Wheely Good Day

After dropping Sam off at his grandma's this morning and taking the old bed to the tip (and very nearly having it fall off the roofbars on the way) i nipped to the woodyard and got a bit more 2x2, and then on to B&Q, with one of the new wheels, to try and find some way of actually attaching them to the henhouse. After trying all sorts of bolts and the like against the wheel, i found they stock 2m lengths of 16mm steel tube, which fits perfectly. What they dont stock are big washers with a 16mm hole, so i bought them with a 6mm hole, and upon returning home proceeded to expand the holes using a dubious arrangement of clamps and blocks of wood under the drill. A couple of them are a bit lop-sided, but they do the job. As B&Q dont stock cotter pins, some 5mm nuts and bolts serve to secure the wheels on their new axles. The photo shows the wheels, one of which has the axle fitted

it just remains for me to carefully measure and drill holes for the axles in the legs of the henhouse, and once the wheels are on, secure them with another bolt.

It looks like the peas are begining to germinate, and perhaps that the birds have been pecking about, so ive increased the height of the wire mesh above them.

The first of the early carrots are ready for pulling, although most are still a bit small yet. Everything else seems to be doing fine in the garden.

On my last shift at work, one of the lads brought in a load of stuff that was going to be put on free cycle, so naturally my scrounger instinct took over, and i deprived him of several kilos of netting staples and assorted bags of nails, rolls of electrical wire, and wallplugs with screws. Also amongst the stuff were a pair of very expensive professional racing bike rims. After a sudden flash of inspiration i had these away as well, and i am currently doing a 'reverse midas touch' job on them, turning them from an expensive cycling accessory, into a very cheap garden riddle!

On the plot at last

Today has been lovelly out, clear blue skies, little breeze, and just sunny enough not to need a coat on.

Ive got the spuds in, 2 rows of desiree maincrop, 2 rows of kestrel 2nd earlies, and 4 rows of arran pilot 1st earlies. I had far too many seeds, so now am looking for someone who can make use of my remaining 2 dozen arrans. 5kg is too much for my plot along with the others (2kg of each) so perhaps next time just 3-4kg of them will do. Each row is neatly labelled with a wooden marker. I took the liberty at one point of just sitting down and enjoying the day, listening to the birds, and watching the 7spot ladybugs wandering around near the garlic.

I picked a load of the brocolli as well, and blanched then froze it for Julie to have for her tea sometime. It was quite amazing the number of boiled aphids i ended up with, that had been hiding within the heads, but thats just a bit of extra protein.

A chap at work has lent me a niger seed feeder to have a go with. Hes very into his birdwatching and conservation. So, i popped to Hillam for some seed. Bearing in mind the size of the feeder (big) and the size of the £1.60 bags of seed (small) i got two bags. Well, just over half a bag filled it! so i hope the birds find it and like it, 'cos theres plenty left

Boring

well, it is, these last few days. The wind and sleet/snow/hail/rain/plague of locusts (delete as appropriate) has abated, leaving dull, overcast skies that do nothing except induce sheer boredom and dilute any enthusiasm to homeopathic remedy concentrations, mixed with the frustration of not being able to locate any wheels for the chookhouse locally.

So, ive been forced to actually buy some wheels, off ebay. I suppose not a bad price really, comes to about £25, and they are 10" pneumatic tyres and metal hubs with ball race bearings. They will take the weight, and be reusable for numerous other jobs in the future. As soon as the chookhouse is on wheels all the rest can be finalised within a week or so (just a bit of last minute woodwork and some caulking)

Its now just started raining again. I would have liked to have got out and planted the spuds today, or done something else in the garden, but instead im stuck inside, trying hard to study and mostly rereading the same paragraph over and over without actually absorbing the words, and constantly at risk of a debilitating outbreak of cabin fever.

Finding My Roots

well, maybe not my roots, but certainly those of my trees. Today i have opened up a new bed some 4ft x 6ft, under the new management 'maintenance reduction' directive, or to put it another way, Julie has told me she wants as little mowing as possible down the bottom half of the garden, meaning i can remove most of the turf and plant more veg.

