Nail 'Em Up!

I got some 1 1/2" annular ring nails at a place in Selby, £2.50 for a 1kg bag. Now, the type of hardware you use when building something like a henhouse is more important than you would think. Normal wire nails can pull out and become loose. These annular ring nails stay put, the rings act as barbs, and so hold everything together better.

Well, despite the drizzle and the gusty wind (atmospheric, not biological) ive managed to build the first section. This is the 'fixed end' piece. From here the front and back will be constructed, and finally the roof and 'hinged end', or door as it is colloquially known.



This piece weighs about 15kg, so its going to be one sturdy henhouse.

Freddy is getting more sociable, he likes to watch what im doing, and is quite happy to have a cuddle. He's not too keen yet on being picked up, but im sure he will get used to it.

I will post a picture of Freddy on the next update.

Off to a Flying Start

sorry about that rather tenuous chicken related intro, but the henhouse is started!

After much scrounging and planning, i got two pallets from Hillam Feeds, and broke them up yesterday, today i marked out and cut the big sheet of plywood i inherited in the garage. This was covered in handles and bolts, think it might have been a cover for a trailer. Anyways, it will form the floor (removable) and the roof of the henhouse. The rest will be made from salvaged planks from the pallets (i think about 10 pallets in all) and some 3x3 legs, if i can scrounge some.

So, i now have a stack of planks...

19 planks are needed for each end section, thats about 2 pallets worth. One end is fixed and will be slightly larger than the other, which will be hinged to allow me to get in to clean it out. The floor will slide out that end as well so i can scrape the poo off.

The design of this house has been done so that, from the outside, it will look a bit rough, with all the framework external. The reasoning behind this is that it allows the inside to be as spacious as possible and to have the minimum of corners, so cleaning and controlling red mites should be easier.

Its off shopping now, i need hardware (nails particularly) so i can crack on building. The salvaged handles and bolts from the plywood will be used as furniture for the door end, i need to scrounge some big hinges and loads more chicken wire.

Bring Me Sunshine...

30mA! thats the current that the solar panel is supplying to my 7Ahr battery this fine morning at 8am. I finally got around to installing the panel on the sunroom roof yesterday, and feeding the cable around the house to the radios. Its now connected to the battery and the meters to establish its performance. Hopefully soon then i can connect up the radios and weather station and go independent of the mains.

Sam watched me doing all this yesterday, but got upset 'cos he doesnt like noises and i had to use the hammerdrill. He helped me as well to repair Dylans roof, passing things up to me on the top of the shed. Dylan was getting miffed by the rain dripping into his house, but its quite perilous trying to repair a thin plastic roof, so i just ended up dumping bitumen all over it with a brush tied to a stick. I also finally engineered the mast for the far end of the garden, putting on the tiepoint and the pulley. I just need the clamps now and can get the HF wire antenna rigged up.

The Hambleton Allotments article went in the Selby Times last week. Had a few responses, some in the village, some from the surrounding area offering support, and one cheeky bugger wanting to sell me his cultivator! The article also goes in the free Chronicle this week, thats delivered to the whole village. Looks like we should manage the required minimum people at least.

Lots to do today. The energy efficient candle bulbs i ordered are awaiting at the post office, and Julie has a load of charity shop stuff ive to take. Just hoping the bulbs fit.

Whilst in B&Q i saw their new range of renewable energy plant. A 1kW wind turbine and controller, and solar water heating. Both at £1500, but possible 30% grants available. Its a shame but i cant afford that, ive not got £30, let alone £3000. What peeved me though was the fact that 'people on certain benefits' can get more grants. Why? does the government think people on benefits care more for the planet than those of us who work full time? I save water, turn unused appliances off, use low energy bulbs, i even have solar power! I would love solar water heating and wind mains input, not to save money so much as to reduce resource use and lower my environmental footprint, so why is the government allowed to discriminate against me, because i am not sponging off of it? We take as little as possible from the government, and pay plenty in from our taxes, i think its abysmal that i cant get help to make my home more efficient and environmentally friendly, and work towards making the future better for my son and his generation. Doesnt say much for the governments environment policies does it?

Something Scary Behind The Trap Door...

Or trap lid i suppose. The mushroom kit has a black lid, its been sat either in the airing cupboard or on top of the microwave for a few days. Take a look at the picture, can you see the white fuzz? thats the mushrooms, or rather its their mycellium, their fungi roots.

