Woodwork

I was in the first year at my secondary school where girls were allowed to do woodwork. I wasn't great at it. But then I wasn't great at cooking then either and now I can do a 3-course meal for 24 with just a bit of stress.

So having turned pallets into a raised bed, I thought I'd have a go at turning floorboards into planters. Attempt no. 1 is shown:

It'll look better once the plants (zinnia at the back, geraniums in the middle, sweet william at the front) have grown a bit.

I need 2 more like this (or one longer one) to fill the gap:


It's a bit rough around the edges but it sits straight and square and will "do". For the next one I'm going to play with making the corners a bit neater.

Back to Project 1. Umm... Day 5?

Just a reminder of some of the "before" snaps:





Yesterday I spent another 3 hours and stuffed 2 wheelie bins full of ivy, sumac suckers, prunings from the holly, rose, buddleia and Brachyglottis Dunedin Group 'Sunshine' (which are now stumps) and bits of dead shrub that I found hiding in the wilderness.


The view from the side - the brachyglottis will sprout back and hopefully sprawl less. I might have killed off the buddleia but the base of the plant was in an unhealthy state so it might have been dying anyway. I pulled up and binned about 4 sumac suckers before checking their worth on ebay - I'll pot up any others I find and advertise them! The hebe got a trim.


Found this hiding under the brachyglottis and sumac suckers. I think it's euonymus.


The view from the bench.

So far: 14.5 hours, 6 wheelie bins and 2 "bonfire-in-a-bins"

Raised bed (sort of) building

In the interests of recycling (and reducing the amount of weeding I do) I decided to build a raised bed. I got one 3ft pallet and part of a 4ft pallet from Freecycle and got to work.

Step 1 - dismantle pallets. This was the hard bit! There was no way I could get the 4ft pallet apart so I made do with 4 decent slats from it. The smaller one was easier.
Step 2 - build a box 4ft x 3ft, two slats high (about 20cm).
Step 3 - remove turf from the box location and stack it upside down, rake excavated area flat.
Step 4 - Line excavated area with double layer of weed suppressant fabric. Put another double layer over the removed turf (well, it was thin cheapo fabric)!
Step 5 - Put box in position. Fill with mixture of growbag and vermiculite, about a 2:1 ratio.
Step 6 - mark out square feet with string (actually worked out as 11inch squares, I'm sure the cabbages won't care).
Step 7 -plant stuff

I realised exactly what the cats would make of a big box full of crumbly compost and added a lid made from an old secondary glazing (I think) plastic sheet that I found in the shed, courtesy of the previous owner.


So here it is - the turf came out to quite a depth so it is a half-sunken-raised bed.




Elsewhere on the allotment: the caulis are looking good.

Little, and...

large.

Taaa Daaaaah!

Project 2, Part 1 (the new path) is done!!


And from the other side:


The gravel is all the same colour, the most recently-raked bags are damp and look darker. I have still to build planters for the side of the path nearest the wall. That's why the paving slabs are off-centre.
I have a pink path!

Next: back to project 1 and ripping out ivy.

Project 2, day 1

Since the bottom of the garden has a dip that needs filled and the side of the house has some soil to be removed, it made sense to take a break from Project 1 and complete Project 2. Just a reminder: the Before picture.


I thought all I'd have to do would be remove the soil, put down a weed suppressant membrane and tuck it under the paving slabs then put gravel on top before building made-to-measure planters. However, the paving slabs were very uneven, not quite in a straight line and being pushed up by tree roots.

So I decided to replace the path too. I have removed the extra soil and dumped it in a dip in "Project 1" and lifted one row of paving slabs. Tomorrow I will remove the second row (and the roots underneath), go get some heavy-duty weed membrane and some edging stones, some sand and some more gravel. I will reuse some of the paving slabs I have lifted for the "new" path, unless I see some nicer ones on special offer !

Meanwhile at Project 1, there is some sky visible at the back now! Shame the photo was taken just as a rainstorm started so it's dark. Spot the heap of soil from Project 2!


We have guests this week. Gardening Cats are quite nonplussed by these creatures. I am moving their cage every day so they get a fresh patch of grass from which to nibble out the dandelions. They crap more than any other creatures I've ever had.

Project 1, Day 4.5

I got rained off yesterday after one and a half hour's work and half a wheelie bin load.

Jobs done: a bit more of the dry twiggy dead stuff removed from the far corner, most of a dead tree cut down and cut up into bonfire bits and more ivy and brambles removed. Ripe berries salvaged for pudding later!

I've made a few decisions about where to put the stone seat and what to plant so I will revise my sketches today. There's more space back there than I thought and there's more light now some of the overhanging tangle is gone.

Project 1, Day 4

Another three hours and another wheelie bin load. Another neighbour offered the use of her bins too!

Doesn't look much different from the end of day 3...

(spot the garden cat)

...but here's the evidence in that the firewood pile is getting bigger...


...and the bin is full.

There was a lot of soft, traily, whippy stuff that looked like privet gone mental. This tied everything up and was quite hard to get out. Gardening Cats helped with that quite a lot - as I wrapped it up from one end, they helped to hold the trailing ends down. Very Helpful Indeed.

Now I can see the fence! There is a lot of dead stuff here that is dry, brittle and tangled up.


The first time I've seen the pond from this angle!


So far: 10 hours, 4 wheelie bins.

