The Cottage Smallholder

I’ve been storing the paper sacks from our chicken feed to house Danny’s spuds (if they sail through). I mentioned this to him last night. “I’d prefer hessian sacks, ideally.” A couple of years ago I’d found hessian sacks on the Isle of Wight garlic farm site. This morning I drew a blank. There is no Read More »

We were lucky with the church fete this year. It was a warm sunny day and attracted loads of people. Gradually over the years it has evolved from a quiet village fete to an efficiently run machine. As a fund raising enterprise, this has worked. The takings have shot up and the small village church Read More »

I’d cut down the rose bushes to large stumps and wheeled away about ten borrow loads of rose branches and quite a lot of bindweed roots. John Coe cast an eye over the warzone border covered with hefty skeletal stumps. “I can see what you mean. With this and the new potato border you will Read More »

The pleasure that I get from special garden tools and gardenalia is immeasurable. I love my two traditional Sussex garden trugs (giant and baby sized), the set of three cedar seed trays, my paper potter and my new mouseproof Burgon and Ball Seed Packets Tin. Seraphina has given me most of these luxury items. As with Read More »

Last year I decided to work on our main herbaceous border. I planted it when I first came to the cottage many years ago. It is quite a big border, roughly 12 feet deep (4 metres) x 33 feet long (11 metres). It started off as 5 x 33 feet and gradually increased in depth Read More »

I’m determined to set some of my seeds tomorrow. I have a small electric seed propagator, the cheapest one from Homebase. It has no thermostat nor any bells and whistles. Over the past three years, this willing donkey has germinated hundreds of seeds and has become an old friend. Admittedly I am not asking him Read More »

When I arrived at the cottage I bought various essentials from the vendors. These included a gorgeous Mountfield lawn mower. Not a ride on affair but the punchy, self propelled, elbows out Mountfield Emperor. The previous owner had it parked on the lawn at a natty angle. I was seduced in an instant. The water Read More »

I used to think that gardening gloves were a waste of time. I’d pull on sturdy leather gloves for pulling out brambles but generally I liked the feel of mud between the fingers. The problem was removing the mud at the end of a stint in the garden. This took ages and somehow a feint Read More »

A couple of years ago Danny bought a very fancy shed from Freddie, who was selling up to go and live in Cromer, on the Norfolk coast. Freddie had bought the 10′ x 8′ shed as a spacious apartment for his wife’s rabbits. And as the Cromer site wouldn’t accommodate large sheds, the rabbits and Read More »