In a few days, this fuzz should form little pinheads on the compost, these will develop into the mushrooms.

Nothing else done this weekend, apart from mowing the lawn and turning the compost, and burning all the old sticks. I didtnt think the fire had taken yesterday, but this morning the incinerater was puffing away like it was hiding behind the bike sheds.


And in case anyone noticed, yes, i was wrong about the Orionids, it was friday night. Got myself confused with the peak time being early morning. I always do that.

Hooray, Study Over

Phew, thats the exams done with. Wierd one todays, astronomy, it was hard but at the same time easy. Cant get straight in my head whether i think ive done ok or not.

MInd you, ive had a bottle of Riggwelter now, so not much is straight in there!

Shortly before going in for the exam, whilst perusing Leeds library and reading stuff about 14th century alchemy, i had a call from a chap at the Selby Times. Just needed to finalise a few points, and the allotment campaign articles should be in the Times and Chronicles in the next couple of editions. So, the campaign thunders onward! (well, kind of bimbles its way along...)

Need to check the garlic tomorrow, see if the last shoot is showing, if it is thats 100% succesful germination! I need to skim the turf off the spud patch as well, so hopefully it will stay dry for me.

Hopefully as well it will be a clear night tomorrow. Remember folks, tomorrow is the peak of the Orionids meteor shower. Look south into the sky around midnight, take a nice folding chair and wrap up warm. Give it an hour or so, and you might see one of natures fleetest but most beutiful sights.

Mush ! Mush !

Well, I got the roof bars, from Halfords, so now can move stuff about on top of the motor. Just need something to move!

Measured and marked out the future potato patch. Then remeasured and remarked out again, once i actually had an idea of the dimensions i need. 16ft by 10ft the patch will be, that will allow 2 rows of first earlies, 2 rows of second earlies, and 3 rows of maincrop spuds, all at the correct spacings 'by the book'. This includes a bit extra around the edge, and a wider gap down the middle for me to walk between the crops. Totals about 64 plants, 10 in each of the early rows, and 8 in each of the maincrop rows. Drawn a nice plan showing the layout, no doubt i will have lost it by the time i get the seed spuds. Anyway, as usual by the time i had done the marking out it had started to rain, so a quick bit of hoeing around the garlic, carrots and spring cabbage and that was the lot for outside.

Visited The Range in Doncaster on way to pick Sam up from grandmas, officially to get stuff needed for Marlon and Emma, our two canaries, and to find a spray bottle so i can keep my mushrooms moist. £45 later and we emerge with bird feeders, windmills, a Bonsai tree, and loads of other stuff. I did manage to get a sprayer, a little round one for 60p, cute thing just right for the job. Sam watched as i put the compost on top of the spawned straw and i told him why i was spraying the compost, then we put the lightproof lid on and put the mushroom kit on top of the microwave, which i think is a pretty warm spot. Sam then went to bed.

Planning For Growth

Well, we're back from a well earned holiday in the Balearic islands, so now its time to start planning for next years crops. We came home to some sad news though, while we were away Freddy the rabbit died. His guineapig room mate Dylan tried to look after him. We have no idea why he died, just one of those things that happen. Sams grandma and grandad have bought him another bunny similar to Freddy, and two cute little white and brown piggies. Sam isn't old enough to tell the difference yet. The new bunny is a bit older and bigger. It seems he was taken back to the shop as the owners son was 'allergic' to him, but he is a bit too timid, i think they couldnt be bothered to look after him. I pulled a fresh carrot for him and he looked at it then had a nibble, i dont think he's ever seen fresh vegetables before.

C'an Picafort was a lovelly place, shelly beaches, fish in the harbour, rocky shore, clear water, lots of archeology and nature to explore. Fabulous little creatures. But its nice to be back, apart from having my exams this week.
This is one of the bugs that lived in the town.


So, now home with a bit of a tan and some great photos, a stroll down the garden was called for to see how well everything is doing, and how much of the brassicas the caterpillers had eaten. Well, on that note, i picked off about fifty of the sodding things from the sprouts. Seems sprouts are the meal of choice for small cabbage white larvae, and they have systematically decimated them in the last week. Much less damage to the swede and broccoli. Also seems to be some mealy aphis on a couple of the sprouts, that will need dealing with. If the infestation is small i will remove the affected leaves and burn them, rather than use a spray.

