The unveiling of the henhouse

After a few weeks of digging, raking, and re-laying paths, most of my vegetable beds are either planted or ready for planting. I still have a small bed with my purple sprouting broccoli (now sprouting) and a large bed with last year's cabbages going to seed. I need to pull up all but one or two cabbages for seeds and dig over the bed to plant.

Today Franklin and I took a trip to the garden center to pick up some new seeds: peas, radishes, lettuce, swede (also called rutabaga). I hope I have room for everything! I was really tempted by some hazelnut trees; I almost bought one. Then I read the tag that said it wasn't self-fertile, i.e. you have to plant at least two in order to get nuts. Sigh. I couldn't justify spending £40 on trees today. Though I know exactly where I'd plant them...

The henhouse is ready for some chickens: tada! When I spoke to the hen charity, they told me I'd just missed the last collection and the next one isn't till the end of April. I guess we're not in a rush. Franklin really enjoyed helping his dad build the henhouse. In this picture, he's got one screw in his mouth and a box of them at his feet. He loved putting them into pre-drilled holes in the frame; it took a lot of concentration. Partner had a truly inspired idea of using an old drop-leaf table top for the roof; we can lift it up in case we need to get inside. We also bought some moveable fence so we can let the hens range but keep them out of sensitive areas like my seed beds.