Project 1, Day 3

Another two hours of clearing out ivy and dead plants. Here's what it looks like now:



The ground was (and still is in places) 20-40cm deep in leaf litter, dead branches, discarded prunings, old fence posts, angle iron and lost footballs. I have piled up the dry branches and will have a bonfire when it's all cleared out. The "sweepings" can go in the brown bin next week. I have balanced the footballs (3 so far and another visible but unreachable) on the back fence since that's probably the garden the originally came from. Wonder if the neighbours will appreciate their return?



Another view, and a confused cat. She'll have to find another jungle. I will probably hide the pond hose under some guttering and behind the retaining wall (plank and pile, if I decide it's necessary and will look right).



The other side of the pond. The variegated ivy can stay since it appears not to have tried to take over. Most of the plants in this area are going to stay.



and the view from the seat in front of the shed:



So far: time spent = 7 hours, wheelie bins filled = 3

Project 1, Day 2

I thought I better do some planning. Here's my sketch of what's in the area now. I missed out a few spindly plants that were probably planted by squirrels and are coming out with the ivy.


And here is the first plan of what will be there after I've finished. I reserve the right to change my mind frequently.


I spent 3 hours ripping up ivy and then tidying up afterwards. Filled a wheelie bin completely with chopped up ivy bits. Can you see a difference? I went through the, "why did I start this?" stage after 30 mins, then the, "maybe I should hire some muscle!" stage after 90 minutes, but that's not in the spirit of things at all. Looks worse now than when I started!


Look! I found the waterfall!

Project 1: Redevelop the area behind the pond.

If I call the front garden "Project 0" then the pond area is project 1 and the side of the house is project 2. Should keep me busy enough!

Before:

A general view of the pond area. Two compost bins make a poor display, a dilapidated shed is just to the left of the bins with a bench and there is a stone seat that is overhung by a conifer so much that you can't sit down.

At the side of the pond. There are some great plants here,  just gone wild. The sumac is beautiful but has lots of suckers and there is a rose bush and a buddleia that haven't been pruned for 5 years.

A large sumac sucker, several years old, a spindly buddleia 

and a spreading conifer of some sort. There are brambles too.

After emptying and removing the first compost bin and pulling up some of the ivy. About two hours work if I include the time spent putting the compost on the allotment. There is a cable and a water pipe (for the pond pump, filter and waterfall) to be hidden.

The rest of the ivy to come out. I want to have the ivy cleared and replaced with something less invasive before the frogs hibernate amongst it.

Off to do some planning sketches!

The Attack of the Two-Headed Vegetables!

I'll take a better pic when it's a bit bigger, but I'm getting two cabbages from one stem here!


Meanwhile, on the ex-pea bed

Looks a bit bare. I weeded and raked the lumps to the sides and sowed about 16 Florence Fennel seeds. Variety: zefa fino. You can just about see that the aubergine plants are exactly the same size as they were last time. Sacrificial companion plant nasturtium is doing well though, not a bug on it!

The mystery potato bed got similar treatment with 50 onion seeds for overwintering. Variety: senshyu.


The garlic has really sprung up since I planted it!

Told you I had a purple lobelia! I was trying to take a picture of an enormous bumble bee with an orange backside but it was faster than my camera.

Feline helper. Making sure the flowerbed is warm enough.

It had to happen, she was the first cat to climb the pergola but not the first to get back down unaided.

Gardening Cats

Asleep amongst the grasses.


Resting her eyes in the gap between the verbena and the dahlias.


Gassed.

Spud City

I dug up all the potatoes yesterday since it was a nice sunny day and they'd have to dry before bagging.


The haul of desirees. Half for me, half for AN.


Slug damge? I caught three slugs in the act of chomping on my potatoes. Potato was their last meal.


More slug damage? I put these with the "damaged - use now" collection. I made cheesy mash with my half of the dodgy tatties and froze it.


The mystery spuds. They have thin skins so I think they are not a maincrop variety. I am feeding the running club on Tuesday so they will get baked potatoes. It's a charity meal - £5 per head for three courses, all proceeds going to Oxfam and the Gurkha Welfare Trust. It's all to do with my other incarnation as an ultrarunner. Sponsor us - it's a good cause. I'm making a pasta salad starter, baked potato with chili for main and a choice of cheesecake or (and?) apple crumble and custard for pud. All home made, as much home grown as possible.


This was the maincrop potato bed. I'll split it into two and it can have spring cabbage and overwintering onions next.


One of the struggling aubergine plants. It just hasn't been warm enough I think.


The most prolific plants on the plot have been the sacrificial nasturtiums. Not a blackfly in sight on these!


One or two of the cabbages are unhappy. I pulled this one up to look for clubroot and/or cabbage root fly.


No maggots, but not much root either. Maybe I just planted too densely.

And the rest...

While in the mood for preserving, picked, blanched and froze the courgettes that were ready.

Delivered some potatoes and onions to AN and escorted her lad to see his cucumbers. They're brill! He's pleased that "the book says" you get a maximum of 10 per plant and he counted 12. So we ate two... It's nice to have cukes that actually taste of something.

Bought a half-decent saw and cut up the branches in the woodpile. Felt a bit sorry for the frog I made homeless, but there are plenty of damp, shady places in my garden. Besides, we have loads of snails so the frog has been doing a poor job.

I bought a shredder to chop up the smaller branches - a Bosch AXT Rapid 180 - with the idea of making material I could use on top of weed-suppressant membrane to make paths in the allotment. Claims to be able to shred branches up to 3.3cm diameter. What a load of sh1te! After unblocking it (i.e. take it apart with a screwdriver) about eight times I gave up and put it back in its box before I was too tempted to kick it around the garden. It's going back to the shop and they know it's coming.