December in the garden

I nearly froze my bum off today. Whatever time I've been able to spend outdoors this year, I have loved - the garden offers a superb variety of colours, shades and species. But today, it was really bitter. I managed to get the whole chicken run painted with "forest green" woodstain - as I was building it, I had no idea actually how big the surface area of the run was! So now the hen-house is built, the run is done except for the wire and the door hang been hung and bolted. So as soon as the wire's been stapled on tomorrow, we're all finished.

I ordered a feeder and drinker today, so hopefully they'll be here before Christmas (fingers crossed, I know it's late in the day...). I also piled the wood shavings into the nesting boxes today as well, so that's that done. The legs of the house and the ladder are also stained now too, so in theory, it should also stand for a while!

I was thinking about all that we've learned, tried and achieved this year in the garden, and I thought I would share a few of our successes with you, as well as some of the lessons we've learned (of which there have been plenty!)


Successes

1. Grew huge crops of lettuce, carrots, onions and nasturtiums, all of them very delicious indeed.

2. Built a composter and have now made about 120L of fabulous-looking compost.

3. Removed two dead or disease-ridden apple trees.

4. Invested in (or otherwise acquired - by honest means :D) a garden shredder, 12 demi-johns, a sewing machine (OK, not for the garden, but helpful to wannabe smallholders) and a wide variety of screws and other bits and bobs.

5. Reduced toilet water wastage by two litres per flush.

6. Reduced household rubbish from a full bin and a bag or two, down to a third of a bin each week (and yes, there are six of us in the house!)

7. Got rid of our TV, video and DVD player (not garden again, but green, so I'm counting it!)

8. Had the cavity walls insulated with rock wool.

9. Built a greenhouse and planted a huge number of plants.

10. Converted a flower bed into a second vegetable patch, and also extended it.


Lessons learned

1. Make sure you get someone to water the veggies while you're away for two weeks in the summer..... we lost sooo much produce to the heat because of this silly mistake!

2. Figure out what to do in case of vegetable patch flooding - we also lost loads this way :(

3. Think about the sun's path when planting things - we had sweetcorn hidden away in a shady corner and it never really grew. Next year, we'll put it in the sunnier of the two beds.

4. Don't try too much all at once. We planted close to a hundred different plants, fruits, vegetables and herbs. Some were successful, some not. Next year, we'll concentrate on producing a bigger harvest of what we like best, and diversify in years to come once everything is established.

5. Produce a year plan in advance, and break it down into what needs to be down each month, then plan into your diary when (every week) you will do it. Veggies thrive on regular weeding, pruning etc rather than energetic bursts every now and then.

6. Most importantly of all though, I've learned that there are no finer carrots in all the world, than my own! Very soon, I'm going to make a carrot cake using my own carrots, my own apple sauce, flour that I have ground from wheat and eggs that my own hens have laid. And it will be the finest cake man have ever put to his lips! I'm getting ravenous just thinking about it!