From Sun to Rain

This has been an amazing summer so far, I can not remember such a sunny and warm one since I was a kid in the 90's. It's been brilliant! Even when the rain has come its still been warm and the garden has loved it! On the other hand it has made me rather lazy and many garden jobs have been neglected, my excuse as used by many nationwide "It's Too Hot!" has left me procrastinating. 

The big summer project, the greenhouse has seen little forward momentum for several weeks. My heart sinks at the thought of glazing it all on my own, I don't know why it's just not a job I want to do. If I could afford it this is something I would pay someone to do! 

With the weather being so good my veggie patch had started to produce enough that dinner time is almost all home grown. This has to be the best part of the year and fills me with great satisfaction. My new potatoes were a dinner time sensation! 

The rain has now arrived and I am glad of it, it great to not water the garden. 

The Stress of Keeping Animals

So the last couple of days has been ever so stressful as one of my chickens became ill. I have only had them for a few weeks and they have settled in very well and become very used to me already. They come running when I appear, I must spoil them with bread scraps to much! The Chicken that became ill was Speckle, when I let them out of the coop she was very lethargic, and was dribbling profusely. 

At first I thought it was from the heat, its been very very hot here. So I let her be for a while. In the time I left her alone she had become worse, sitting in the couple not moving and doing that eye thing chickens do when there not well. I picked her up and on her chest was lots of mucus that was extremely smelly. Its was a sour  smell and well I knew something was up then. Luckily my neighbour is a veterinary nurse who also volunteers for a rescue centre and so Speckle was whisked next door. 

So it turns out Speckle has Sour Crop which is an infection of the crop. The crop was empty and she was not eating and drinking so we have had to force feed her a wet mash for the last few days to build up her energy levels as well as some probiotics too. We have also given her some medication which seems to have ridden her of the infection for now. That first evening she looked terrible and I was thinking that we might lose her through the night, but by morning she had perked up alot but was not feeding still. As the days have gone by she has improved greatly and today she has been running around and eating for herself. Happy Days.

What got me was the lack of good information online about Sour Crop. I read various forums and pages all with differing accounts on how to treat it etc.  I expected to have to deal with illness with my flock but i was not expecting to have to deal with it so soon

I've Gone Poppy Crazy

Like the title says, I have gone poppy crazy this year, out of shear easiness (or laziness) I sowed a few different types in to my flower beds. One bed in particular I was hoping for a spectacular display, however its not quite turned out the way I had envisioned it in my head.Nonetheless I am happy with the flowers I have had and the amount of variation has been great. Here is a selection of what has flowered...

I am not a lover of pink flowers but I really have loved the pink pom pom blooms, The seed for these came I think in some wild flowers mix so I have no idea what its called the others I have bought. Come autumn I will be saving all the seed I can and creating my own poppy mix. I wont be sowing any poppy seed next year at all and will let nature take its course with what ever seeds falls to the ground.

Enjoying the Weather and New Additions

Another short holiday and a break from writing on here, just not found the time or anything interesting to post about. For the most part I have been enjoying the garden, taking it easy really not trying to do too much all the time which I had been doing. But at this time of year you can take it a bit easier just abit of watering here some weeding there and just watch things grow.

Since I last posted we have some new additions to the family, Chickens. Beaky, Matron, Duchess and Speckle.

I have had therm about a week now and they are settling well, already getting some eggs! They are very much enjoying the sunny weather we are having and escaping on to the onion pact and digging up my onions!