November and December were uneventful gardening months. I did precisely nothing that could be described as 'gardening', and indeed it was often too wet to even be outside. Any outside efforts focused on either rebuilding the path across the lawn (a subject for another day) or weatherproofing the chicken run. We still haven't got this right. The lower half has either windows or wood all the way round (except for the door), but until a few weeks ago the upper part was just sturdy mesh, meaning the rain got in and things became rather soggy. We waited until the wind died down a little, and stapled clear plastic over all the sides and the roof. Sadly, this didn't work as well as we'd hoped - the rain pooled and dripped through the tiny staple holes, creating yet more mud, and after a couple of weeks the roof and most of the sides blew off entirely. I'm not sure what the solution is. In reality this is quite an exposed spot for a chicken run, but it does suit in lots of other ways. The chickens themselves are cosy inside of course - they have a little half height roof to shelter under - but it does make cleaning out their house rather a pain. Sometimes I see photos of other people's chicken runs in glossy magazines, and ours never looks like theirs. Ours is made of scraps of metal and wood and plastic, and we fill the run (but not the house) with our own hay as it feels unnecessary to buy in something else when we have a surplus of that. The chickens don't seem to mind though, and are often found sheltering in there even when the door is open and they can go wherever they like. Mostly in the final two months of the year the garden was something I passed through, rather than spent any time in.
My mind is starting to turn towards next season though. I don't want to make any ambitious plans, but I would like to grow something next year. I want to revamp those beds a little too, and move the willow (which I seem to have planted in the only dry spot on our land). But not yet. For the first month or two of this year, I'll focus on rebuilding walls, clearing rubbish, and DIY inside the house. Then we'll see.
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Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
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