I’ve had chickens on and off since I was 10 years old. I read about Maran chickens at an early age and became obsessed with having hens that lay chocolate brown eggs.
The Chicken Genetics Experiment
Author: themoosbachgarden
New Overnight stay in The Moosbach Garden
We are pleased to announce that you can now come and enjoy an overnight stay at The Moosbach Garden. Guests can enjoy leisurely walks in the surrounding forest and then return to The Moosbach Garden to enjoy a fantastic evening with a 4-course dinner. This is an intimate affair with freshly cooked food sourced either directly from The Moosbach Garden or in the local region. We have four bedrooms and therefore a maximum of 8 guests at any one time, all of our guests eat together sitting at one table and enjoy an evening of pleasant conversation and wonderful food.
A wonderous experience at any time of the year
Obviously, The Moosbach Garden is famous for its garden and there is always plenty to see in the garden, especially from May through to the end of September but a visit in the Winter is also wonderful when the garden and mountain are covered with snow. There is plenty to see within an hours drive including Straßburg, Freiburg, Freundenstat and Gengenbach.
The evening 4-course menu
The evening starts at 18:30 with pre-dinner drinks and food is served at 19:00. Everybody sits together and eats the same food. The food is exceptionally delicious and freshly prepared by Thomas, fresh ingredients grown in the The Moosbach Garden are the inspiration for our menu. House wine is included with the menu but we also offer other drinks which you can buy. If there are foods that you can’t eat then you must let us know at the time of your booking, we will always try to accommodate special requirements but this is not always possible. We also have a guest lounge with comfortable sofas and armchairs.
How do you book your stay?
You can either book directly with us The Moosbach Garden or via Booking.com.
Please be aware the The Moosbach Garden is a strictly non-smoking site and we do not allow pets. We have a dog, a cat, sheep, chickens and geese so there is no need to bring an alarm clock.
How much does it cost?
Prices start from €129 per room including the overnight stay, the 4-course menu and breakfast. Maximum occupancy per room is 2 guests. For more information about our overnight stays please visit our website www.moosbach-schwarzwald.com. To book via Booking.com.
October Is The Perfect Time For Planting New Roses
End of season sale €21,95 per rose, reduced from €28,95. Collection only.
The ever fabulous David Austin Rose “Gertrude Jekyll”, the scent is unbeleivably powerful and although this is a bush rose you can also grow it as a climber, it all depends upon your pruning regime. We have this rose available for collection from The Moosbach Garden (only 6 left).
Another glorious rose “The Lark Ascending” is simply beautiful and we have stock available.
Rosa ‘Thomas A Becket’
A/8A/07
Thomas A Beckett, The Lady Gardener, Roald Dahl and Jubilee Celebraton are also available but we only have a few of each available. Please note Collection only.
Rosa ‘Generous Gardener’
Rosa ‘Spirit of Freedom’
Frances E. Lester
Bobbie James
The above pictured climbers and ramblers are also available. Paul’s Himalayan Musk, Francis E Lester, Bobbie James, The Generous Gardener, Strawberry Hill, Spirit of Freedom and Etoile D’holland are also available. If you would like to buy any roses please emaail us at info@moosbach-schwarzwald.com.
The Throw Away Culture Needs To Be Thrown Away
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Photo by Nick Demou on Pexels.com
I’m a child of the late 1960’s, now aged 51 and whilst I may be creaking a little, I still have my uses and don’t need to be replaced by a new shinier version of me. When I was young, (yes, my memory goes back that far) people made do, people saved up and bought things that were previously owned, second hand -it was the norm.
Somewhere along the line we were convinced that buying everything new and on credit was the way to go. I’m not sure exactly when it happened but it did. Anyone who has tried to sell something that they don’t need anymore will vouch for how difficult it is to sell something that isn’t brand new and shiny.
My views on the environment are well known to all by now ( or at least I hope so). I like sustainable methods for farming, for horticulture, for gardening, for living. The Human Race is far too wasteful and is rapidly destroying the very ecosystems that sustain us and every other form of life on the planet.
Growing-Up in Rural Herefordshire in the 1980’s
My mother, my sister and I arrived in rural Herefordshire in 1980, we were homeless. We had been living in the New Forest in a house my older brother rented and when he left to get married the landlord didn’t want a divorced mother with 2 young children as tenants. This was not an unusual state of affairs in the late 1970’s and 80’s.
