My first garden!

Well I got a dispatch email from Van Meuwen. I got excited thinking that my blackberries, raspberries and rhubarb were coming but they've only sent me more seeds. Got some lavender, Lupin Russel Mixed, Wallflower Persian Carpet mixed and foxglove pams split. Yet more colour!

For some reason they've doubled up my order for rhubarb at no extra cost. That's 8 rhubarb plants! Crikey! I might have to throw some in the front garden and just let them have fun. I don't think I've got the space for 8 plants all 3-4ft diameter

 

Priced up how much it would be to get some timber to make a frame for the raised bed. Like a greenhouse but using cloche fleece instead of glass. Turns out, for a sall 1ft tall frame it would be about £55 worth of timber. Decided to go to B&Q again

*pantomime bad guy sound*

Well I started playing with a bit of tubing. It's 3m long and 15mm diameter and I was bending it into an arch. It's quite stiff which is good. One elder man walked down the aisle, chuckled and said "you're pretty dangerous with that thing" and walked off

Anyway, I got 3 lengths and stuck them in the raised bed.


Much better than the 1ft tall lowtunnel I got. At least now the broccolli has some space to grow without restriction. My plan is to cut these pipes at the top and but T-connector at the ends and a cross in the middle. It will keep all 3 of them parallel. The other thing I'm going to do is get another length of pipe, cut it in half and put them in the middle, along that bar that seperates the levels, so that the top part points outwards and connect it to the top. That way the tunnel has strength against the wind across as well as along.

I also met a friend today. She was very tired so I made her a drink.




She's loving it. Having a good drink before setting off again. I might get/make a bee hotel at some point. I've seen a couple of bees struggling lately and they would probably like having a spot to stay in over winter.

 

Helloooooo

I bet you were using it as a light saber like in Star Wars weren't ya

Any chance of diagrams please, I can't understand a word you're in about :(

 

Kind of yeah

Diagrams? Good grief! A proper diva aren't ya?

 

Bar across the top connecting all 3 together. Makes them all stay upright.

2 arching pipes going outwards from the middle of the raised bed. They will connect to the top and it will help stop the tunnel from falling over.



If that doesn't clear it up then I'm not sure how else I can explain.

 

That's better, but,
:idealPB:

( don't laugh ), I've had an idea.....

Why don't you put three uprights in the arches ( one in each ) instead of putting another two arches inside the actual structure.

 

An idea? Ooooft did it hurt? It's a nasty habit!

I did think of that but there's a few reasons why I didn't do it.

1) Using the arches like this means that I have no obstructions at all in the ends. I can actually sit on the edge and lean right into the middle. Having upright posts there would get in the way a bit.

2) The uprights would need to be attached to the arch which isn't too easy without messing up the arches strength. I don't want to drill into it ideally.

 

Ok, I get where you're coming from.
I think I'd have to see it, there's just something that doesn't seem right, sorry :(

 

Haha it's a strange shape and looks pathetically clumsy. You're instinct that something doesn't seem right is for a good reason. I feel the same way. I'll try it out and see what happens. When the wind takes it and flings it over the fence then we can both laugh

Straight lines are more sturdy than curves because you can direct external forces along the supports. With this, made of bends, you can't really apply a force "down" the pipe. It will just bend more. The benefit is that it will have a bit of leeway in strong winds without putting pressure on the joints. The downside is that it could bend too far and disfigure the overall shape. Let's see shall we?

 

fandabydosie!

Just need to buy some very thick fleece now!

 

Ok I've placed another order. I think this is my final "significant" purchase. If I buy anything else it will be bits and bobs but this cost a fair bit. It will be here in 2 days if all goes well.

It's a wormery! Yippee!

I didn't want one that was a single container with a tap on the bottom. They are a pain to empty! I speak from experience. They are also awkward to move. So I've looked for ones with multiple levels that sit on top of each other.

I was going to get the Tiger Wormery from www.wormery.co.uk but a couple of reviews said that they aren't UV protected and they also cracked when it got colder. So I avoided that and got a Wormcity Wormery, for 3-4 people. I didn't want to get a 1-2 people one because I like to reuse as much as possible and I don't think it will be enough.

I'm now going through the Parkers magazine and looking at what I need to buy to finish the garden. I've got my eye on some alliums and ferns. I think that's going to be the final purchase for a while.

