Category Archives: Smallholding

No dig diary, 17th June 2026

Posted on June 17, 2026 by james

Surprise, surprise, more weeding today. I finished uncovering the beetroot and sugar snap peas and weeded around them as well as doing a bit of path. The yellow beetroot aren’t doing quite as well as the red, but I think … Continue reading →

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First step of lawnmower cutting deck repair

Posted on June 17, 2026 by james

I managed to remove the broken bracket this morning. There wasn’t an awful lot of room to play with and I added a few more scrapes to my forearms. This is it. Now I need to work out how to … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 16th June 2026

Posted on June 16, 2026 by james

Seems like I’ve not done much in the veg plot for days 😀 Well, yesterday was bee inspector day. Then Sunday was doing some prep for that and organising what needed organising for my daughter to mow the grass. Saturday? … Continue reading →

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The lawnmower wants to die

Posted on June 15, 2026 by james

After replacing the steering linkage that snapped just a few weeks back, yesterday the ride-on mower failed again. This time, the lifting bracket for the cutting deck has sheared off. It’s not easy to get a photo of whilst it’s … Continue reading →

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The bee inspector cometh

Posted on June 15, 2026 by james

After multiple retries due to the weather and medical issues, our bee inspector arrived today to check over my hives for signs of EFB. She had to do all the heavy lifting unfortunately. By the end I was struggling just … Continue reading →

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Baby grapes!

Posted on June 15, 2026 by james

I dropped by to check on the vines at the weekend. Hopefully this means we’ll get a harvest of some sort. It does look like a few vines didn’t survive Winter, but overall things aren’t so bad and there are … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 12th June 2026

Posted on June 15, 2026 by james

Finally got the next compost bay empty today. Just as well, because there’s very little space left in the current one. I also used some of the water pipe hoops that I cut a couple of days ago so I … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 11th June 2026

Posted on June 11, 2026 by james

Another showery day meant that working outdoors wasn’t likely to be fun for long, so I did some watering and planted some peppers and tomatoes in the polycrub. Since I had my “pepper head” on, I then found some four … Continue reading →

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What’s the collective noun for ladybirds?

Posted on June 11, 2026 by james

Shedload? After yesterday’s surprise I was even more stunned today when I visited the compost heap. At one point I counted fourteen native ladybirds mooching about around the vegetation. Some are visible in this photo, but yet again others were … Continue reading →

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So many native ladybirds!

Posted on June 10, 2026 by james

For ten years or more we’ve been “overrun” by Harlequin ladybirds and sighting a native variety has become quite uncommon. For some reason however, this year things have all changed. I don’t think I’ve actually seen a Harlequin at all … Continue reading →

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