Hens and Flowers

Dahlia season is in full swing and the garden is just popping with these beautiful blooms.

At the end of last season, I dug up all my tubers and stored them over winter, I wasn't sure how they'd hold up so I went a little crazy and bought a few more (when I say few it was a fair few.) just incase they all went rotten.

Thankfully they didn't, I think about two rotted away but the rest stayed in good condition, so I have ended up with 21 Dahlia tubers in total.

One didn't make the bloom.

It just didn't end up doing anything and doesn't look like it rotted so I'm not sure what happened with that one.

The main ones that have opened up so far are ones from last year, the new ones are taking a little bit longer to open, but I can see that there on their way.

Café au lait is definitely one of my all-time favourites. I have some other dinner plate varieties this year, so I cannot wait to see what they look like.

Eveline is one of the new tubers for this year and she is just beautiful!

Copper Boy has come back even stronger this year and I've had loads of flower heads already.

The hens are happy to be back out and about, they are still suffering from feather loss and a meanie in the flock but slowly their feathers are re-growing and with the extra vitamin boosts and high protein treats they are getting I am hoping by the end of the summer their full fluffy bottoms will be back!

Another bloom that is doing better this year is my sweet peas!

Last year I think I got one flower head and just a load of leaves. I sowed a fair few back in the autumn and they have done ok, but the ones that have been really successful are the ones I sowed by seed directly into the ground in the spring! They are beautiful and full of sweet scents, every time I pass under the arch I get a great sniff of perfume.

Even though the girls are busy growing back their feathers, we are still getting around 3-4 eggs a day.

Lovely orange yolks and healthy shells, so I know they are feeding well and are happy.

Last year I fell in love with cosmos so I made sure to overdo it with the seeds this year, and get a few varieties and they haven't disappointed.

I have them planted up by my greenhouse and in one of my main Dahlia beds.

I'll be sharing more of the garden flowers, once they are in full bloom.

I'll also be sharing what's growing in the greenhouse in a week or two.

x

 

I'm Back

Life has been crazy and I just haven't had the time to factor in blogging, but I'm hoping I can give it some time now things are settling down and Bea isn't as demanding as she was a couple of months ago.

We've all settled into the new house and the boys are loving their schools and are all doing well.

(though I'm pretty sure I've already said that in my last personal post.)

Noah had a bit of a blip in Easter and we had to deal with that, which took up a lot of time and emotions.

Thankfully we had a lot of help and in September he was ready to start back full-time, and it's like nothing ever happened. I don't really want to go into too much detail about it as I know Noah wouldn't want me sharing it.

Over the summer holidays, we went to stay with my parents, whilst Jon stayed home and fitted our new kitchen.

It was lovely coming home to a brand-new kitchen, the old one was rotten and just didn't work for us.

It was so nice that it gave me the push to spruce up the dining area.

It's now a lot lighter and goes nicely with the kitchen.

Along with doing the house up slowly, the garden also came up trumps and I grew some beautiful dahlias that kept the house in cut flowers right up until this month.

I really can't wait for the next growing season as I really enjoyed it this year.

I have been trying my hand at bread making, and to say it's become a bit of an obsession would be an understatement.

I'm loving it, I try to make a white loaf or tiger loaf a day, as the boys love them, and quite easily eat a whole loaf as soon as it's baked. I've also started my very own sourdough starter and have made a few sourdough loaves. The whole process takes a while but it's definitely worth it.

The chickens are doing well, though now flockdown (avian flu has struck the UK) has started they are getting a little grumpy being stuck in the run, so I am on the look out for handy tips to keep them entertained whilst they are locked up.

The younger three boys have all taken up music lessons at school, and they are all doing really well with them. It's not even an earache listening to them practice.

Oscar even has a solo at the Christmas carol concert next week. 

Bea is a proper little explorer these days and loves being out and about.

We go to a baby group once a week which she loves, she loves helping out with the chickens and bossing the boys about. Her character is really shining through now, she's so funny, and everyone she meets instantly falls in love with her.

She still isn't in her own room yet and would rather co-sleep with me but I know once she is finally ready to sleep in her room she will love it as I'm pretty sure it's the nicest room in the house.

I will be trying to add more posts weekly and get this up and running again and get myself back into the swing of blogging.