By chance, we attended a funeral in Herefordshire in the village of Vowchurch where my mothers ancestral family home was. We were met with such kindness from the local community, not so much from the family who probably thought that we were after a handout, which we weren’t.
The community persuaded a local farmer with an empty farmhouse, somewhat delapidated, to let us live there and in exchange my mother would do some work on their fruit farm. It was a frugal existence but we managed. Local farmers would leave sacks of vegetables anonomously for us at night and when there was any farmwork availabe they always thought of us. Families Price and Jones really kept us alive.
When something was needed or broken we asked around and bought stuff second hand, including a volkswagon beetle for 50 pounds. When people no longer needed something they usually asked us first. The rural farming communities of the Golden Valley in Herefordshire were the most kind-hearted people. We were never made to feel like second-class citizens.
My point I guess is that people can live on a shoe-string, people can make do and not everything that you buy has to be brand new just brand new to you. When you look at in context with how we save the planet and ensure that the global resources that we have are there for our grandchildren we should make the things we have last for as long as possible and not resign them to the landfill. I have ladders and tools that belonged to my father, which I look after and repair when needed, clothes we repair and repair until they can no longer be repaired and when we need things for the home or garden we look in the “for sale” sections on social media and the Internet. For example, we have bought external doors for sheds from people who are renovating houses.
We all know that the environment on the planet surface is suffering but what about the planets resources that are below ground, they are finite as well. We have to understand that at some point they will run out, surely it is better to take less now and ensure that what there is remains to sustain the generations ahead? I don’t think that the Human Race will be in any position to launch an Avatar style space programs to harvest these resources from other planets any time soon, so we need to look after what we have got.
Of Course There Will Be Capatalist Arguments Against This Thinking
One of the problems that this thinking has is that big commerce will not allow governments to make these radical changes, it’s not in their interest to do so, these large corporations have incredible influence over government. These changes would drastically affect economies but we need this drasticly differing approach if we are to save the planet and ourselves. This is why governments around the world haven’t acted to turn the frighteningly horrifying situation around. I am afraid that it is down to the everyday Joe, us consumers to vote with our feet. We have to change our purchasing patterns, our life choices. If you don’t like what is happening to the planet (it’s not our planet we just live on it fleetingly) then take positive action to change things. I don’t mean protesting, it’s been overdone and the powers that be don’t listen, what they do listen to is money. When everyone stops buying produce wrapped in plastic they will stop making it, when you only buy local produce in season then they won’t import food from the other side of the world at a huge cost to the environment.
Next time you need to buy something for the home or garden ask yourself do I really need it to be brand new or do I need it to do a job. Can I make do with something that is not shiny and fresh off a production line.
#PeoplePower #ConsumerPower
I’m off to make a list of things that I can do differently to help the planet and it’s not even lunchtime yet!
Will Warmer Climates Create Horticultural Innovation?
One of the factors of climate change is ever increasing Summer temperatures. I’ve noticed here in The Moosbach Garden that everything just stops growing when the temperature is above 35 Celcius. We can have an extended period here in June, July and August when it can reach up to 45 Celcius. Now it has to be acknowledged that high temperatures do not affect all plants equally and that is something that we will need to factor into our garden planning.
Research and experimentation will lead to innovation or changing of plant choices
For gardeners this is really something to be worrying about. If we are to maintain our current planting schemes then we need to think about how we keep our plants hydrated, how we reduce water evaporation and the cost of doing so. With ever increasing world temparatures and human populations water is going to become a prime commodity. The food industry will have to assess how it is going to produce enough food for growing populations with increasing temperatures and decreasing availability of water. The United Kingdom post Brexit will also have to think about supplying home grown food to its population. I think that the 1980’s under Margaret Thatcher were disasterous for British Farming and the Manufacturing Industry and the United Kingdom became a supplier of mostly service industries. All of this will have to change, currently over 60% of food consumed in the United Kingdom comes from abroad, primarily Europe.
So it is clear that not only the United Kingdom but all Countries will need to start growing enough food to feed their own populations and locally, climate change will necessitate this and it’s a good thing. What food is grown will need to be researched and I guess that diets will have to change as increasing temperatures dictate what farmers can reliably grow, year in, year out. There are certainly challenging times ahead of us.
