of work so as to be able to have some spare time over the Easter weekend, today Tuesday we marketed our final 40 2007 born lambs and the trade was 144 pence a kilo and i was pleased with that when you consider that when we were under gov controls during foot and mouth we had to take 76 pence a kilo it frightens me to think how much DEFRA incompetence cost us in the August to December period when the vast majority of our lambs (about 600) are marketed and even though the inquiry into it blamed management incompetence and complacency at Pirbright no one seems to being held to account never mind sacked from their cushy well paid jobs personaly i'd jail the useless gits for pollution.

Hopefully by tomorrow night we will have given all the breeding ewes their pre lambing vaccination and multivitamin dose plus a parasitic Fluke and Worm treatment as they should start lambing in ernest from the 2nd April. If all goes well and we catch up with work and the weather is fair i might be able to get some jobs done in the veg plot during the Easter break i do need to get some final digging done and my carrot soil mixed and put in the barrels plus get a couple of mole traps set, what i can't fit in before we start lambing will just have to wait till late April as it just gets to hectic in lambing time .

Bird Nestboxes and all the rest

Just like most of the country we have had some fairly severe winds to contend with, luckily we have avoided too much damage just the odd tree blown over and a couple of wall gaps blown down where they are next to trees that have been rocking in the wind.

Last night (Tuesday) managed to get to see United play Luton we won 2/1 but saying that Luton put up a good show especially in the second half when the wind seemed to play havoc with Uniteds play, as they say decent teams grind out a result and that's what they did. Following on from wins away at Crewe and Nottingham Forest it keeping promotion hopes well on track.

Tonight i planted my first lot of potatoes in a barrel in the greenhouse just to have a few just that bit earlier than the main batch, very seldom do i grow potatoes in open ground i prefer to grow them in barrels as they seem to have a lot cleaner skins and i don't have to bother lifting them in the autumn i just cut the tops of end of August time and lift them as i need them when the weather gets a bit colder and we might get a frost i just pop the barrels in the greenhouse and put some old sacking over them it's a bit like having new potatoes from June to the end of February the main thing to do if growing them this way is make sure you water them a lot and i mean a lot.

The council have started resurfacing the main road this week near to my home and never wanting to miss a bargain i have managed to get about 20 Tonnes of the plannings that were being removed prior to resurfacing to provide some hard standing base it is really good stuff if you can get hold of it because it packs down like the original road surface in about a month but as it is planed and relaid also free draining.

I have spent most of this afternoon putting up some bird nest boxes on the farm we have a couple of small wooded areas and as part of our effort to help the local environment this years plan has been to try and help and encourage more of the local wild bird population. We tend not to use any or very little sprays or fertilizers in habitat rich areas and so are hopeful that they will soon move in, the species that are most likely to take advantage are Chaffinch/Flycatchers/ Robins/Blue Tits etc plus one box for the local Tawny Owls. (see pics)

Just when you think winters slipping quietly by

Just when you think winters slipping quietly by in roars february with howling gales and driving snow, I had to go to Inverness midweek and on the way home their was a trail of wagons flipped over onto their sides, makes me think that having a couple of pains of glass blown out of my greenhouse that I got of lightly, as it's not heated and has only got a couple of well rooted hydrangea cuttings inside it is hardly a crisis, their all so seems a lot of branches lying around that i have been tidying up now the wind has dropped. I took the chance to prune back some clematis that had become a bit stragley i have let them go a bit so as to get established, but decided that this year they needed a good tidying up, and I spread around some farm muck on the plot where the peas and beans will be growing this season. On the farm we have collected up all the scrap that has been accumulating over the years as it seems to be worth a bit, there was full wagon load , it is my plan to level out the ground were it was heaped next to the silo pit and make a site for parking trailers etc out of the way as they have always been parked on the big bale pad and tend to get in the way. Tuesday evening was spent watching United away to Oldham a long way to go to see them lose 2 -0 even the mascot looks fed up, fortunately we bounced back with a win today Sat 2- 1 against Walsall.

Special mention for United youth who won 2-0 against Southend in the F A Youth Cup 5th round, next round we play the Villa. February 14th United 0 Villa 2 pity but their we have it good luck Aston Villa.

January Snowdrops

I know I'm a born optimist but the days seem to be creeping out a bit and what with the snowdrops getting into full bloom it does seem that it,s heading in the right direction for spring even the potentials have started to show signs of life which is a good 3/4 weeks earlier than i would expect it's just to be hoped that we don't get any server frosts that will wreck every thing, one thing that wont take any harm is the Rhubarb which is starting to romp away The Rhubarb varieties are Timperly Early and Stocksbridge Arrow i was considering if i should divide them this year but on looking i think i can safely leave it until next year. I have finished moving the hydrangeas in to their new bed this afternoon, where they were was a bit to shaded under some trees so hopefully with a bit of extra sunshine they will reach their full potential, as they are now on full show next to the main road i certainly hope so or i will get some comments from passing friends. I managed to get my hands on some plastic barrels on Monday for growing my long carrots in, these are getting harder to find nowadays as most large companies have to send them for disposable to registered recyclers but i got lucky and was given 5 that missed the collection, cutting the tops and base out was a bit of a fiddle, but if you want to compete with these showmen then it just has to be done. Hopefully i will get the sand in shortly so as to give it time to settle prior to coring out for planting. Most of my seed has been ordered now although i do buy my Leeks and Onions and other bits and bobs from Robinsons Mammoth Onions in April as i only have a unheated greenhouse and would find it near impossible to start them of early. Down on the farm i spent quite a bit of time re-tagging cattle this is a job that needs to be kept up to date as the penalties if you don't are quite severe the tags only seem to last 2/3 years before they need replacing. We have also started to feed the sheep more generously as the winter goes on and they get nearer to lambing in the spring.

Football Result Cheltenham 1 United 0 Slipped to 3rd in league