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Fettlers on the Land: October 2016
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Fettlers on the Land. Monday, 3 October 2016. Marina di Chioggia, Olympus and Pink Fairy. Sdobnaya and Christmas cactus. Other than eating lots of squash, we've also been eating lots of berries. Mainly raspberries, but we've also got our first cranberries this year. And the first flower has appeared on the Goji berries so maybe next year we'll have some of them, too. Both cranberries and Gojis should be wonderful dried, as a raisin alternative. The first Goji berry flower. The new strawberry bed.
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Fettlers on the Land: January 2016
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Fettlers on the Land. Sunday, 10 January 2016. Winter has finally arrived, although thanks to our microclimate we haven't had any snow, unlike the rest of southern Scotland and the Central Belt. The weather has been pretty atrocious but at least no flooding. We managed to see the New Year in with aurora borealis. That just has to be a good omen. We're just about to run out of onions, despite planting about 400 last year, but the rest of the alliums are still plentiful. Other veg are beginning to appear:.
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Fettlers on the Land: March 2016
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Fettlers on the Land. Wednesday, 16 March 2016. The beautiful spring weather has brought out the bumblebees and butterflies. They just love the heather slope and seem to come from miles around to feast on the nectar. So nice to hear their droning again. The only other plants in flower at the moment are gorse and daffodils, but the bumblebees don't seem to be interested in the daffodils at all. Mother and child daffodils. The first of our fancy daffs. A fish box full of neeps. I've been making friends wit...
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Fettlers on the Land: August 2015
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Fettlers on the Land. Friday, 21 August 2015. A few days of summer. The mini chicks are not so mini any more. Inside, we've got a good tomato crop and the lemon cucumbers are doing well. And, finally, the Emir melons are starting to swell. Outside, the fennels have been a big success and there are some squashes that show promise. The courgettes have only just started to produce (very, very late), the carrots are still not really getting going, but we've just had our first bean today. Sunday, 2 August 2015.
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Fettlers on the Land: Colourful times
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Fettlers on the Land. Saturday, 6 August 2016. Cooking is so easy at this time of year. You take some of these (which are replenished daily):. Medley of tomatoes, chillies and lemon cucumbers. Add a few of those:. And maybe some Purple Sun carrots and you're most of the way there. Of the new crops, I've harvested the first Savoy cabbage. The first three achocha hedgehogs have appeared and the quinoa is growing despite getting buffeted by the wind. First of the Savoy cabbages. Early Bird, I think. Herb/fl...
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Fettlers on the Land: July 2016
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Fettlers on the Land. Monday, 25 July 2016. For fruit wine, add sugar to get the right specific gravity (around 1080, hydrometer needed for this), let cool to 22C or thereabouts and add yeast. Then rack into a demi-john with air lock after about a week and leave until it's done its thing. You'll probably have to rack it once more before bottling. Then there are other crops that look very promising this year, particularly raspberries and Jerusalem artichokes. Very tall Jerusalem artichokes. I particularly...
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Fettlers on the Land: June 2015
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Fettlers on the Land. Friday, 26 June 2015. To harvest, you pluck the top two leaves and bud on each shoot every seven to ten days. Eventually, the plants are meant to form a metre-high flat tabletop for easy picking. Used straight, it'll be a green tea. To make black tea requires a bit of processing: rolling the leaves to bring out the oils, then drying and a slight roasting. Looking forward to getting to that stage! It does feel a lot more summery these days, but note the angle of our bean poles:.
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Fettlers on the Land: May 2016
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Fettlers on the Land. Friday, 13 May 2016. We've had a week of summer and now everything's looking stunning. Blossom everywhere, all the leaves out, bluebell carpets in the woods. Looks like we might have some fruit this summer! Other flowers are also appearing. One of Sally's perennial donations - identification, please. These are doing well on the heather slope - again, identification, please. Hello asparagus, welcome back. Spring cabbage with slug defence. Too much Scottish heat? Resting in the sun.