Horticultural innovation may find sollutions to these worrying issues, let’s remember that the Human race has adapted and evolved. The speed of change since the 1950’s has been incredible but so has it’s impact on the planet. Will the future resemble our science fiction films, will we create domed environments with controlled temperatures optimal for growing food or will we revert back to a more balanced, planet friendly model? Your guess is as good as mine.
So now that I’ve cheered you all up I am going to sign off and go and talk to the chickens who don’t worry about such things.
Late September Rains
As I sit in my garden office, which looks out over the top garden, I stare out of the window at the heavy rain pouring down from the heavens above and I feel an impending sense of ending, of closure.
I can understand why some people suffer from depression during the long Winter months when there is less light and importantly less sunlight but life like any great story must have sunlight and shadow. In the garden, as in life, there must be moments of joyous elation and moments of sadness and they need their opposites so that we can appreciate them for what they are. For what are the garden triumphs without the untold failures?
Winter in the Moosbach Garden
Winter can be a long affair here in The Moosbach Garden, we often plunge to -18 degrees Celcius and we can get snow for up to 4 months. I always remind myself that everything has its season, it’s time. Seeds can be like the heart after the ending of a relationship, they need that period of cold to prepare themselve for the springing of new love or the springtime to grow into something beautiful. We shouldn’t be too sad, it’s a natural process.
Winter has it’s advantages for us gardeners. we can catch up on the piles of gardening books that we bought in the Summer and takle those major landscaping jobs that are impossible to do when the garden is in full growth. For me, most importantly, it’s a time to breath, to look out over the garden and the forest beyond, to try and resolve where my place is in this wonderous world. I’m still pondering on that one to be honest, maybe my place is to be a perpetual wonderer.
Autumn is transitional
For me, Autumn is always bitter-sweet. On the one hand it marks the end of warm days working in the garden, of butterflies and bees, an end to curious passers-by staring through the garden gate to admire the summer flowers and the end of all but the hardiest of rose blooms but on the other hand it allows for reflection, both peronally and horticulturally. It’s been a glorious Summer here with just the right amounts of sunshine and rain, it’s not too many years that we can say that. The garden has been a riot of colourful flowers for months but now these things are being replaced by the glorious display of Autumn colour in the garden. I have a feeling when the leaves have all turned to red and gold and the rain washes down from above that it’s like doing the dishes after an amazingly decendent dinner party where everything was just perfect but the party is over. It is but a fleeting moment and in a few weeks when all the leaves have fallen we can see the garden for what it truly is, the bare bones like the skeleton of a dearly missed friend. The wonderous difference being that this friend is only sleeping. My advice is enjoy the moment, relish in the wonder of nature and mother earth, allow yourself to breath and let the pains of life leave you like frosted breath. Treat yourself to a garden pause before the work of putting the garden to bed. Feed your soul.
Now is a good time for reviewing the garden and foreward planning to help mother earth
Autumn is the perfect time for moving plants around in the garden, including dividing some perennials like phlox but I also like to use the time to think about what changes I can make next year to reduce my carbon footprint, to help nature and pollinating insects.
You can’t escape from hearing about climate change, it’s constantly on the news but I wonder how many people watch it and take no action to help. Here in the Moosbach Garden we are constantly updating our methods to be more nature and environment friendly, we still commit sins but we are working on doing better.
We grow 60% of our fruit and vegetables here and preserve what we can for the winter months, no road or air miles has got to be a good start to reducing our carbon footprint right? We are growing more from seeds and cuttings and using less poor quality, short lifespan plastics. I’d like to say that we were plastic free but we decided to use existing robust plastic which will not end up in landfill in a few months. Becoming environment friendly is a process like therapy and takes time but the first step is acknowledging that we have a problem.
We are sowing a wild flower meadow for next year and more trees and flowers for pollinators, as well as making our own plant fertiliser from Comfrey. Again, no chemicals, no plastics, no road miles. If you are interested in making your own organic plant feeds there are many articles and videos online. Nettle tea and comfrey tea are both excellent fertilisers.
Please join us in our committement to only buying locally sourced foods, in season and with no packaging, together we can make a difference and help our local communities and the planet at the same time.
