Category Archives: Smallholding

More confused plants

Posted on January 18, 2026 by james

These photos were taken at the start of October. Ripe, ready-to-pick beans on the plants and, err, flowers?

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I think these might be a bit past eating

Posted on January 18, 2026 by james

Not much chance of recovering the potatoes with the shoots intact either. One for the compost heap… I suspect they may need to be kept somewhere colder.

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Flowers for cutting

Posted on January 18, 2026 by james

I’ve played with creating a cutting garden over the last couple of years, but this year I’m definitely committed to it. In part that might mean creating another bed, but that’s probably not a major deal as we have one … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 18th January 2026

Posted on January 18, 2026 by james

Today was onion sowing day. I sowed six module trays of red onions (Carmen) and five module trays of yellow/brown onions (Yellow Rynsburger), four seeds to a cell, so 880 (or thereabouts) in total. We do eat an awful lot … Continue reading →

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Mushrooms are go!

Posted on January 17, 2026 by james

My plug spawn arrived on Thursday, so today I have drilled out the logs I put to one side and hammered in the plugs. I don’t know if it’s just this willow, but once they were hammered in they became … Continue reading →

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A new beekeeping toy

Posted on January 17, 2026 by james

Recently I had the opportunity to buy a second-hand but barely-used electric 20-frame extractor. As it was being offered a fair bit cheaper than the 12-frame model I was contemplating, it seemed like a no-brainer. The only minor issue was … Continue reading →

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Looks like the polycrub works then

Posted on January 17, 2026 by james

I’ve not even got it finished yet (yeah, I know), but some of last year’s peppers are still looking healthy despite multiple frosts, which is certainly not the case in the polytunnel and even the ones in the greenhouses are … Continue reading →

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New toy for the greenhouse

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

It’s a Spider Farmer SF2000 Evo grow light. Hopefully it will help get my peppers off to a better start this year. We shall see. As well as looking at this one I also considered similar products by Mars Hydro … Continue reading →

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How strong is my cider vinegar?

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

Because if you’re going to sell it, you need to know that it’s at least 5% acetic acid. Titration is the way forward and whilst it used to be possible to use a wine titration kit (which is actually intended … Continue reading →

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“Early” Christmas new potatoes

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

I posted recently about my attempts to grow new potatoes for Christmas. Well, sadly, due to my inattention, that didn’t quite go to plan. I failed to move the plants into the greenhouse before the first frost, which killed the … Continue reading →

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