WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2023

Going to rake more leaves, drag to the burn pile. Guess, should not get the leaf blower noise going today, or the mower. won't have to deal with the rolled pork roast till about 3PM. not hard to get it together. Its not even Noon yet.

 

Storm Pia reorganised my garden so I had to re- reorganise it.



Greenhouse cover is probably swiftly approaching Norway and five pots of well rooted Lacecap Hydrangeas have totally disappeared. Vincas and other bits and bobs that are dead easy to root and always available are still safely there. Overwintering Frogbits are gone, but the bowl was found.

Succulents using the greenhouse as rain cover seem to be ok, slightly battered but still there.

I may be forced to buy some new plants to replace the losses, what a harrowing thought!

Oh, I also learnt that my precious Morinda seedlings I was so happy about may in fact be Passifloras. At some point I'll find out.

 

Hi,

I typed the following out yesterday but forgot to hit post reply; must have had a senior moment.

What a wonderful day; no rain but cold.

This morning I wrapped up well and decided to rotavate the middle meadow. All was going well until the rotavator quit on me. The hinged mounting plate the engine is secured to has two "stops" the arrangement is as the control rod is pulled it lifts the engine engaging the drive belt to the pulleys; a bearing is used and the whole set up is crude but does work; one of the stops had broken off so the mechanism won't lock. This afternoon I've spent the last hour fiddling about trying to make a temporary repair in order to complete the rotavating; it's now getting too dark and cold to carry on.

There's nothing for it but to make a permanent repair; I don't like bodging. The biggest problem is the rotavator is in the garden hut part way up the garden; the workshop is some distance away located beneath the bungalow; I don't ever do easy.


It's very hard work controlling the rotavator up the steep slope but it was doing well until it quit with only the triangular section still to rotavate; I might do this last section the way I usually do; the hard way and dig it over with a spade. I want to give the rotavator repair some thought because I'm unhappy with crude arrangement of engaging the engine; there must be a better way but I'm happy with the rotavator in general now it's restored; this isn't a major problem just a major frustration I could do without.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Shame that you couldn't finish your rotavatvating @Retired and hope that you can finish with digging.

Nothing today it's raining again.

 

I did get my super hot chillie seeds started yesterday. There are 13 or 14 varieties.

I usually have my onion seeds started by yesterday but I am anxiously awaiting the delivery of my kelsae onion seeds to get started. I wasn't going to get any this year because the place I had ordered from previously had jacked up the prices and wanted a ridiculous sum for the seeds. I decided at the last minute, on the 18th of December, to find a new supplier and sure enough, I found one at half the price and still here in Canada which made postage affordable too.

In anticipation of the seeds, I'll get to making a bunch of soil blocks to have ready to plant.

And I am going to the office supply place today to buy some little adhesive dots that come in various colours. I'll use those to identify vegetables (green) perennials (purple) chillies (red) annuals (yellow) on the lids of my new seed storage system that granddaughter Sam put together for me as a Christmas present. It has 64 of those little containers. How cool is that?

 

That's a good idea, that way you will always know which is which - till you don't!

 

Hi,

Terrific wind driving heavy rain again. No problem though it wasn't going to stop me. This morning I wandered down to the workshop with an idea in my head how to sort out the rotavator problem.


I made this clamp to clamp onto the clutch control rod; the rod is pulled in order to pivot the engine engaging the drive belt to the gearbox. Two blocks of mild steel drilled & tapped to accept 6mm dia countersunk set screws; both blocks were tightly secured together then the central hole was drilled to suit the rod diameter but slightly smaller so it would grip the rod.

Here's the new "stop" in position. This control rod engages the engine to the tines the second cranked control rod engages the forward power drive. The rope is the starter rope where's it's kept handy.

Another picture showing the rod with the drive belt tight; pushing the rod lowers the engine to disengage the drive. I'm confident it's a successful modification but with the wind and rain trying to remove the hut from the garden I wasn't too keen to drag the rotavator out of the hut to test it.


Here's the actual linkage at the other end of the control rod. The lever behind the cam has a bearing which runs directly under the engine mounting plate; as the control rod is pulled the engine lifts. unfortunately the "stop" on the engine base plate broke away allowing the lever to pull right over hence dropping the engine. It's a simple throw over mechanism. In order to repair would mean removing the engine and engine mounting plate in order to weld in new metal; given the amount of time already spent on this restoration and our dire weather I thought I'd look for an easy simple solution to the problem; it looks easy but it took quite a bit of thought; I had spent an hour wasting time messing around with the lever assembly but gave up thinking there must be a better solution hence I came up with this; I do have excellent workshop facilities and enjoyed sorting this out saving lots of work and time; weather permitting I look forward to resuming rotavating.

I've gone on a bit but perhaps there might be someone else with the same problem.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

I'm glad this is NOT what I am doing in the garden. It takes all kinds..

"A B.C. woman who has felt lonely for much of her life has found herself in a fulfilling new re

Sonja Semyonova, 45, said that the feelings she experiences with the oak tree are what she has always sought in a human.

“I had been craving that rush of erotic energy that comes when you meet a new partner and that is not sustainable,” she explained.

But out of all the trees near her home, one large oak caught her attention and she began having “erotic” experiences the following summer."

 

Hi,

I too had an experience with a big oak tree in August this year; I removed it.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Well that's one way of getting rid of the evidence.

 

Just checked out the allotment after a few days away. More varieties of garlic are sprouting and the winter salads are slowly growing . Can't say it excites me in the same way as some though

 

Hi,

Shopping first thing this morning; then over to Argos to return a faulty electric blanket. Back home have a violin practice and now I've just come out of the garden having completed rotavating the middle and going over the top meadow again; it was perishing cold up there but if I wait for warmer weather I'll be a lot older.


Middle meadow rotavating now completed.

Feeling flushed with success why not rotavate the top meadow again.

Looking downhill.

Controlling the heavy rotavator on the slope is incredibly hard work but much quicker than digging with a spade. With the previous rotavator scrapped and whilst I worked restoring my Howard Bulldog rotavator I did dig this middle meadow over using a spade; Last year there were eight huge trees covering the middle of the garden now the middle meadow. Since March last year I've removed a small forest consisting of 17 huge trees and digging out the eight stumps plus roots in the middle section; I think this is the hard way to do a bit of gardening; I'm too thick and stubborn to quit once I start something. Hopefully 2024 will prove a bit easier.

Dinner time now and I'm needing recharging.

Kind regards, Colin.