Back in May I opined about how on top of all things veg we seemed to be this year, warning that it surely couldn’t last.
And that hiccup arrived almost immediately in the form of a prolonged spell of unexpected parental care, now all fine fortunately, but leaving Emma to cope solo on the veg patch.
So the harvest we have enjoyed is all down to her hard work. Here’s a pictorial roundup of some of the action. Continue reading
We are great admirers of ‘no dig’ champion, Charles Dowding, but somehow I don’t think this what he means!
Generally we are more than in favour of anything that reduces the need to wield a spade ourselves. But when we recently cleared a large area of laurel to make way for a future fruit cage, leaving the massive stumps and roots to be removed, I was resigned to a day of hard working with the pickaxe to finish the job. Continue reading
Something quite different to the famous advertising slogan, if you’ve ever watched Blazing Saddles.
And broad beans are of course a long culinary way from a cowboy’s campfire chow. Continue reading
May and June has witnessed a flurry of brewing activities here at The Secret Acre.
While last autumn’s cider has been maturing in the barrel, we have also been pushing our apple aspirations to two extremes. As well as trying our hand at Apple Brandy, we had a second successful go at producing Cider Vinegar.
Continue reading
We don’t know about you, but for us it seems to be a bonanza year for broad beans.
Our over-wintered crop, which in past years has struggled to get past knee height, suddenly shot up during May to waist level monsters.
Our first attempt at a spring compost dressing might have helped, as no doubt has the good spring weather. Continue reading
The strange feeling of ‘veg bed competence’ we had at the start of May has somehow survived through to end of the month.
Surely it can’t last!
The greenhouse seedlings (pictured left) rapidly turned into a veritable garden nursery vision of plug plants demanding to be planted out against the risks of any late frosts. Continue reading
Thanks to the mid-spring Easter sunshine, it almost feels like we are on track with our planting plans this year.
Already Emma’s seeds in the greenhouse are shooting up.
In previous years, last Friday would have seen me out on the veg patch planting our chitted seed potatoes.
The ‘Good Friday Potatoes’. I read it in a book way back and the idea stuck.
Apparently, Easter potato planting is a very English thing. The Irish prefer to use St Patricks day. Continue reading
Although it feels like we are well into spring now, it was only this time last month that our local swales were heralding spring’s arrival with the first sighting of frog’s spawn.
Apparently the clumps of spawn (eggs) can be laid in ponds anytime from January onwards in the south-west England, but we’ve never seen it that early here at The Secret Acre. Continue reading
Pretty much all the stock fencing since we moved to The Secret Acre is in need of repair. We just about got away with putting off replacing the worst section in the paddock last winter.
This March we could put off taking action no longer. Continue reading
The Secret Acre 