The vegetable patch is usually a very sunny and protected place to be, but our windbreak of sitka spruce has grown a little too enthusiastically in the past two years. Even on a sunny day like today the vegetable are shaded for almost two-thirds of the day. It will be worse come autumn and winter.

The shadows are now so long as to leave all the vegetable beds in shadow from around 4pm. I’ll have to pollard the trees this weekend, provided the wind drops and it doesn’t rain. As they’re spruce trees, it’s quite an interesting experience climbing them—their needle-like foliage gets in everywhere and it’s often difficult hauling equipment up on a rope thanks to the thick profusion of branches. Oh well, it’s always good to find more jobs to add to my list.

The sun is shining, the temperature is in the mid-20s and our Berkshire pigs need to cool off. Yes, it’s another job for Two-Legs. Once or twice a day I go out with the buckets and a watering can to replenish the wallows and give the pigs a shower. Delilah, who’s out with a litter, is fortunate to have a wallow to herself.

Daphne and Daisy have to share one, which means Daisy gets the mud and Daphne gets to squeal about the unfairness of it. Well, at least until I go out and refresh the mud to make space for two. Daphne doesn’t like showers—she snorts angrily and hides in her house—but all the other pigs love being showered with a watering can.

Gus enjoyed a roll in his wallow, rubbed himself vigorously on his favorite scratching boulder and collapsed in a heap beside the gate to his field. He was having a tough day.

Related articles

• Pig butchering class at The Meat Hook (saffronandhoney.com)
• Feeding the Pigs (chismheritagefarm.wordpress.com)
• Raising Rare Breed Pigs (asmallholding.blogspot.com)

Other Half packed off to work. Boys dressed and pushed out the door for school.

Pigs and chickens fed and watered. Wallows filled.

Out mowing at 8.10am.

Shifted to working on the drystone dyke after an hour.

Back mowing at 11am.

Started walking the 2.5 miles to the village at 11.10am to collected our oldest boy from school. He was sick—actually heat exhaustion from being in a closed up classroom.

Walked back home again. More slowly as I was helping a sick boy (who picked up thanks to fluids and a cooling breeze), carrying two rucksacks (his with his books and mine with shopping) and leading the dog.

Quick lunch.

Back working on the drystone dyke.

Wallows topped up.

Fencing.

Digging in the vegetable patch.

Sowing vegetable seeds. (Easiest part of the day.)

Very quick dinner of diced roast pork, onions, braised cabbage, boiled potatoes and caraway seeds. (All in one pot.)

Back outside at 7.38pm to do more work on the dyke.

Fencing.

Finally headed inside at 9.44pm, only to remember the chickens needed to be closed up.

Finished at 10pm.

A long day on the croft.

We’ve had another long, sunny day that’s seen me out catching up on many jobs. When the boys arrived home from school, they were roped in too with the Wee ‘Un put to work in the vegetable patch. He hoed several beds, then watered all of them.

On the upside, the Wee ‘Un found the first broad bean shoots were through. We had to re-sow the broad beans after mice or pigeons took all the seed, so it was good to see the shoots coming through quite quickly.

On the downside, we lost most of the cabbage seedlings to sun scorch. Last week, we were losing them to hail, frost and strong winds; this weeks we’re losing them to sun and heat. Fortunately, we still have another two hundred or so seedlings to go out but it’s still irritating to lose 40.

Related articles

• Jobs for May (thegardensmallholder.wordpress.com)
• Waiting to be planted out (stoneheadcroft.com)
• The Smallholding: May 2012 (southfarming.co.uk)

With the weather finally starting to warm up and the sun breaking through, the Other Half and I have started planting out. Normally, we’d sow the seeds of early germinating, cool climate plants, such as lettuce and some brassicae, in late March or early April. At the same time, we’d sow the seeds of less hardy plants under glass for planting out in late April. Not this year.

The long, cool and wet spring has prevented the ground warming sufficiently for germination, while the soil has remained waterlogged and unworkable most days. We tried sowing some lettuce and cabbage seeds outside, but they failed to germinate with most rotting. To make up for the slow start to the season, we had to sow lettuce, spinach, cabbage, kale, broccoli and cauliflower under glass. They took up space intended for peas and beans but needs must.

The seedlings were large enough to be pricked out a week ago, but on each of the three days I took the trays out it started to hail within minutes of my starting the job. This time around, the weather remaining clear and sunny so the OH and I were able to make a good start on the job. We covered the rows of seedlings with fleece just in case the hail, sleet and snow return.

Even with practice it takes some time to plant out hundreds of seedlings. There are 55 cabbage seedlings to a bed, with three beds dedicated to them. There are a further three beds for other brassicae (kale, cauliflower, broccoli, swedes etc). There are six beds for salad vegetables and they have a higher density than the brassiere. Then, if the sun continues for a couple more days and warms the soil sufficiently for germination, there will be the carrots, beets and chard to go in. The peas and beans will be started under glass. The celery will come outside. The cucumbers and tomatoes will be potted on inside, as will the pumpkins, squashes and courgettes. How are other vegetable gardens progressing?

Related articles

• Jobs for May (thegardensmallholder.wordpress.com)
• The Smallholding: March 2012 (southfarming.co.uk)
• In the Greenhouse Right Now … (homeschoolonthecroft.com)

Weather, sheep and time have taken their toll on the drystone dyke that separates our croft from the neighbouring farm, with several large sections collapsing over the past winter. With an unexpectedly sunny day today, we decided to make the most of it and repair a section of dyke.

The Other Half and the boys collected smaller stones before setting them back in the wall, filling in holes and wedging larger stones in place.

I stripped the worst sections down to a stable level before rebuilding them back up to waist height. It wasn’t easy as my right arm still isn’t up to strength and some of the stones weight in excess of 100kg. To get the heaviest stones in place, I levered them up a side at time, booted more stones into the gap and lowered the heavy ones onto them. Once they were jacked high enough, I slid them into position.

This section was rebuilt from the tier of stone beneath the large rectangular stone, one block to the left of it and a couple of blocks to the right. Obviously, an experienced drystone dyker would make a neater and straighter job of it, but we did fairly well.

As we worked, Harvey rampaged about the hillside, enjoying the sun and searching the long grass for creatures.

With one section repaired, we moved along the hill and started on the next. This section was in much worse condition with many more large stones fallen on the fence, smashing through the netting and pushing posts to one side. By now, I was collecting an impressive set of scrapes and bruises. Many of the stones are ironstone, which has an abrasive, granular texture that’s well suited to removing skin.

The Other Half found it all too much and decided to make the most of the sun. The Big Lad continued working further up the hill for a while. Rebuilding the dyke is challenging as it’s built from rounded boulders with few regular fractures and almost no stones are long enough to tie right through the wall.

Eventually, though, he decided his mum had the right idea and joined her for a snooze in the sun, too. The section of wall to the OH’s right is rebuilt from the top of large slab next to her shoulder upwards and to the right, then from the two chocked stones above the dark brown soil upwards and to the right out of shot. Dyking is one of the tougher and bloodier jobs on the croft. We repaired and rebuilt about 15 metres in four hours but there’s a lot more still to do.

Related articles

• Successful stone wall building workshop (lettersfromstonewell.com)
• Disappearing acts: drystone walling (guardian.com)
• Drystone Walling Association of Great Britain (dswa.org.uk)

The sun was shining. The humans were hauling boulders about. And the dog was having his day.