I’ll come back to my anecdotage soon, but keeping up to date with what’s going on for now.
As it’s so hot, I’ve got up early for the last couple of days and done some weeding and so on. I’ve got so much that needs to be done in the garden, as well as looking after the chicks, the regular watering and stuff around the house, yet I’m happily taking time out as much as I can while Wink is here. And while it’s so hot, of course. I am usually awake very early – about 3 am – and nod off for a bit at the time I’m thinking of getting up. If I get up, I’m ready for a nap by 9.30 and have to resist temptation, which always goes against the grain. But I thought that 6 or 7 am is manageable and, if I need a siesta, that’s perfectly reasonable.
My realisation of the day is that I can use the strimmer between the sweetcorn plants, to keep the weeds down. It stops evaporation from the bare earth, too. I have to be very careful not to hit the corn plants, of course, but I am normally careful. Sad to say, I don’t think I’d trust anyone else. Not that I necessarily trust me, but it’s my responsibility and so, if I swipe a plant, I’ll just have to take it on the chin. Anyway, said realisation is a game changer. We all hate weeding and I have plenty of space. So, in the future, rather than planting close together to try to squeeze out weeds, which doesn’t work; if I plant further apart, I can strim in between rows.
We have a huge television that we never watch.The only time I might watch it is when Tim is away and then, more often than not, I catch up with things rather than watch scheduled programmes, which I can do on the computer. So, as Wink doesn’t have internet at present here, we offered our TV to her. Slight problem when we discovered that the aerial cable hadn’t been left -Rose didn’t need one as she only watched online stuff, not on iPlayer or live, so it’s been a long time since one was needed – and I ordered one for tomorrow’s delivery. All the same, Wink can watch a DVD and she vanished with some alacrity after dinner. Since I also lent her the table it sat on, there is now a big space in the room. The first thing to do is to clean the whole room, obviously, because the TV is something that doesn’t get moved very often, then I can move furniture. I love moving furniture, which is something that Tim doesn’t yet much know about me. It used to be that the family would leave home in the morning and hardly recognise the place when they returned, but I’ve mellowed. Or rather, I’ve not got the muscles that I used to have. Though, having moved that immense television, we’ve built up a fair bit of muscle today.
Weeds – while strimming does of course work, for ease I recommend old carpet, old underlay, or failing that, old corrugated cardboard (from eg delivery or supermarket boxes), put between rows of whatever. Or, failing that, just grass clippings, mounded between between rows or plants.
I’ve done that for bigger areas but it’s a faff between rows of spinach. I have put a lot of soaked newspaper, then grass clippings, where I’m growing squash but that’s not altogether a success either. For one thing, it blows away and for another, the chickens scratch it away. This is the reason I’m still contemplating a poly tunnel, though it would have to have exactly the specifications I need. I’m too tired to think about it as yet.
A polytunnel will definitely require an auto-watering system. And the weeds grow at least 4 times as fast. (D)AMHIK.
I still think that electric nettin gis your answer to all your hen problems. Keep them where you want them, and move them as you need to.
There’s a big free range egg place down the road, which is beautifully maintained and where the chickens are kept in their large fields by electric fences. However, I do sometimes see some of the chickens by the side of the main road, so it isn’t perfect. I’d have to rehouse the bantams because they’re right by the veg garden and they’re quite keen fliers in any case. It seems easier to cover over the weeds, really. Using fleece has made an enormous difference, though they do scratch holes in it. If I try to think too much when I’m as tired as I am now, I’ll overreact and either concrete over the veg patch or get rid of the chickens, so better to think when I’m in a mood for better solutions!