The greenhouse is filling up

Though we had a warm day yesterday, it was something of a one-off. The coldest March for whatever number of decades has turned into a cold April. Our mini ice age is taking a long time to turn into a warm spring and the forecast for the week ahead is of continuing cold weather. There is a frost most nights and most mornings I have to break the ice on the pond before letting the ducks onto it.

The result of this is that we cannot plant out our vegetables on the allotment. The frost would kill off most of them. That means the greenhouse is gradually filling with seedlings and onion sets that we would have been planting out by now under normal weather conditions. Over the weekend we have planted up broad beans as well and we are now beginning to run out of space.

We are now planning to get the polytunnel back into operation sooner than originally planned so that we can get more of our onion sets planted out.

We had a sunny and warm day yesterday (Saturday). The bees were out in force. It looks like during the coming week they will be stuck in the hive again. That means we will have to continue feeding them. We have to hope that the warmer weather will arrive in time for the spring blossom (which looks as though it will be delayed because of the cold). If the bees can’t get out to pollinate the blossom however, we will lose much of the honey crop, and the fruit tree crops, for the second year running.

Until 2009 I was working in London, UK, but I gave it up to pursue a life of self-sufficiency. My aim is to grow or forage for all my food, produce my own power and live a healthier and greener lifestyle. I left London to return to my home village of Sunniside, near Newcastle, in the North East of England. I have a couple of plots of land there as well as the garden of my house. Our village is a commuter area for Newcastle but we are surrounded by countryside which we use for picking wild foods. My mission in life is to show that it is possible to live well without destroying the planet in the process. I am also keen to ensure knowledge of historic recipes and cooking is kept alive. I regularly try out recipes from old cookbooks using the food we have grown. I make videos about our progress and about how to cook home-grown foods. These can be viewed on www.youtube.com/jonathanwallace.
www.self-sufficientinsuburbia.blogspot.com