Crazy Weather and a Little Visitor.
Last week we went from a scorching day being wiped out by high winds which brought us nearly three days of storms. Temperatures plummeted bringing hail and some powerful gusts. Our first sign of it was a gust that hit the roof of the house like any earthquake rolling over us! It took us by surprise, but luckily no damage was done.
As things were winding down on the last day of the storm, one of those gusts must have caught the hen house lid and flipped it up so hard, it wedged it firmly under the run roof. I discovered it when I noticed three of the araucanas had used the opportunity to get into the other run. The lid is pretty heavy and not easily lifted so I marvel at how strong that gust must have been to not only wedge it that well, but to somehow get underneath and lift it from flat!
Surveying the garden after the storms many of the taller plants were on their sides and a quail hadn't survived the final ravages. The only damage to the house was cover to the telecommunications box which had been blown off and broken. Everything considered, things coped quite well. Red and her chicks had to stay in their cruiser for the duration as I didn't want to risk mum or the babies in the hail. The rest of the chickens dived for cover whenever they felt the need.
The sunflowers have now been staked back upright. I tried to stand the sweetcorn back upright a bit by paddling the soil back down around the roots, with marginal success. The apricot tree is not looking healthy at all. There was a issue appearing on one branch before the hot day and storm, but the sudden temperature changes don't seem to have helped. The hot day frazzled the new tips of growth and a lot of the leaves were dropped in the storm. Many of the unripe apricots ended up on the ground and many of those left have stopped growing and are just ripening instead. The tree is old anyway and I think the winter drought and now these extremes are taking its toll. I may try taking out some of the branches that seem worst affected and see if we can keep it going a little longer.
Sunday I was treated to a day of being let loose in the garden as a birthday gift. I had no duties to come back in to cook meals for the family and got fed instead. In the quail run I finally sorted out the pepino plants that had died off from a scale infestation and I'll see if there's any saving the last green bit of one of them.
We have a small section of pathway under where the washing line sits and it's been woodchip lined until this winter. It wasn't working though, because in wet weather the woodchips got stuck to your shoes and spread everywhere and it needed constant weeding to keep neat. It would also have been ready for a top up. So I removed as much of the remaining woodchip as I could and left the winter grass and weeds to grow. The rabbits kept it trim for me and in return they got fed, which is a win all around in my eyes.
Now it's nearly summer the winter grasses have all died off and it's looking rough with little rabbit food growing, so I've started transplanting the couch grass which is taking over one of the garden beds. This is a grass that grows in summer, but sits mostly dormant in winter. It's also a tough grass that copes surprisingly well with heat and little water. I know, the little bits I've planted so far look pathetic, but once it takes it will spread. I’ll try to keep adding to it as well.
The planters I harvested the garlic from need a top up of compost and manure and they'll be ready for something new to go in. I haven't decided what yet. Perhaps more carrots, or maybe I'll move the volunteer pumpkins into one and let them climb the run...or perhaps not, because they might escape me and I'm not sure I can rescue pumpkins from the wire roof. Maybe beans would be a better choice.
Last Friday our young rabbit, Snow, finally found a loving new home. Her new family are so happy to have her and she settled in quickly with all the love she got. It has eased my workload considerably, because we'd never really planned on having any extra, but I wasn't going to let her go to a home where she wouldn't be cared about.
The last new bit of news is a blackbird nest just outside the back door in one of the little wall planters again. They've made a nice mess in their building process, but that's blackbirds for you. I was very surprised they continued to build and nest, despite us coming in and out past them numerous times a day. We even had a meal out there right next to the nest.
little blackbird tail
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Those planters are so pretty! Do they have a base or open for deep roots? We are also having bizarre weather here. A couple days of jerseys and duvets followed by fans and dips in the water! Wierd. I like your sign on the apricot tree @minismallholding. Is the apricot tree enclosed? I've just posted about how our apricots have been devoured by the birds. I wish there was some way of putting all our trees under cover as we enjoy very little of the fruit
The planters are open at the bottom. I once grew a parsnip in one and the root went down past the planter bottom! I've refilled one of them twice now, putting cardboard at the bottom, but I keep getting couch grass coming through, which is frustrating. It's very persistent as that's a lot of soil to get through!
The apricot is fully enclosed in one of the chicken runs. I used to net it before they were built, but some of the birds would still sneak in! Last year rats got them all. There's always something, isn't there!