Planning for the year ahead…

This time of Winter is when we love to make plans for the coming year.

The first signs of imminent Spring are just on their way: buds are on trees, bulbs are pushing green tips above the ground, and the days are getting lighter and lighter. It’s the perfect time to think about what we want to do in our garden and on our land over the coming seasons. And to reflect back on what has worked well, and what has worked less well, over the past year too…

More animals

Last year was the year we really got going on our land, with the arrival of all our glorious chickens, and the installation of the polytunnel. The chickens have brought us so much joy since we got them (as well as so many eggs!) and feeding them and spending time with them each day has been an absolute highlight.

So we are incredibly excited to be increasing the animal numbers this year, with the addition of two goats and a whole load of ducklings. I have been dreaming of owning goats ever since I can remember, and the dream will become reality in May, when we’re adding two pygmy goats. We’re hoping that they’ll eat some of the thistles and brambles on the land, as well as giving us plenty of manure for the compost pile. But mostly just to bring us lots of cuteness and joy! And there are only a few weeks to wait before we become proud parents to a batch of one day old ducklings. They’ll have to live in the conservatory of our house until they’re bigger, when they’ll join the chickens on our land…

Our chickens have brought huge joy over the past year…

Growing veg

One of the things we’re looking forward to in 2024 is growing loads more veg. Tomatoes are going to be a priority. We were really pleased with how well some of the amazing varieties went last year, and this year have bought even more to try! We’ve got loads of seeds this year from the recently launched heirloom seed company from She Grows Veg. We’d followed her on Instagram for a while and were really excited to see the seed company launch, with unusual and heirloom varieties that you can’t usually find in the country. So we’re looking forward to trying out lots more weird and wonderful vegetables. Some that we’re especially excited about are the ‘Barry’s Crazy Cherry’ tomato (a lemon yellow variety) and ‘Sicilian Violet’ cauliflower (a bright purple cauli…)

We’ve also ordered some heirloom tomato seeds from Baker Creek in America, after having lots of success with the ones we got from there last year. Some of the most exciting looking ones are the amazingly named ‘Brad’s atomic grape’ (a small purple and yellow tomato that looks like a grape) ‘Apricot zebra’ (an orange tomato with zebra stripes) and ‘Black Beauty’ (a large, jet black-skinned variety.) We’ll post an update with our favourites at the end of the growing season!

The polytunnel

The polytunnel has been a real luxury since it was erected in March last year. It’s a treat to have plenty of indoor growing space, and the perfect place to potter on a rainy day. We’ll be using it for all of our tomatoes again this year, which is a crop that really appreciates the extra heat that a covered growing area can provide.