Category Archives: Chickens

Make your hens at home in the garden

Owning a flock of hens doesn’t have to mean bare lawns and patchy plants.  Your chicken coop can be an eye-catching feature, or blend into the background – and you don’t have to sacrifice your lawn for your feathered friends either.  Let’s have a look at how to keep chickens in the garden without compromisingContinue reading “Make your hens at home in the garden”

The highs and lows of henkeeping

Keeping hens in your back garden is a glimpse into the good life, a step, albeit small, towards self-sufficiency. They might only provide your lunch and some ingredients for your next cake, but owning chickens allows one a slightly superior air in conversation. “Oh I never buy eggs any more, our girls provide them forContinue reading “The highs and lows of henkeeping”

Time to plan…

It’s winter, but it’s not cold. Little green shoots are appearing – but they’re too early. Hellebores are emerging, the witch hazel is blooming and we even have a couple of snowdrops almost fully out in the front garden.  It’s SpringWinter – not cold enough to be properly winter but not light enough to beContinue reading “Time to plan…”

Chickening out

I’m a bit feather-brained at the moment. We have three chickens – Minnie, Polly and Iona – they’re our first little flock and we’re extremely fond of them.  I have previously documented their arrival here and since we got them they seem to be quite happy in our back garden.  They’ve recently started laying againContinue reading “Chickening out”

Catching up…

Well it seems it’s been a busy couple of weeks since I last wrote a post.  Thankfully, part of the reason for that has been some lovely weather – when the sun’s shining I’m not inclined to stay in the house and stare at a computer screen, I want to get outside and garden! SomeContinue reading “Catching up…”

Lobelia learning curve

I sowed lobelia last year, directly into the raised bed I used to grow cut flowers* and they did quite well, but flowered fairly late in the season and are not really great for cutting, they’re better for baskets or pots.  So this year I sowed early under cover, with the aim of using theContinue reading “Lobelia learning curve”

Project Hen is moving forward…!

We have a coop! An Eglu Go to be precise, and I am so excited. My head is full of hens at the moment, as I’m working out where to put them, when to feed them, how to make this work for our family life. My girls are also excited about the prospect of someContinue reading “Project Hen is moving forward…!”

Not a gardening post

This weekend was unfortunately spent not gardening, so this is a ‘not gardening’ blog post.  I was Not Gardening for various reasons: The weather was poor, which was actually a good thing because… I had to paint my study, and keep getting distracted by the good weather and the garden when really I need toContinue reading “Not a gardening post”

A whole day in the garden

A WHOLE DAY.  This almost never happens, thanks to a combination of family responsibilities, weather, a job and various other demands which crop up on a daily or weekly basis.  But I have a very rare week off work, promised since last year, and it’s allowed me the luxury of time to write, garden, walkContinue reading “A whole day in the garden”