So, what of the seeds? Well, the few garlic shoots that were showing have been joined by many more, the whole plot is now looking like a miniature plantation, and the Germidour as well as the Marco variety are now growing, all in neat rows. The carrots and the lonely lettuce amongst them are doing fine as well, this is where i pulled bunnies carrot from (the middle one in the picture), the last four cabbages though look like the caterpillers have got into them. I think these will be given to the animals to munch on.

The cauliflower dont seem to be up to much, doesnt look like they will heart up very well. Never mind, cauli is a difficult beast to grow, and the soil wasn't exactly prime for them. The spring cabbage and early carrot seedlings are all going strong, awaiting now a second thinning out. Remarkably, there are few weeds, so a light hoeing should have everything looking good.

Somethings been at me rhubarb! A whole block seems to have dissapeard, i suspect its Barry, Sams grandad, has pulled any dead sections. It needs a good barrow full of manure on it now so it grows good next year.

The broad beans, Aquadulce, are all sprouting nicely, but in Sams magic bean pot only the middle one of the four is coming up, i think the rest will show in the next few days. The spring onions are holding their own although there are gaps in the rows where not all of them germinated. Still, theres only me eats them! so it should be a decent enough yield.

And so, on to planning and preparing. Autumn is here, and with it the prospect of frost and the fall of leaves. The leaves of course are destined for the compost bins. Some minor external repairs need doing to the house, and once i've bought some roof bars today i can start aquiring wood and materials for a hen house and bricks for a herb garden. The herbs are to go on a section of the patio where Sams beans are, in a 1ft tall raised bed. It will be Sams job to cultivate the herb garden. It needs to be built before winter, so its not too cold for the mortar to set correctly.



My task though, is a bit harder. The space where i moved the blueberry bush from is to become next years potato patch. This is fairly sandy soil, i would say a sandy loam, and is pretty low on organic matter. The first job will be to mark out the patch, and remove the turves. The turf will be distributed elsewhere in the garden. Once thats done, it will need double digging, and quite a bit of humus added. Fresh manure is no good at this stage for potatoes, and i dont think there will be enough compost ready, so i might have to fork out on some bagged well rotted manure. The patch will then be allowed to freeze-thaw weather over winter to break the soil clods, and early next year will be worked to form a seed bed. In the meantime, i have a voucher for Thomson-Morgan, and intent to spend it on seed potatoes. A first early and a maincrop i think. Something waxy and good for boiling.

All this will mean that after the coming year, and assuming i still dont have an allotment plot by then, i can at least start some form of basic rotation. All the articles and letters for the allotment campaign have been submitted, and are now awaiting printing. Hopefully in the next few weeks that will start off and we can begin organising a site.

Its still misty out, and i need to prepare for my exams, including finding out where to go to take them! So thats todays jobs - go shopping for roof bars, mark out the tatty patch, study hard, and browse the spud catalogue.

Shooting Up

Well, the council in their infinite quest for low costs, once again cut the hedges using a flail. No warning at all, just this giant mechanical arm reaching over, showering me and the spring veg in shards of hawthorne. I found some thorns stuck in leaves over 20ft away.

I was supposed to cut the grass today, but its still far too wet, it didnt stop raining until midday. So the lawn is turning back into rainforest, but at least its green. Theres no sign yet of any bean shoots, not even in Sams terracotta magic beans pot.


The spring onions are doing alright though. There looking that little bit sturdier, whereas the brassicas on the whole are looking a little wilty, i just hope its not because of the root fly. Theres nothing i can do about it if it is.

The green and black caterpillers have given way to the matt green ones. Which are munching their way through all my brassicas, and it seems no matter how many i pick off and throw over the garden, or how many i crush or cut in two with my fingernail, more appear. Hopefully their season is nearly over and the plants might survive.

Left - Spring Onions!




What is amazing though, is that the garlic is coming up! Its the strong flavour Marco type that is breaking through, half a dozen or more thick shoots forcing their way into the open air. Hopefully the Germidour will sprout soon as well.

Whilst in the garden center getting a sack of compost for Julie to repot her spider plants at work, i spotted something i couldnt resist for £3, a mushroom kit. Now, ive always fancied trying my hand at mushrooms, and for three squid yer cant go far wrong i'd have thought.


Just got to keep the weeds down now. At least the shoots are thick so not easily confused with weed seedlings.