Hullo from a newbie in the UK

[baymule]

Welcome from another Texan, glad to have you join us!

 

[Chic Rustler]

Hi all,

I just joined. I have been trying (not necessarily succeeding) to grow vegetables and sustain our family of 5 as much as possible from my little garden. Any tips/links etc would be grateful. I am not an expert in much, but I am quite good at planning and preserving. I have a dehydrator and 2 big freezers. 8 raised beds provide potatoes, onions, spinach, broccoli, courgettes, carrots and more. My greenhouse if full of peppers and chillies.

I am hatching chicken eggs - so there's another little bit of help in reducing waste and getting eggs

I have never been successful in saving my own seeds, so that's where I am starting. Nice to meet you!

Becky

hello and welcome from Texas! lots of great advise here

 

[Daisy]

Welcome love the name!

 

[Insufficient]

Thank you all! It's lovely to be welcomed to the community so nicely!

To answer a few questions:

- I have about 300 sq/ft in raised beds which takes up most of my garden except for a chicken coop and a writing den. I am sure I am not making the best use of my plot at the moment. My house is decent sized, but here in the UK, gardens tend to be small on newer houses.
- I am hatching silkies. They are not the best layers, I know, but I adore them and they are quiet enough so my neighbours shouldn't complain (fingers crossed) so it will provide ample eggs for what we need while being a lovely lot of pets. They should hatch on Friday for batch 1 (7 eggs going strong) and Tuesday batch 2 (4 eggs)


I haven't heard of some of those varieties of veg, so I am definitely going to do a quick Google now to see if I can grab some amid all the chaos at the moment.

I checked out the square foot garden and there are courses happening online! I am very excited and I am about to sign up for an online course happening tomorrow. Check it out https://squarefootgardening.org/

Thanks again for making me feel welcome.

Becky

 

[Hinotori]

May you have silkies that don't go broody 4 times a year. I love mine but that can be annoying.

Did you get large fowl or bantam silkies? I know the ones over there are different than the ones we have here. Ours fall in between on size.

 

[Insufficient]

May you have silkies that don't go broody 4 times a year. I love mine but that can be annoying.

Did you get large fowl or bantam silkies? I know the ones over there are different than the ones we have here. Ours fall in between on size.

They should be bantam size according to the breeder. The hatching eggs vary in weight though - the smallest being 28g and the largest 48g. I am still a newbie (I have read everything possible about chickens but never actually owned them) so I am not sure if egg weight actually indicates size of chicken at adult bird. I am so excited about meeting them a week today (we are on day 14/21 today)

How do you deal with broodiness with yours? I was thinking of occasionally letting them hatch a clutch, but that's not a sustainable solution long term

 

[Hinotori]

I have 32 silkie hens. I just let them sit through it. 6 of them are broody right now.

 

[baymule]

Broody hens will raise meat for your family.