Worm Tower Build continues......

Holes at every 22.5 degrees around the circumference measured from the middle of the pipe, staggered 1/2 inch in alternate rows.

There was something very satisfying about drilling those holes

Stood in the very middle of the 4ft x 3ft raised bed and until I can pick up some saucers to cap the pipe

I've dropped a plant pot over so that when I fill the bed I will not fill the pipe with compost and soil.

Four 3ft Boards have been screwed ready for assembly, and more screws have been ordered from Toolstation

#wormtower

The Worm Tower

 

I recall my wife saying "Why have you kept that offcut of the soil and vent pipe" and my reply was "It may come in useful one day" and today is that day. 

A 9" off cut that will stand 25mm or 1" from the soil surface in the raised bed in the top half that will contain grass cutting, coffee grounds, shredded leaves, top soil and compost but needs to become charged with life and worms to make the soil rich to support life. 

I will be drilling at 1/4 and 1/8 points all around the pipe 

#WormTower #Vermicomposting #CompostingTips #RaisedBedGarden #OrganicGardening

Second Level of Scaffold Board Frames

A visit to the allotment this morning to cut up the 8ft scaffold boards into 4ft and 3ft boards to make more frames for the back garden allotment. Filled 8 number 30 litre square flower buckets with woodchip.

Brought it all home and decanted from the car. Kelly helped with the scaffold boards when she got home from work, and then we placed the second level frames on the two filled first level frames.

More timber decking tiles added to the two beds. The sack of sawdust was obtained off Freecycle.

Sawdust placed in between the slats. then woodchip added on top.

2nd Level scaffold board raised bed frame lifted in place over the hoops.

Remainder of woodchips added to bring the level of woodchip to the top of the first scaffold board. Grass clippings from my sisters back garden which have been stacked for a few days and already decomposing.

Woodchips watered and then my sisters grass cuttings added to the bed.

Then spread over the beds footprint and watered in.

Four sacks of topsoil bought from Wicks yesterday, 4ft and 3ft scaffold boards brought back from the allotment to make the next lot of raised bed frames.

2nd Raised Bed filled At Base Level

Hoops added to the first Raised Bed filled base level. I need to bring some debris netting home from the allotment

Square Flower Buckets of Woodchips collected last night unloaded and taken to the back garden

Second raised bed filled with rotting timber decking tiles and woodchips and hoops added. Four bags of topsoil bought from Wicks and repair concrete to level the bearings for the new timber decking.

Back Garden Allotment

Working in the back garden this morning filling one of the raised beds starting with a layer of magic cardboard and lifting the old decking tiles, some which just fell apart. Scraping the moss and debris off the concrete then laying the tiles. Some of the concrete/ mortar mole hills and levelling mounds have become de-bonded from the underlying slab and need replacing.

wo old tiles and scrap timber

Covered in woodchips

Woodchips levelled then two more tiles and additional timber from a tile that fell to pieces

Another layer of woodchips and the bottom frame of one raised bed is filled

Tiles lifted and broken pegs removed, the moss and silt scraped to de-bond it from the concrete

Concrete swept clean

New tiles laid. I will need to get some mortar mix to level and support in some areas. Trip to B&Q this afternoon to get more tiles and mortar in order I think

20 more timber tiles purchased from the stack they had at Purley Way B&Q. 

Timber Decking Tiles

Yesterday I went to Wicks to look at their 500mm x 500mm decking tiles and they were not square and the timbers on the underside were not on the edge and were not parallel or even the same offset from the edge. 

They were priced at £13 and were made of thicker timber but would not work as replacement as I built concrete upstands at 250mm centres for the tiles to bear on, as a previous owner had laid the slab underneath to falls towards the house and I had to install an acco drain that runs along the back of the house, to prevent rising damp when I bought the house in 1991  

Today I went to my local B&Q to look at their tiles and ended up buying a trolly load, selecting the best of what was in the two stacks on the shelve. 

They didn't have 42 in stock when I got there more like 30 ish 

.I sorted out the best of the pile and filled the trolly with 14 of them 

The boot will easily take more than 14 tiles and I could always get more on the back seat, I just need to find another B&Q who has stock as I need 82 tiles in all to do the whole deck.

They were carried through the house and into the back garden, and as if by magic my daughter Kelly stop on one of the iffy looking ones and it broke under her. 

Back Garden Allotment

The photo above, is a view from the kitchen back door, The wicker furniture will be going and I will be replacing the timber decking on the patio this year, but for the moment the furniture is supporting scaffolding boards that I can drill and screw ready for assembly.

I have been fighting to convert my allotment into a more disabled friendly place, but finally I have decided I will have to give up half of my allotment Plot 1A or the whole allotment Plots 1A & 1 at the end of this growing year in October.

What's made me come to this decision?

A number of factors I guess, I have early signs of cataract in my right eye and my diabetic eye exam noticed a little bleed behind my eye. The government is targeting 70 year old drivers, and I'm only two years away from being 70 and although my eyesight is Ok at the moment it's going to get worse and if I can't drive, my allotment is just too far away from home to get to and from easily.

With the impending fuel shortages, cost and availability of fuel may again prevent me from filling the car allowing me to get to and work my plots.

WWIII is here and the government is targeting our farmers and trying to destroy our ability to feed ourselves, and I believe there will be food shortages, and as in WWII one will be encouraged to grow food in the back garden, so I want to be ahead of the game.

And finally I love to grow vegetables, and have no practical other use for the back garden, these days.

I have cut scaffolds boards to make more raised bed at the allotment but they are stacked on a number of raised beds. that are already constructed. I will need to remove these boards so I can actually use those beds, this year.

