Mother hen Betty and her chick — who is now named Boo — are both doing well. The addition of a chick has caused some accommodation issues, but we quickly resolved those and now we are very close to returning Betty to Boo and the rest of the flock.

Boo has all the attributes of a grown hen, in miniature. The fluffy down has gone and she is looking very cute in her new feathers. Betty is now laying eggs again: almost situation normal.

Making Hay

The sun has been shining, and the heat is now really on. Everything has really grown and I can see how my close planting plan is shaping up. Potatoes are overflowing in the two beds devoted to them; the kale, cabbages and broccoli (brassicas) are jammed in tight.

Lorraine’s Fruity Garden

The two redcurrant bushes are so heavy with ripening fruit that their branches have dropped and on one side hang over the strawberry patch whilst on the other side they are tangled in with the branch of a small espaliered pear tree. I must remember this and prune the bushes back accordingly when I pick the currants to give them a neater more manageable structure. I can see that I will be slaving over a hot stove before too long producing redcurrant jelly – on a massive scale. I haven’t forgotten about the glut of damsons, apples and blackcurrants that will also need attention. One lesson I have most definitely learnt is that I will be using a lot of glass jars; I hope I have saved enough over the last year.

Harvesting Vegetables

I have just lifted the onions and garlic from their bed. The yellow onions did much better than the red... well, they did much better if size is the measure of a good onion. The crop is in wire baskets drying in the greenhouse. I was feeling quite pleased with the amount of onions I had produced, until I referred to a copy of a little book called Make Your Garden Feed You, originally printed in 1940.

The book is a guide to feeding your family from your garden in wartime. The number of onions recommended is 252... this makes my 60 or so seem rather tame. I hadn’t previously thought about how many onions I would normally use in a year, but I now think I will need to grow a few more before the year’s out! I would recommend the book to any of you considering taking an allotment or who have already got the space in your garden to grow on a big scale.

Self-Sufficiency - A No Nonsense Guide

The no-nonsense approach to growing as much as possible from the 90 feet by 60 feet plot is a fascinating read. By highlighting the ground space needed to grow so many onions in one go, thoughts turn to the reasons that you may be growing your own produce. Not all of us are determined to become completely self-sufficient - indeed not many of us have the space or time; don’t let that put you off.

Growing some of your own food can be very rewarding. The produce that has a value in being grown at home is often crops that come with a higher nutritional value or cost more to buy, for example, if you really like Mange Tout or French Beans, then growing them to pick very fresh is a great idea. You will save money & air miles, be able to eat the produce at its very best, and feel good about it.

You Say Tomatoes

When it comes to tomatoes, I have opted for complete self-sufficiency. There are so many plants, that I had to use some of the space created in the empty onions bed with around 20 tomato plants, along with some sprouts and red cabbages. It may seem that my planting scheme is a little haphazard; there is some truth in that. It has always been my intention to create a relaxed, overplanted mixed kitchen garden.

It’s not the sort of thing that you will see in any self-respecting show garden I’m sure. But it works for my style of gardening and I think it suits the style of the plot — cottage meets smallholding. The herb bed is mixed with flowers – tobacco plants and sunflowers have been planted to mix with the Lavender and Rosemary bushes; all of which are loved by the bees. Planting in this mixed way ensures that I find something new almost every time I go into the garden. It is also the way that all of us can grow things in the limited space that we normally have in our urban gardens.

A Year in the Life

Amazingly this is the 12th issue featuring my attempts to take on this smallholding and grow produce. The past year has passed in the blink of an eye, and as I expected, there are so many things that still need to be done. Rather than being daunted by this, I am encouraged.

When I arrived at Damson Cottage I knew how to garden and grow food, but not how to live on a small holding or indeed know what impact that change of lifestyle would bring. I can definitely say that I have faced a number of challenges over the year; some have been very straightforward as in the case of making enough compost. But who could have predicted the coldest winter for many years? That was a distinct challenge.

The Unsung Hero

There are more practical challenges that I wouldn’t have overcome if it wasn’t for my unsung hero Paul: reinforcing the fencing to contain the chickens immediately comes to mind as the first example of his labour! Damson Cottage has certainly been all I had hoped for.

I am committed to showing as many people as possible why growing their own food is a great choice with huge benefits for everyone. I hope you have been encouraged to have a go growing something this year, and if not, there’s always next year!