We are all capable of change, my sister even baked a cake this week, she has a kitchen because it came with the house. Cake looked pretty amazing too.
Right, I’m off to feed the chickens and collect eggs. I wish you all much hapiness.
The Moosbach Garden.
Sharpen Your Secateurs, There’s Work To Be Done
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
August is that time of year when the garden is looking a little unruly after the wonderful display it put on in June and July but you will be surprised by how much tidier it will look after what is effectively a short, back and sides.
All plants, shrubs and trees respond well to a good pruning, it stimulates fresh and vigorous new growth. However, you shouldn’t just prune everything in the garden willy nilly. Perennial plants are fairly easy, as are roses but flowering shrubs are a little more tricky as are the one time flowering older varieties of rose. Here is my quick guide on late Summer pruning.
Modern roses
Modern varieties of roses (those that repeat flower) can be pruned at any time of year, although the main pruning should occur early in the year when the first buds appear. I water my roses continuously when they are in active growth (April-October) and I find that this results in vigorous growth and more flowers, so the occasional haircut keeps things in order. This Summer there has been a decent amount of rainfall so you might find that by August you have a few stems that are a bit leggy and it really is a good idea to reduce these down the the height of the other stems. It maintains a good shape and will promote flowers uniformly on the plant rather than just on the longer stems. Always prune to just above a leaf joint as this is where the growth node is for the next flower. Keep the cut tight to the leaf joint, cutting higher results in die-back which will turn brown and be dead wood which can allow fungal infections to develop. This method I generally use with Bush roses but you can also use the same technique with climbing roses but don’t reduce the stems by much are long arching stems is what we are going for. With climbing roses I usually only cut stems back by 1 or 2 leaf joints. With Ramblers just cut off an inch or two below the finished flower heads. If you are unsure you can send me a photo of the rose and I will give you my opinion.
Perennial Plants
I tend to just keep on top of dead-heading perennials unless they are really scruffy and the thing with perennials is that they all need pruning differently to promote late-Summer flowering. Here are just a few to give you an idea, others you can look up on the Internet or you can ask me directly.
Phlox – simply cut just below the spent flowerhead and this will promote new flower development. Do not cut them down to the base, that’s a Spring job.
Delphiniums – Cut then off at ground level and new, albeit smaller flower spikes will develop.
Lupins – after seed pods have started to develop cut back to a leaf joint below the seed pods and a new flower should develop from here.
Flowering Shrubs
The pruning of flowering shrubs all depends upon whether they flower on new wood or wood from the previous year. Forsythia is a prime example, it flowers on the previous years growth, if you must cut it then only prune a 3rd of stems otherwise you will have no flowers next spring. In reality, the ideal time to prune forsythia is just after it has flowered, allowing time for new flower bearing growth to occur. Lavender should be cut back hard at this time of year to prevent it becoming woody, I use a special lavender pruning tool but you can also use a pair of secateurs, prune to just above the start of the green shoots,this will encourage bushy growth and an abundance of flowers next year. My best advice on flowering shrubs is to treat each type as unique and to check in gardening books or online first.
Pruning now will tidyup the garden and promote more flowers, thereby extending interest in the garden well into Autumn. Now is also a good time to label plants that need moving in the autumn, I use blank white plant labels, the type that fixes around the stems which I write on with a permanent marker pen.
And now a few words from the wise, generally the women in my family…..(and my thoughts)
If the house is untidy just put away 30 things, by the time you are finished you will be amazed how much better it looks and it doesn’t take that long. Personally I think this is a trick to make me do housework.
The garden will look 100% better if you cut the grass, in my opinion Mothers are wiley creatures and will try anything to encourage sons to do work.
It will only take 5 minuites, pfah I say after 2 hours.
Let’s clean out that cupboard together, this in my opinion means I work and you supervise, note to self, never trust sisters.
Happy Gardening and I would loveto see pictures of your gardens
The Trials and Tribulations of a Gardening Life
Who said Gardening was Stress Free?
