Cat-loving gardeners can pick up tips for creating the perfect outdoor space for their pet when Cats Protection visits the RHS Malvern Spring Festival. The charity will be on hand with ideas and planting suggestions for visitors to the event, at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern, from 5-8 May. As well as gardening tips, […]
Category Archives: smallholders
How to Rear Your Own Turkeys
How to Rear Your Own Turkeys By Martina Mercer A month ago we invested in lavender ducks and chickens for our small holding as although we’d kept hundreds of birds before, we’d had a break of a few years and so wanted to start again small. Instead of the incredible layers of Aylesbury ducks or the […]
The Sun has Got his Easter Bonnet On
The Sun has got His Easter Bonnet on! As everyone tucks into their chocolate eggs, and proud children display their handmade bonnets, we’ve realised that a chicken is afforded with a sense of fame at this time of the year. The tiny fluffy craft chicks that adorn each Easter cake litter supermarket shelves making us […]
Home Made Composts for Your Garden (Warning- it’s a bit yucky!)
By Martina Mercer There are many different forms of homemade compost out there, and many ways in which you can take unwanted rubbish and turn it into a fertilizer or compost for your plants. However, which does what, and what compost and fertilizer is best for your plot? Whether you garden on a balcony from a […]
A Realist’s Look at Keeping Livestock
For the majority of us that regularly tend to our vegetable patch or spend our spare minutes in the garden there comes a time when we decide we want to share it with something else. It seems that no sooner have we perfected the lawn and trimmed planted the borders that we feel the need […]
The Proper Polish Bantams
The Proper Polish Bantams The smallest of the bantam family in terms of body size, The Polish Bantams have a different look to many other varieties due to their array of different styles of top knots. History There’s still quite a lot of debate about the origin of the Polish Bantam, however one thing has […]
The Secrets of the Silkie Bantam
The Secrets of the Silkie Bantam! A noble bantam the Silkie is a fantastic addition to any brood of chickens. In a variety of colours, the Silkie will strut proudly across any paddock giving a fabulous display of their fashionable feathers. With fluffy feet and tiny beak the Silkie Bantam could be mistaken for being […]
The Big Garden Makeover – Week 1
We’ve moved, from the Manor House to a farm and now we have a Herculean task on our hands but we’re not complaining! The farm is really a smallholding yet it is completely overgrown, which seems a shame as every job is fraught with bramble and nettle danger. Here’s a little look at it before […]