Tales from the Oak Cottage

Its the end of May and its nice and warm. The temperature is around 20'C. The kitchen garden has started to grow, slowly but surely :)

 The Potato plants are pushing their way through the layer of hay which is there to contain the moisture and suppress weeds. The Norli Peas have sprouted and the Onions are stretching their pointy leaves towards the sky :) Beetroots and Chard have sprouted too. The Beans are more cautious since they are sensitive to frost (which will not happen until winter arrives). The Turnips, Kale and Broccoli are growing too. Pumpkins and Squash plants are acclimating well to the direct sunlight and are multiplying their leaves. Can't wait to see them start flowering :) The greenhouse Black Cherry Tomatoes have begun producing flowers and so have the Peppers and the Chilli plant. The Green Tea plantlets are doing great so far (all 6 of the seeds have sprouted).

Its time to start hardening the Calendula and Borago which were growing
under the fleece all this time. Today I've exposed them to only 1 hour of
sun light. From now on every day I will increase sun exposure for one hour.
After 5 days they will be fully acclimatized to its strong UV light and can
be re-planted around the garden. 

The Hens are starting to look much better. Their feathers have almost regrown

Kristine holding and petting Betty which is very tame. She loves being held.

They love to sand bathe in the sun. Two of the hens have not yet regrown all their feathers.

We get 3-4 eggs a day which is more than ok I think :)

Our cat Sheba was an indoor cat for several years living with us in our city apartment. Now she is spending lots of time outdoors learning to catch mice, birds and insects :)

The Honey Bees are very busy bringing in lots of nectar and pollen. Spring is the time to increase the bee hive numbers because this is the time when bees are inclined to swarm and are building new Queen Cells to do so. I have already split two hives and will make at least 1-2 more nucs soon. More info on my bee blog http://cheguebeeapiary.blogspot.se/