Welcome to the ladies

Well...I have been pretty quiet blog-wise but busy elsewhere. I celebrated my 26th birthday a week ago (and so now over the half-way mark to 50 as my family lovingly pointed out.)

I had a fantastic time with the most wonderful fantastic Mr Butternut giving me the present of my dreams...an Eglu chicken house! It is a beautiful thing and is now being happily occupied with two new additions to our family - a partridge brown hen called Mrs Cecilia Cluckerson (or CeCe for short), and a Maran called Mrs Weasley. CeCe has already established herself as the boss I think. They don't do very much but I could watch them entranced for hours... I will post a photo as soon as I can.

Garden wise, we are drowning in cucumbers and the herbs are all looking lovely. Tomotoes have been disapointing so far - they may have blight as the greenhouse has been quite wet and there is some mould appearing. However, they are much bigger than last year so I will try again next year. I think I would space them out a bit more though and maybe try some outdoor varieties.

We have started munching on some of the most delicious carrots I have ever tasted, it's so tempting to pull them up when they're tiny but I must be patient and let the rest grow a bit bigger. I've been busy too sowing winter salads, cauliflowers and cabbage. It looks too like I've successfully created four blackcurrant bushes from tiny cuttings I took from a wild bush.

I've been constantly amazed at some of the veg that has done well in my heavy, wet, clay soil. Carrots are supposed to be a no-no in this kind of environment but they've been fantastic. I just wish I'd grown more rather than the measly two rows I thought I'd try as an experiment. The beetroot on the other hand has been extremely slow, as have the pumpkins, while other squashes are doing well.

It doesn't feel like a year since my 25th birthday when I was given my greenhouse (isn't Mr Butternut good to me?) and started on my garden adventures...