It has to be said that on the whole gardening for a living is a pretty laid-back existence especially when you compare it to the stress of the corporate world but it does have its moments. Last year in the Black Forest was very hot and dry and these were the perfect conditions for a certain type of beatle that make their home under to bark of trees. The result of this infestation is death for the tree and all around us in the forest we have heard the sound of busy forest workers removing the affected trees, removal of the trees reduces the spread of the beatle. This was quite a blow for the forest as we had already lost a good number of trees early in the year. The snowfall this year was not as excessive as in some years but it was very heavy and wet. Yes I know that snow is made from water before anybody advises me of the fact but wet snow is much heavier than dry snow and this resulted in many trees breaking in half. We also have an infection of Asian Box Tree caterpillars in our box hedging. All of this might make any lesser gardener hang up their gardening gloves and call it a day but we gardeners are made of tough stuff and are not so easily deterred. It just makes us work harder so that we can overcome these minor setbacks. That’s life!
The Latest News from The Moosbach Garden
Well, it has to be said that there is quite a lot going on at the moment some are good and some are not so good but it’s all about balance, right?
So the goose has been sitting on her clutch of 10 eggs for 5 weeks but nothing has hatched, so something has probably gone wrong or the eggs were not fertile but I’ve decided to let her come to that conclusion herself and in her own good time.
Bramble, our resident cat has been very busy controlling the mouse population and has graciously allowed us to carry on living here.
The sheep, who are an English breed called Shropshire, are growing nicely and doing a good job grazing our fields.
The older chickens are not laying very much but I don’t have the heart to kill them so they continue to live in The Moosbach Garden retirement home for chickens, the young chickens that we bred this year are due to start laying by the end of this month and will start to earn their keep.
The exciting news is that we have a new addition to The Moosbach Garden family, a gorgeous Border Collie puppy called Luna. She is only 8 weeks old and has only been here for 24 hours but has already succeeded in turning our world upside down.
And Finally….
We are proud to announce that The Moosbach Garden will now be open to the Public on Wednesday afternoons from 12:00-18:00 and on the first Sunday of every month (April-October). Visitors can view the garden, enjoy a cup of tea and a piece of cake and buy top quality plants from The Moosbach Garden. On the 25th August we have an open day and you can pre-book our famous English Afternoon Tea, numbers are limited so we would recommend booking early. To book your place please visit our website by clicking here. Please note that you must pre-book for this event.
We can still be found at the Oberkirch outdoor market every Wednesday from 08:00-12:00 next to the coffee stand, please come and say “Hello” if you are in the area, we love meeting new people. As always, gardening questions are welcome, just don’t ask me about Brexit or Football!
Some garden jobs to do now
The first flush of roses are mainly over now and they should be producing buds for their second flowering and the perennial plants that came after them may be past their best but there are many jobs that you can do now to tidy up the garden and extend the flowering season. You can do all of these now unless you intend to collect the seeds for growing next year.
Roses
Repeat flowering roses should have their spent blooms cut back to just above the next leaf joint, this is where the new growth and next flowers come from, we do this weekly so that all of the energy goes into producing new flowers and not rose hips. It is also a good time to add a little rose feed so that the next flowers are as beautiful as the first. For roses that only flower once we recommend not removing the spent flowers and allowing the roses to produce beautiful hips which will look stunning when frosted in the Winter and provide food for birds. Now is also a good time to tie-in climbing roses whilst the stems are still pliable, please note never tie in the last 6 inches of the stems as this will inhibit growth. Also check standard roses, removing any shoots coming out below the graft and any from under the ground as these are from the root stock and will take all of the energy which you want to go to the grafted rose at the top.
Phlox
Phlox and Dahlia Nuit D’ete
Phlox is a stunning plant but as the flower heads fade they can look a little scruffy. However, you can get them to flower again by cutting off the spent flower heads just below the flowers but above the next flower buds. Be careful though as the new buds are quite close to the spent flower heads.
Delphiniums
These majestic plants can produce a second set of flowers in late Summer if you cut the stems down to the ground and give them a good feed. They should flower in late August to September although the flowers will not be as tall as the first blooms.
Lupins
Lupins have mainly finished flowering now but if you cut off the spend flowers at the next leaf joint this will promote new flower buds to develop.
Wysteria
Wysteria will benefit from pruning back to 7 leaf joints from last years growth, this will be hard wood and this years will be green and supple.
