Category Archives: Smallholding

My first foray into sloe cordial

Posted on December 23, 2021 by james

I’ve never tried this before, but with about 1kg of sloes left over after I’d made the sloe vodka it seemed worth a try. It’s really quite straightforward to do, too. I used: 1kg sloes 1 litre water juice of … Continue reading →

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The cleanest seed in all the county…

Posted on December 22, 2021 by james

I allowed some of my coriander to run to seed this year. I didn’t want the seed to replant as that particular variety seems to gallop into flower at the slightest sign of sunshine. I was interested in having some … Continue reading →

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Sloe vodka time again

Posted on December 22, 2021 by james

My sloes have been sitting in the freezer for a fair while waiting for me to get around to doing something with them. I finally got to it. After purchasing such a number of bottles of vodka that it’s embarrassing … Continue reading →

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Pressing apple juice, 2021

Posted on December 5, 2021 by james

It seems far longer than three weeks ago that I collected all of the apples from our orchard that could be used for juice, but today I finally managed to get organised to press them. I collected six 20kg feed … Continue reading →

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Well this is quite unexpected

Posted on November 29, 2021 by james

This is a photo of some of this winter’s purple sprouting broccoli plants taken on 26th November. They’re starting to flower! The plants weren’t sown or planted out particularly early. In fact possibly later than the instructions on the packet … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 18th November 2021

Posted on November 22, 2021 by james

Forgot to post this a couple of days ago… As I’ve already written, I’ve been getting ahead on compost for next winter, filling one of the bins with shredded material from some tidying up of the garden. There’s no grass … Continue reading →

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Esther Dean’s Gardening Book: Growing Without Digging

Posted on November 15, 2021 by james

I mentioned this a couple of days ago. No-one appears to have it for sale, but I managed to find a PDF copy online. I’m now pleased I wasn’t able to buy it. The first couple of chapters are interesting, … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 15th November 2021

Posted on November 15, 2021 by james

These are my eight leaf radish plants in the polytunnel Or they would be, if one hadn’t gone missing last night. I found its remains about twelve feet away over the other side of the tunnel with the root mostly … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 14th November 2021

Posted on November 15, 2021 by james

This morning I weeded the greenhouse and polytunnel. There weren’t very many in the greenhouse and what there were in the polytunnel were mostly self-inflicted — germinated seeds from the marigolds I had planted between the tomatoes. Something has been … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 14th November 2021

Posted on November 14, 2021 by james

This morning I weeded the greenhouse and polytunnel. There weren’t very many in the greenhouse and what there were in the polytunnel were mostly self-inflicted — germinated seeds from the marigolds I had planted between the tomatoes. Something has been … Continue reading →

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