So I've made the decision to bring those scaffold boards home and set up a mini allotment in the back garden. The photos taken this morning in this post show how far I have got over the last couple of days, building raised bed frames and laying out the beds.

I will be putting paving slabs either side of the beds so I can get out there all year round. I have been collecting paving slabs off Freecycle for the last 12 years, so they may as well come home with me as well.

The row at the back that has three beds allows me to locate the beds such that a path of paving slabs can be placed parallel to the retaining wall. A storm broke the post in the fence where the trellis has been removed either side in 2023 when I was being treated for cancer and I'm going to replace it this year, now I have regained more mobility.

We have not used the umbrella washing line for around 15 years and that will be going, if I can manage to extract it from the concrete base! 

First batch of woodchip to fill the first level of frames to reduce the amount of compost and topsoil required. I need to bring blue water pipe hoops and debris netting home before I start filling as there are too many cats that come and use our garden as a litter tray. I have loads of cardboard filling my greenhouse on the plot, that will come home to cover the grass in the beds before the woodchips and old timber I have goes in the bottom of each bed.

Photo taken from the back of the garden up by the greenhouse at about 3:15pm 

The sun rises at the front of the house and gradually comes around to the rear of the house, which means I can keep out of direct sunlight in the early morning and then the apple trees offer some shade until early evening when the garden is once again in direct sunlight. 

The medication I'm on advises me to keep out of direct sunlight, and I have taken to wearing long sleeved T-shirts and a Winne the Poo hat with neck flap, but having the allotment in the back garden will allow me to work in areas of the garden that are in shade throughout the day. 

This was another factor that made me decide to do this, as following the building of the flats and the removal of the trees at the back of Mill Green plot 1A, I no longer have a source of shade, other than the potting shed which is normally 10C - 20C hotter than the outside temperature.  

Site Inspections Today

 

This morning I went to visit Emma and grandson Digby, who was very loving and wanted to sit with grandad for lunch. 

 
Then it was off to the allotment to meet Jane from idverde who was doing the site inspections today, and surprise surprise, so many plot holders were there as I had let them know she was coming and even the father of one of the plot holders came to strim the grass and weeds.

There are a few plot holders that will be getting no cultivation notices, but less than last year and a couple of the usual suspects will be getting notices. 

The last few days I have been loading the car with the scaffold boards that were going to be used for raised beds on the allotment, but will now be used to make a back garden allotment. This will allow the beds I have already created to be used on plot 1 and I will be clearing the bindweed on plot 1A and growing on there, and have decided to give up plot 1A at the end of the year if not the whole of Avalon.  

Gardeners Don't Quit.....

 

I resemble that remark ..... 

Bindweed on Plot 1

 
This was the view on the 17 April of the bindweed on plot 1 on the 17th when I used a whole bottle of weedkiller to hopefully kill the roots. Four days later a few leaves looked sun scorched, but the weeds didn't look in distress like I had hoped. 

I took my strimmer down and attacked the bind weed in an attempt to slow it down so I can deal with it. 

Please Vote For Mill Green Allotment

 

Mill Green Allotment is in the 40 plots or less category and is currently 2nd for the most votes and we only have 20 plot holders

Please  Vote Here 

As of this weekend these are the results in the £500 voucher category Yellow pins 

1. Kimberworth Park Allotments 
2. Mill Green Allotments 
3. Three Pits Allotments 
4. Carter Royd Allotments 
5. Sydney Street Allotments 
6. Tullos Crescent Allotments 
7. Castle Hill Allotments 
8. Community Plot (Gavin Morgan) 

Kimberworth Park Allotments

Mill Green Allotments

Mill Green has less plot holders than Kimberworth Park Allotments

Plots 9 & 9A out of Action due to Japanese Knotweed

Back Garden Allotment

 

Since seeing the bindweed burst into growth on plot 1A, I have been wrestling with perhaps giving up that plot at the end of this growing years and have even been considering perhaps the whole of Avalon (Plots 1 &  1A) 

With the price of petrol and the availability that will only get worse if not rationed as WWIII expands, and the ability to grow food at home where it will be harder to steal unlike the allotment, it's a no brainer to set up a garden allotment.    

I have the cut scaffold boards already on the allotment for 1200mm x 800mm raised beds. 

Bloody Bindweed

The Bindweed has come back on plot 1 with a vengeance. I hate to do it but I have sprayed it all with weed killer as it's going to get away from me, if I don't.  

Bindweed and mares tail is popping up in newly completed bed H1 Before weeding photo.

After weeding Photo of Bed H1

Bed 15 that was weeded a week ago was sprouting bindweed and mares tail, so that got weeded 

Bed 15 covered back up 

Climbing Frame Greenhouse beds need weeding and bindweed is growing up the mesh. 

Please Vote For Mill Green Allotment

 

 

Mill Green Allotment is in the 40 plots or less category and is currently 2nd for the most votes and we only have 20 plot holders

Please  Vote Here 

As of this weekend these are the results in the £500 voucher category Yellow pins 

1. Kimberworth Park Allotments — 89 votes
2. Mill Green Allotments — 62 votes
3. Three Pits Allotments — 57 votes
4. Carter Royd Allotments — 44 votes
5. Sydney Street Allotments — 42 votes
6. Tullos Crescent Allotments — 34 votes
7. Castle Hill Allotments — 0 votes
8. Community Plot (Gavin Morgan) — 0 votes

Kimberworth Park Allotments

Mill Green Allotments

Mill Green has less plot holders than Kimberworth Park Allotments

Plots 9 & 9A out of Action due to Japanese Knotweed