And finally……
Deadheading all perennials that have finished flowering will promote new growth and some flowers, all of which will extend your flowering season. Provide supports for any drooping plants. We also recommend walking around your garden and taking some photographs and cast a critical eye over all your planting areas and make notes of plants that need moving or dividing in the Winter if they have outgrown their spot. A good exercise is to take photographs of your garden throughout the year so that you can see where you can improve interest all year round, they are great to look at in the depths of Winter when you can’t get outside. A garden should always be a work in progress and evolve over many years. Don’t forget to take time to sit and enjoy your beautiful garden that you and nature have created together.
The Benefits Of Mulching Your Garden
The environment and climate change are on most peoples minds these days and rightly so as we seem to be hastening towards the destruction of the planet and ourselves along with it. With changing weather patterns comes ever increasing temperatures and concerns about water. For me, the answer has to come in a localised and environmentally friendly form. Quick fixes should become a thing of the past and must be replaced by sustainable solutions. I’m afraid I have become a little like a reformed smoker and am annoyingly self-righteous about all things environment (I’m very sorry).
Liatris Spicata in the foreground with assorted Phlox.
The biggest problems that we face in The Moosbach Garden are keeping the plants from drying out and keeping on top of the weeds. We have always been reluctant to mulch the garden over fears of the soil becoming too acidic for many of the plants but then we saw a video on YouTube that got us thinking. Last year we were watering the garden every other day for 6 hours solid and although the garden was coming along nicely we felt it could be doing so much better.
The video in question was rather long at 3 hours but it inspired us to trial the approach in The Moosbach Garden. The video was by a man who had purchased a ranch near Boston in the USA. The ground was mostly rock and not much was growing, so he covered the whole property in bark mulch. He now has a ranch that produces a plethora of different produce and is growing it all together regardless of the stated soil requiremments.
Watering plants that are in soil Vs Watering plants that have a topdressing of mulch
Firstly, you need to weed the area that you are going to apply the mulch to. Mulch will suppress newly germinated weeds but established ones with extensive root systems will need to be removed by hand. The mulch needs to be of a sufficient depth to effectively suppress the weeds by excluding light and to minimize water loss by evaporation, we apply 4-6 inches. Applying the mulch too sparingly is a false economy as it will quickly become part of the soil and the weeds will return quickly. We have installed a drip watering system and this slowly moistens the soil and we find that this is more effective than watering with a hose where the majority of the water runs off. You can even water at night using a timer, allowing you the time for more important things, like drinking wine.
Due to the size of the garden we have areas that have been mulched and other areas where there is just soil. We were expecting it to take some time before we started seeing results but within a week we have much healthier plants with substantial new growth in the areas that have been mulched. This has affirmed our belief that water was the biggest issue for us here. We have Magnolia trees that have grown up to half a meter in a month and the roses have also responded very well. We have to admit to being a little cautious when it came to the roses but there have been no detrimental effects whatsoever. You will still get some weeds coming through but this tends to be at a mangable level.
Loose bark mulch that we buy by the trailer load
Sourcing Bark Mulch
Depending upon the size of your garden you can either buy your Bark Mulch from your local garden centre or you can source a company that produces the Bark Mulch rather than just re-selling it. We buy ours from a company that processes wood for heating and we find that to be much more cost effective. Bark Mulch also comes in different grades so it is worth shopping around. Once you start using Bark Mulch you will be surprised at how much you get through and how little comes in a bag. Our preference would be loose.
How Often To Apply Mulch
The Bark Mulch will slowly be incorporated into the soil, thereby improving the composition of your soil. We would recommend applying Bark Mulch once a year to your garden either in Spring or in Autumn, our preference is in Spring but either is acceptable. Applying the Mulch in Spring really sets you up for the Summer ahead and another added bonus is that slugs and snails do not like Bark Mulch and this is so much more environmentally friendly than using chemical controls.
Here we use Bark Mulch as the flooring material in our nursery as it reduces weeds and helps to protect young plants from snail predation.
We have our own water supply here at The Moosbach Garden but if you pay for your water and have a meter then applying a mulch and installing a drip feed water system will save you money and result in a more beautiful garden.
Echinacea
This Magnolia tree has been mulched and has grown 4 inches in a month
Bark Mulch is also great for newly planted areas as it reduces the risk of roots drying out and reduces competition from weeds.
Our Top Tip
If you have lots of potted plants you can top dress them with mulch and this will help retain water and reduce the risk of plants wilting in extremely hot weather.