Tatranskas Gardening journey

Interesting suggestion on the coop. The problem would be foxes in the area.
I planned on a frame with wire on it.
I was going to dig a trench, put chicken wire across and fill trench with cement to stop them digging up.


I was in touch with the local bee association but heard no more from them.

Some photos

I have something like this for the chickens

https://images.app.goo.gl/miDeSVncAzBdY3RC6

I'm expecting drills to be put in tomorrow depending on the weather.

Lumen wrote: »

Here's an example of the skirt approach, easier than digging trenches!

https://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/No-_Dig_Skirts_for_Chicken_Runs.html

I used PVC coated weldmesh so it's basically invisible, but not sure it makes much difference.

Definitely an easier way of doing it
Ive an area of rough ground which would do. It was too stoney for the harrow to work on.perfect spot for chickens

Been out in the garden all afternoon today planting spuds.
2 earlies,2 lates and I've some kerr pinks to try out as well thanks to a local spud farmer who put in the drills for me
I've Orla, Isle of Jura, Carra and some Kestrel.

He also gave me some potato fertiliser and recommend boron.

Also put down a load of blackcurrant, redcurrants, raspberry, rhubarb and 2 plum trees .
I'll post photos later

Loads more to do. I need to prep the ground for seeds. I got away with digging with the spuds.

Been a busy weekend.
7 drills of potatoes, 14 blackcurrant, 14 redcurrants, 24 raspberries, 2 plum trees. Cabbage, rhubarb,onions,carrots, chives, lettuce and peas.
And of course, 2 tonnes of horse manure.
Lots more to go but getting the ploughed up grass out of the soil is slow.
I'm glad I got the furrows put in. Took a tractor 45 minutes. Would have taken me forever.

Photos to follow later on the week

endacl wrote: »

Paid a trip in to the Dáil with a trailer? Good to see somebody making use of it!

It would be faster for me to drive over to kilgarvan

2 weeks and 4 tons of sh!te later.

It's slow going and plans for a half acre veg plot are being rethought.

I'm planning on giving half over to trees and fruit bushes and keeping the rest for veg.

With enough spuds to feed the nation in the event of another famine I moved on to other stuff.

Peas are coming up as are onions, carrots , and radish.
I've also got sprouts , cabbage and corn .
Not sure what happened the rhubarb I planted, seems to have died back.

I've replanned the greenhouse and decided time was against me. So got a 6*3m polytunnel from vidxl on eBay for 120 euro. It will do for this year.


I prepped another bed this evening for more of something.

It will be a slow job as I need to clear the old grass out as I go.

macraignil wrote: »

Even quarter of an acre vegetable plot is big in my opinion. I can understand scaling yours down as I did something similar a few years ago. Was selling some vegetables to restaurants when I scaled up to planting quarter of an acre. Even though it took little work to grow my main crop Jerusalem artichoke, just digging them up and cleaning them up to sell to a few restaurants took hours and in a similar way I have left it mostly go over to growing some fruit and trees since just working in normal PAYE jobs has proved more productive financially. Cleared just over 30 square metres this year to grow some beetroot and that probably will be more than half of the area I use to grow normal vegetables this year with the amount of free time required to cultivate more.



I hope your project goes well and you get lots of enjoyment out of it. On looking at the photos the ground does look fairly high up so planting a few trees and fruit bushes will probably be good to give some of the vegetables a bit more shelter from strong winds.

Thanks. We are high. Have a 30 foot hedge above the house (was 40 until the Wife got out with the Jigsaw. ...I kid you not)

Garden is below the house and has another hedge around 3 sides so well protected.

Can't do much more with trees till later in the year. Getting another mix off seeds. Planted in my latest bed.
A bit of everything that this year will be the way to go with a lot of the work done for next year.

To update.

Garden proved to big to manage effectively so I need to rethink next year.

Got our first early spuds this week along with kale.

Other veg is growing nicely. We also have a few apples on the bigger trees.

A lot of the fruit bushes I got this year died. Probably too late for bare roots as it was may before they went down.


Chickens are in place but only 1 is laying so far. It may take a few weeks more for the others.

I also got 42 bales of silage and just hope I can sell it

I'm going to halve the garden and resow the grass. I'm also looking to get done more fruit and nut trees.

It was a rush job this year to get it going and hindsight is a great thing.

Last post of the year.
Currently harvesting a load of veg .
Potatoes didnt do great but we have enough till Christmas at least.

Have a freezer full of swede, carrot and greens and kohl rabi with more in the garden for immediate use.
Wife jarred up some beetroots today. There wasn't much planted.

We also have a freezer full of beef thanks to the silage. We did a swap for a heifer and kept half.

I'm waiting on delivery of a lamb which will join the beef.

The chickens are now giving us our 5 a day.
I need to roof the run with perspex sheets to keep out the rain. Ground is getting muddy. It's been a learning curve.

Plan on moving the fruit bushes up to the far end of the veggie plot and considering reducing the area to half. That's still up in the air.
We found a half acre of veg to much to control but will consider using weed control sheets instead next year.

I'm moving the location of the orchard to the back field in case we ever sell the side where the veggie garden is in the future. I don't want to loose my orchard.
I was talking to the local garden center and he's getting this bare root trees in November. Planning on more trees including nuts. I also want to plant the hedgerow with the likes of elder and other edible trees.

Will be a busy few weeks ahead:D
Thanks for reading.