turning an old demijohn into a cloche

I discovered this method by accident a few years ago while trying to clean an old bottle. I found an old demijohn outside and well past being able to clean it and more wanting to try this out!!

It’s dead simple, get a washing up bowl and add really cold water enough to cover the bottom of the demijohn, about a couple of inches. Leave it in there for a while to make sure the base is nice and cold. Then just boil the kettle and pour in the boiling water. If your lucky it should crack instantly and the bottom just drop out. If not give it a twist.

There you have it instant mini green house, the best part is you recycle something thats otherwise useless and it won’t blow away like plastic bottles.

april in the vegatable patch

Right no hints and tip’s this is just a list of things that have gone in. I was going to say it’s all from seed this year but someone just gave me some onion plants, which apparently are going to be more expensive this year. So thats a win win. Everything is probably too close together but most of the seed packets are well out of date so I thought I’d put everything in that I’ve got. For now this is what’s in.

Parsnips gladiator F1
Carrot Autum king
Beetroot bolt hardy
Spinach Beet perpetual spin
Lettuce little gem
Raddish Scarlet Globe
Broad Bean bunyards exhib
Early Pea Kelvedon wonder
Purple Sprouting Broc
Salad Leaf Rocket
Oriental Salad Leaves
Roob Cima Di Rapa

Don’t you just love the names? All seem to be doing OK apart from the early pea which despite it’s name is nowhere to be seen. It could be that the seed is too old. Below is a picture of my notebook, which I love. I wish I had kept one ever year too compare the years by, I think it’s more of me being a geek than anything useful though.

herb spiral two years on

Well at least I think it’s about two years old I can’t quite remember now. Anyway seen as this is my most viewed post I thought I would show some photos of even though I’m not still living here anymore.

There is still plenty of room for improvement. There are loads of gaps still which i used to use for annuals but would be better served by more perennials. I wish I’d never put the lemon balm in, other than the beautiful aroma I’ve never used it and it takes over the whole bloody thing by the summer. the rocket comes back year after year and if picked regular is manageable. The borage is also too large but the slugs harvest most of that so I don’t have too. Nice of them.

Other than that though everything does very well with little or no maintenance. I think I’ll shift the tree onions onto the spiral this should help then to not spread all over but then it’s on it’s own. Can you ever really give a garden up?

taking the garden with you

As I’ve previously said due to me and my wife separating I no longer live at home, this is also the reason that I have no been keeping up with posting. Anyway over the past few days I’ve been moving out my stuff books, tools and stuff. Today however I’ve been looking at the garden, it’s awful to think but I think I miss this the most.

Of all the things that I own and have put a lot of time into, the garden is something I wish I could take with me. I know it’s not possible and also even though plants can be moved etc the design as a whole only works because over the past eight years I’ve learned what grows where and all of the other little micro climates that you can only become intimate with over time. even if I could pick it up and put it somewhere else it could never be the same garden.

There are some certain plants however that can be moved, some that can be split and some were planted very recently and so have not yet become established. The question though is not can I move them but should I ? I’ve tried to create a garden which works in harmony with it’s surroundings so by takings things out I risk upsetting the balance.

I think more of my problem is this idea of ownership, I feel a great attachment to my garden and also don’t want it to become overgrown and unmanageable. At the end of the day the garden was deigned for this site and should stay as it was designed, I’ll just have to give it up and keep my eye on it from time to time. The thought of having to start all over again is exciting though so at least there is a positive in all this.

today is buy nothing day

http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/

Saturday November 24h 2007 is Buy Nothing Day (UK), It’s a day where you challenge yourself, your family and friends to switch off from shopping and tune into life. The rules are simple, for 24 hours you will detox from consumerism and live without shopping. Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending!

It’s buy nothing day and I can say that I will not be buying a thing not because i agree with the whole idea but more for the fact that I don’t have a penny!!

First organic garlic

After all thats gone on in my life and subsequently effecting the garden, I am very proud of this garlic. The other reason is that I try every year to grow garlic and it never produces anything, so it may be due to the fact that I have always tried to grow it from supermarket bought garlic, where as this season I ordered organic bulbs. I think that there must be some manipulation going on in the garlic from the supermarket, all the reason to go organic!

It’s not all quite ready at the moment but if the rest is as good as these then I’m on a winner. It’s a great crop for a small space as you can plant quite a lot which will keep you in garlic for ages, well unless you get a lot of vampires where you live.

trees for the future

50 Million Trees and Counting: Trees for the Future

when is it going to rain ?

Now coming from an english man it may seem that I’ve lost my mind. I’m not complaining the weather for the last few weeks has been amazing but the gardener in me is getting impatient. I have not been keeping a record but I know that it has not rained here in nearly 20 days as thats when I fixed the water butts so they are still sitting empty. I would also go as far as saying that it hasn’t rained for three weeks.

I’m not saying that this is a sign of global warming I’m just sick of having to use the tap to collect water for the plants and seedlings. The dry weather also means that I’m having to water the rest of the garden aswell causing me to use even more water than normal.

It does make me think about how we would cope if we relied on the rain for all our water or even just for crops without the tap I would have nothing left by now.

If it rains tomorrow don’t blame me for moaning about it and knowing my luck it will rain for the next three weeks non-stop, sorry.

april’s permaculture veg patch

What with coming back from Bulgaria and having my wisdom teeth out this years growing season has been a little behind but I’m almost back on track now. I managed to drag my puffy face down to my mothers and get some seeds in.

Here’s what went in.
Chard blue lights
Spinach beet- perpetual spinach
Beetroot bolthardy
Lettuce mixed
Leeks - forget which sort
Sugar snap peas
Pea kelvedon wonder

This is my experiment for this year to see if I can simply just push the pea seed through the paper mulch. I’m surethat it will be fine and also I hope that it will stop the pigeons from digging them all up but thats a long shot.

I was very pleased to find that the sandy soil under the mulch was quite moist which surprised me as it has not rained here for over two weeks. The only problem is that there was quite a number of slugs under there as well but I deal with that by just planting more seed one for me one for the slug.

My best victory has been between me and the cabbage white, last summer it totally decimated my cabbage and broccoli crop and although I lost all the cabbages and most of the broccoli the purple sprouting because of it’s long season has come back beautifully. All I need now is to be able to eat and I can enjoy it.

I’ll also be potting on most of the seedlings like tomato chilli pepper and the squashes in the next few days. My only problem is that I’ve lost a number of seed packets, I think I need a word with the little lad.

april’s garden photo’s

Here is is part of my tub crop raddish lettuce and garlic

this is the herb spiral looking a little healthier.

I proud of the thifty use of this old window that I’ve just put into the shed door. I just need to get the roof on the shed now! I’m hoping for something to turn up on freecyle as up to now all the materials have been free.