May 2015

It has been a pretty cold Spring, so things have got to a slow start.  Many of the seeds we planted have germinated but have grown very slowly as it has been cool in the poly-tunnel.  This is Mizuna.

Peas growing inside old toilet roll tubes.

Our first blossom in the orchard - there is a lot more blossom this year, the trees are a bit bigger, and we were forced to move and plant the trees while they were flowering last year, which was not really the best time to do this.

Sweet peas planted in the willow arch, last year they were lovely and provided a fantastic perfume for those who chose to sit underneath the dome on the bench.

Our willow dome has lots of new shoots.

One of our aims for this year was to try to raise some of our own chicks. We bought a second hand coop and the students, under the supervision of the Technology teacher, put it together - we were really pleased with the result.

It was just in time, as one of our Columbine hens went broody and sat on a nest of nine eggs.  We carefully moved her from the hen house, which required two staff and three students, one nesting box and a towel covering the front so that it was dark, the idea was that the hen would be nice and calm.  The broody hen was rather ferocious and did not like being moved in the slightest, but together we managed to move her and her eggs into her new home.

Our first asparagus time was spotted pushing up through the soil.

The ducks are also trying to nest, but have not quite got the hang of actually sitting on the nest.

One week later and the broody hen is still sitting tight on her next.

Early lettuce coming through in the scholarship garden.

The ducks enjoying a swim in some brief spring sunshine.

Out grapevine inside the poly-tunnel has come back to life.

All the peas seem to be doing well, but its still too cold to plant them out yet.

Squash, pumpkins or courgettes?

Our flower bed in front of the EPICC building has been lovely this year, loads of different spring flowers in a variety of clashing colours.

Narcissus

Some lovely double tulips

Our fruit trees have started to put out some little leaves.

Salad crops in the Scholarship garden and some peas

More salad, kale and borage

Our first baby chick hatches.  We were delighted when we discovered that there had been a hatch, the mother hen diligently sat on her nest for three weeks and hatched a total of seven of the nine eggs.  Its apparently rare for a hen to hatch all of her eggs, so we were really pleased with seven.

She kept them inside for a couple of days, we fed and put water in the coop and she viciously defended anyone who put their hand in to change water or give her foot.  We ended up having to wear a pair of wood stove gauntlet to protect our arms from her beak.

Strawberries flowering under the trees in the orchard.

A bit of apple blossom

 We have a variety of different chicks as the hen was sat on a mixed nest, some of her own eggs, an egg from a white leghorn, and a few from the rest of our flock. It was interesting to see the colours of the different colours and markings of the chicks and guess which hen they came from.

 

After a few days the hen braved the outside world with her brood - here she is having a well earned dust bath.  The chicks were fed a diet of chick crumb, which we sometimes mixed with water to make a sort of porridge, which they all seemed the enjoy.  We also found out that the hen and chicks loved dandelion leaves.  To start with we cut them into small pieces with a pair of scissors, to make a "salad" for the chicks.

We decided to put more of our eggs inside an incubator a member of staff kindly has let us use.  If we manage to hatch some chicks this way they will be going to The Tim Lamb centre at The Rising Sun Country Park for the young people to care for.