Took the pick axe to a small area on Bed 8 but could not do too much, don't want to get too hot and sweaty as I'm working, so I did some weeding, some nail removal from pallet wood that's to be used for path edging. I opened the mini greenhouse that was very wet inside - I think its the water in the pepper seed tray that's promoting that and I will have to take down a tray with drainage to replace it next visit.
late home due to meeting and journey back from IWML - picked up an old fashioned fireguard off freecycle going to use it to protect plants in some way. And after dinner, I fixed the broken screen on my daughter Kelly's laptop.
I drilled the holes in the pop bottle bird scaring windmill I have made. I first saw these on Mr Sam The Allotment Mans YouTube video - I like his sense of humour and I have built mine based on the link he had on his early video
I found out last night that he has now produced his own video on how to make these. I found the cutting of the pop bottles really dangerous using a Stanley knife and I have previous for cutting half way through my left index finger as a model making teenager so I'm really careful and respectful of knifes.
I found a branded cola bottle that I can't really use for building greenhouses and it comes profiled with flutes around the base and in the top which act like guide lines for the cuts to form the blades.
I took the soldering iron to the top and bottom of the side flutes and burnt holes which sealed the plastic and then started a slot with a Stanley knife just big enough to get in scissors and cut between. then I folded each section and an angle of about 5 degrees at the top all in the same direction then repeated the process on the bottom so that when the pop bottle is squashed like a Chinese lantern the two ends match.
I have seen in the YouTube videos that ultimately the fixing of the wire keeps the windmill shape or the use of tape, but I was not happy with that, so I tool the soldering iron to the to touching ends and used it to weld the plastic together and spot welded around the circumference of the bottle.
Once done I then creased the ends of the blades flat and welded each blade at the mid point on one side then turned it around and did the same on the other side. I preferred this to the use of tape which may or may not last once wet.
I then cut up three of the bottle tops that I keep from the bottles used for the greenhouse frames into four and stuffed them inside the windmill via the cap.
Wire bent in a loop at the bottle cap end and another bottle cap with hole added to the rear to maintain clearance for the 90 bend in the coat hanger wire and job done... all that now remains is to drill a hole in the top of a timber stake for the wire to go into then the windmill can follow the wind and as it turns the noise from the cap bits inside will hopefully also help to scare the birds.
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