Getting the turf of was remarkably easy, which belied the nightmare that was the actual digging. Each and every spit required levering, twisting, and pulling to free it of the roots, and dozens of root pieces ranging from thin fibres to inch thick taproots, needed removing. Freddy the bunny was watching all this from his run a few feet away.

Once dug, getting it into a usable seed bed was no trouble, just a few cycles of tread and rake to break up the chunks, level the plot, and firm the ground. And of course pulling out more roots as they surfaced.

Three rows of stuttgarter onions, ten per row, have gone into the new bed. Also, four flat drills were created for peas. Only the middle two drills have had peas sown, early onwards, forty per drill. The other two drills will be sown once the first pea seedlings are established, this way a good, prolonged crop should be possible.

Trouble now is, ive still a tub full of onions sets. Theres now way i can plant them all (no way i could eat them all if i did!) but when its only a quid for a bag you cant really justify getting them in smaller quantities. Perhaps i can pass them onto Barry if he's not already put his in.

PO - TA - TOES !

some of you may recall the televisual delight of the medieval peasant leaning on his pitchfork and spelling out 'Po - Ta - Toes', well if you do let me know where it came from, its been bugging me for ages,

anyways, back to the plot! the spuds are chitting well, so i took the time and trouble today to remove all but the best healthiest shoots. With only one shoot theres only one plant, and so i am led to beleive a bigger yield, rather than masses of foliage

the potato patch is now level, and raked to form a seed bed. A bag of spud fertiliser has been strewn over it, which will be raked in, and then the seed potatoes will be planted at the end of the month.

The last remaining cauliflower plants came out today. None of them looked like they would head, so the leaves have gone to Freddy and the boys to eat. The resulting space on the plot between the broccoli and the spring onions has been dug, raked into a seed bed, and two rows of boltardy beetroot and a row of jolant leeks sown. Similarly, the space where the broad beans were, has also beed dug and two rows of Hollow crown parsnips have been sown, with a faster growing row of little gem lettuces between them.

I was pondering how to mark these rows whilst eating my tea (which contained some steamed broccoli fresh from the garden, including aphids), when an idea popped into my head that would also make use of the triangular wooden offcuts from the timber used to make the chookhouse run - write on the triangular blocks with an indelible pen!

when placed at the ends of the rows, and pushed firmly down, these really do make the whole job look quite professional.

Sams two large tubs are now full of soil, ready for him to plant his carrots and salad leaves. My trouble now is planning where to plant everything, as i haven't enough bed space. Ive marked out a block to be dug for the sweetcorn, and another attempt at cauliflower will go in the small space next to the garlic. Ive also earmarked the unused far end of the plot for sprouts. This just leaves me wondering where to put carrots, squash, peas, beans, onions, more lettuce, calabrese and a few others. So, another bed has been marked out and an extension to the current one. Squash will grow in a large tub, and i think i will try runner beans from a hanging basket.

Looks like plenty more turfing and digging for me over the next couple of weeks. I should be used to it by now, yesterday i turned the middle compost bin, and moved its contents into the third bin. This needed doing to allow me to level the ground beneath the bin, in anticipation of insulating the middle bin to make a 'hot pile', where internal temperature can rise higher than normal to promote microbial activity. The turf i remove from the new plots will go to form an earth wall around the incinerator.

Bean and Gone

well, the broad beans have had it. Looks like chocolate spot desiese, so they are coming out and probably a root crop going in their place. Its a shame, but perhaps my own fault. I think they got damp under the polytunnel. Only Sams bean plant in its own tub has survived, and is flowering.

On the positive side, the broccoli is sprouting, and the garlic and spring onions seem to be doing well. The early carrots and spring cabbage have now come out from under their fleece. It looks like the cabbages might need some anti-slimycreature pellets around them.

The run for the chicken house is now almost complete, just needs a door! i may also put another wire framed end on, nearest the house, with a 'tunnel' from the pop hole. This is because i am putting the house on wheels, and sealing the run against predators might be a bit tricky. It will depend how it looks when the wheels are on.

The house door now has two bolts to secure it, and a pair of struts have been fitted to stabilise the door end of the house. I am also going to fit a window to let extra light in to help encourage laying. The pop hole ramp and the pearches still need to be fitted as well.

The spuds are all chitting nicely, ive build a bench in the garage that they are now stood on.