Gardening update June 9, 2022

Let me show you around what I have so far.

I can tell you that living self-sufficiently is not easy. Meanwhile, the chickens have arrived and they are not laying eggs! They stopped doing so immediately. Chickens do not always lay eggs and besides, every chicken is born with a certain number of eggs. In warm weather, in cold weather, in stress and when the chicken gets different feathers, no eggs are laid. The chickens get new feathers and it is warm but they seem to be happy with their new and extended accommodation.

So I have eggs although it is not today.

Considering an egg is complete food I am fine. I have enough grass, sand, beasties for the chickens, also clover and they like to eat the elder leaves.

My compost heaps are now also being topped up with chicken manure. To be honest, I think some chickens produce quite a lot of poo. I have never seen egg-sized droppings on my previous hens.

Meanwhile, I have picked some dill. Most of the plants have been eaten by the birds or didn't make it. The ones that did make it are not very tall but will flower soon. Time to pick some.

My mint plants from last year are doing well. They are now bigger than when they were planted in the garden. Then they were overgrown by weeds and hardly grew at all. I am going to pick soon and see if I can take cuttings. You can never have enough mint and it is definitely not going to overgrow here.

The first two tomato plants I bought were saved from death. They are not tall but they have flowers and even small tomatoes. In a bag, they do reasonably well but they do go limp very quickly. I have put them in a more shady spot. Here are also the two tomato plants that I bought later. These two are much taller but there is no tomato or flower to be seen. Disappointing. Actually, I don't want such tall plants. I sowed the Tiny Tim variety. This remains a small plant. They are not big yet and there is no fruit to be seen either.

Most of what I sowed in the ground including the seedlings I replanted once they grew bigger died. This applies to the beets, the corn and the sunflowers.

So far, my only fruit is cherries.

Sour cherries and now I make them every day. Today it is syrup and yesterday I made a filling for cherry flan. This filling is also delicious on ice cream, in cake, yoghurt and so on.

Lettuce.

I have sown it. Two different kinds and planted in different ways. Not every method is suitable but at least now I don't have to buy lettuce anymore. Meanwhile, I have sown some more. I hope it will come up.

Two of the stumps I planted have also sprouted leaves. One is growing strangely upwards. It strikes me that they are not the same kind of lettuce. I plan to pick the leaves we eat and leave the rest. Hopefully, the head will continue to grow. I have moved the plants several times but I think this is the right place.

I have onions and garlic but I have no idea how they are doing. Because the green sprouts can also be eaten I don't buy garlic and onion anymore.

I planted potatoes too.

Fields are laid out on cardboard with soil and mulch on top. I also have them in bags and my very first potato peeling in a bucket. I think it is too hot for a good harvest, but I still hope to get a few potatoes from this year's testing.

I bought two cucumber plants and one is dead by now. This one did not seem to have taken root, after all, that time either, although it did get cucumbers. When a plant dies I am quite sad. It takes a lot of work. The other plant is doing well, but I put it under the walnut tree. Just for a bit more shade because it is impossible to water it. Also, my own cucumber seedlings are now under the tree together with the sown sweet pepper. Whether there will be any peppers is the question. Everything grows rather slowly and summer will be over soon.

The mulberry tree looks dead to me, and so does the almond (both too old?) and the one with (wild) plums has plums as tiny as marbles (not enough rain?).

By the way, the two melon plants are still alive and have flowers and the grape looks fine too. Fingers crossed they will make it and give some fruits before Winter starts.

I use no fertiliser, and no pesticides and my biggest problem at the moment is the soil combined with fast-growing weeds and lack of water. Quite a lot of what I have sown is falling off. In the meantime, I have thrown away all the old seeds that did not come out. So no beans this year. What I have is looking good and has not been eaten by animals. A while ago I did see slugs on their way to the lettuce. I removed a whole clump. After that, I only saw one in the dog bowl. The slug was probably thirsty.

A greenhouse would not be bad to give the seeds a head start.

While writing this I consider myself lucky. The need to buy fruit and vegetables decreased. I will only visit the market to refill my bottles with milk and perhaps I buy a new cucumber plant if a private person has one for sale.

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