 

Got an email this morning saying that my wormery will be delivered today so I got really excited Then a bit later I got another one saying the wormery hadn't even made it to the depot so it wouldn't be getting delivered today. So then I was feeling a bit grumpy

I went out into the garden and started laying the flagstones properly. I wasn't really in the mood for it and soon gave up. About 1/3 of it is done though. I started deadheading carnations and mixing up my compost. The compost heap, by the way, is looking much better! I got all the leafy stuff out of it and buried it all in the corner of the garden, about 1 or 2 foot down. It took a while but it can decompose directly in the ground. The compost heap is looking very nice and everything is sweating down nicely. I was enjoyingwatching all the insect living in it (there's a lot!) and suddenly I got slapped in the face by this



It was a proper cartoon style event. Just stuck straight to my face Maybe it's a sign? Either way, it got ripped up and put in the compost. Waste nothing!

Shortly after, I got a delivery! My 3 fence posts arrived for my berry bush frame. More on that when I do stuff with them. Then another delivery! My wormery!!

Wrapped up outside and brought the box inside like a kid at christmas. My mum had a wormery and it went horribly. It was one of these:



It just turned into a block of clay basically. I helped her restart it and got really into it. It did pretty well from then on. I knew that when I moved out I would get one, but learn from the problems that this one had.

First off was the weight. When full, this thing was a pain to move. It was also tricky to move around the contents and we had to separate the compost with the worms from the rest of it. Unnecessary effort. The last thing is that you're stuck with the size and if anything breaks it needs replacing.

So I got the wormcity wormery. It's made of stacked boxes with holes in the bottom. You just add a new box when the other ones get full. You can move it by taking the boxes apart and when it gets going, you just take out the bottom box, empty the compost and place it on top and start adding scraps. Because it's made of separate boxes, if anything breaks I can get a replacement and I can expand the size of this wormery if I want to. I've gone straight for the 5 box wormery which is the biggest one you can get. It will be capable of coping with the waste of 2 people, plus all my trimmings from crops etc.

So, the setup. The box



Nice standard cardboard box which I can put in the wormery once I'm satisfied it doesn't need returning. I'm surprised how simple this is. There are only 2 components to the wormery, but some have holes in. The base is an upturned box, attached to a box with a hole in the front. A lid is placed upside down inside that, so the holes align. The tap just fits straight in.



The lid has steps which means if a worm falls in, it can climb back out. Handy! The next box sits in that and it's filled with coir that been soaked and wrung out until moist.


Oh by the way, I'm dog sitting for the future father in law. It's a very grumpy old jack russell who looks cute but doesn't stop barking.


Looks innocent but you'll see what he's like before long! In go the worms (1 kilogram of them!)



I've also sprinkled in 2 handfulls of soil from outside. They were big handfulls using both hands. That means there will be plenty of creepycrawlies in the wormery to help break things down. To start with, the wormery mix needs to build up bacteria to break down food, which then helps the worms digest it. They like their food on the mouldy side.

More coming...

 

Mmmm...... Don't like worms :(

Have you really got them inside your house ?

Is it just like having an ultra quick compost heap ? What's the tap for ?
Sorry, I know nothing about these.
I want your future f-i-l's doggie please :

 

I put a nice sprinkling of worm food in there too. They have been grown on a worm farm and having familiar food helps them settle in.


I should point out that I went with tiger worms instead of red wigglers. These are what I've used before and I'm going to stick with what I know and do it well.



Pretty colours!



He's still there... waiting for me to drop something so that he can steal it.

I put a load of cardboard in a bucket of water to soak.



Yum! I took a sheet out, wrung out the water and then placed it on the top of the compost. I started laying it on top but realised it would form a barrier and worms would get stuck on top of the cardboard. So I scrunched it up to let the worms move through it if they want. The idea behind this cardboard it to maintain some moisture in the rest of the compost.

And right on cue... mischievous sneaky dog




I then gave the worms a little light reading!



I just ripped this up and placed it on top to absorb excess moisture.



Once it was damp I ripped it up and spread it around, along with a few sheets of tissue paper.



All done! Happy worms! I put the lid on and realised that it doesn't leave any gaps. That's great for tonight because in the first week you can get "worm wander" which is where the worms decide to venture out of the wormery.



I'm glad it's a tight fit because I checked the lid an hour later.



Loooong worms!

I've got some worm food left over which I will use over the first few months and I've got a compost box to go in the kitchen to store my scraps. I've been using cereal bowls up until now so I'm happy I've got this. I've got compostable bags too which means I can take out some food for the worms and the rest can go in the compost heap. I love this! It's a really good feeling knowing that things are part of a greener system rather than just letting things go to waste.

I think it's something like 40% of household waste can be composted! That's nearly half the stuff been thrown away could be reused.

I'll let you know how things go.

By the way... holding 500g of warm worms in one hand is quite a sensation