Rain ...that about sums up the last 5-6 weeks. It has been a major hindrance to the garden outside and plans have been delayed.
It was a glorious spring but as common for the UK it seems at least one month in the year is a washout, it was June this year!

The outside veg plot has suffered, to the benefit of the weeds and slugs however some things have done well. The soft fruits have come on in abundance, already harvested lots of raspberries and strawberries and lots of currents, gooseberries, jostaberries and blackberries on the way. Plums have been so-so but the apple have really suffered this year. It's the same across all the UK I understand and it was mainly due to the very strong winds and rain just after the trees came into blossom, breaking up the flowers before they could be pollinated.

the polytunnel has been a great success. see our facebook page for details:
click here to see garden photos

We were worried that the Bees might have left or died in the rainy weather due to lack of food but they appear to have survived so if we do eventually get a good summer we could get a decent yield.

The hens have enjoy the glut of grass clippings and slugs though!

We have taken advantage of the rain by connecting another 1000 litre water tank ...ready for the hot summer and ensuing drought!? ...please?

The spell of high winds blew over a few willow trees which have been turned into next winter's firewood.

Rain and yet more rain doth floweth in yonder merry meadows of the northerly north of Cornwall ...grrr! don't you just know it was a bank holiday weekend. Most plans washed out ..again.

Washout weekend

Been very cold with wind chill but very heavy rain, parts of garden water logged and some willow trees blown over. Not much gardening done except a bit of slug catching.

Been a rainy old week so not too much done but at least the water butts are full again. Still working mostly on the children's play area - I never released a zip wire was so complicated!

April 2012 - general blog

Me - so you can put a face to a blogger

Hello world - this is my first blog! It's for Woodford Organics www.woodfordorganics.co.uk and I'm going to keep a seasonal diary for the organic smallholding. We are based in North Cornwall and today it is raining so I have finally set up a facebook page and this blog page.
I set up Woodford Organics in 2008 with my wife and we have two young children.

Doing a blog? Why - it's good for business (maybe) but mostly I hope I can share ideas and conversation with other like minded people, I've still loads to learn. What to put in the blog? - I'm sure no one wants to be reading about my daily routines so what I'm going to do is a rough seasonal diary about what works and doesn't in this North Cornwall (UK) organic smallholding (which is just fruit, veg, hens and bees) and to highlight some distinct projects which I will grandly term as 'research'. I shall list my findings as the year goes on with conclusions etc and I hope some others will find it interesting enough to a) read and follow and b) contribute with their ideas and results.

So what's happening in April 2012? Seeds have been set and planting has begun. Potatoes and Onions have already been planted outside but the other planning has all been in our polytunnel - Tomatoes, Courgettes, beans, peas, radish, spring onions, early potatoes. The rest of the time has been spent preparing the bedding sites; the most tedious of the jobs. this year I have tried using black out geotextile over the raised beds. It is definitely an improvement on last year with out but still some root based weeds grow (docks in particular). The bees have been busy for about a month now so expect a good honey output this year. the hens have got their new fox proof run finished this winter after having lost a lot to Mr fox, I'm planning a fruit cage extension to their run this spring.