How make a gate (a rough guide) ... ...

I figured it's about time I wrote another post seeing as it's bee a while since the last one.
Things have been a little hectic of late, finally got approval to build a small poly-tunnel on our allotment plot, so got that to do, spent 3 hours weeding the plot in the rain the other day, not ideal, but had to be done weeds grow very quickly.

Anyway I thought I'd give people a rough idea on how to build a simple gate, it's really not that hard even if you don't have much practical experience it's a good starter project, and it's easy enough that the kids can help as well.

I had to build a gate for our allotment plot, well I didn't have to it was the easiest option for the small issue of no fencing on the front of the plot, and as it's half a plot, fencing off the front was cheaper than fencing our section and putting some kind of divider down the middle, not that it cost that much as I recycled some wood from various places.

Here's the gate in place -

The fencing was recycled from our pond cover.

It's not a perfect gate, but it does the job, I got the wood for it from a couple of saw horses I made to hold our desktop whilst I worked on it. Ideally the diagonal piece should go from corner to corner, but it wasn't long enough :-)

Making a gate is easy, and you can approach the job in different ways I've made a few gates through the years, big ones, small ones and all sorts of other types.

You can make your gate as simple or as complicated as you want, it depends on what you want it for, the gate for the allotment just need to serve as an entrance into the plot, so I was too bothered about aesthetics, just as long as it could be locked and opened easy I was happy.

Here's a closer look at the allotment gate - 

It's upside down in this picture, but you can see how it's built.

It's basically a square frame with some extra bits for strength, I chopped the wood out on the uprights and the diagonal piece so that the diagonal sat inside the main frame, but you could just fix it across without chopping it in, although for a nice neat job it's probably better to chop it in.

This is a picture of our front garden gate, I built it 4 years ago and it's still as strong now as it was then :-) it's a slightly more complex build, but don't worry I drew some diagrams (all be it dodgy ones) to give you an idea of how it's made.

Front garden gate -

Could do with a coat of paint now :-)

This one is made to be a lot sturdier than the first one, it's a good idea to think about where the gate is, how much it's going to be used and things like where will hinges fix to it and any locks, the allotment gate only has a few small hinges and a small slide bolt, the gate itself weighs very little compared to this one.

If you click on the picture you should get a larger view, which will give you a closer look at how it's made (don't forget to click back in your browser ;-)

Here's a picture of the other side of the gate -

I used some large t hinges on this, and it's self closing, by way of the spring.

I made a diagram to show how it fits together, but again if you click on the picture you can get a closer look, the main frame of this gate is fixed in a different way to the allotment gate, this one uses wooden dowels to secure the main frame, I didn't want to see any fixings when looking down on the gate, I just used screws on the allotment gate.

Dodgy diagram time ;-) 

This is how I built the front garden gate.

Feel free to copy the pictures, they might prove useful, this gate was perhaps a little more complicated than it needed to be, I guess I was experimenting a little with it, but it works so I'm pleased (not all my experiments work) I've made another diagram which might help explain a little more what's going on with this particular gate.

Another diagram -

Perhaps not the clearest of descriptions.

If you compare the above diagram to the pictures you should get a clearer idea of how this gate is built, however if you don't want to get this complicated you can build a gate easily, in about an hour (maybe less) and for as little as £15 if you buy new wood, if you can recycle some wood from some where then it'll be even cheaper.

Here's the last diagram (I promise ;-)

Doesn't get much easier.

As it says in the diagram this gate uses 9 pieces of wood, depending on how many uprights you use, obviously more uprights the wider the gate, so it's a good idea to measure the hole where you intend to put the gate, this will give you an idea of how much wood you'll need, you can also work out how far apart to put each upright and how high to make it. 

You can see that the upright pieces are fixed to 3 other pieces (the 2 horizontal and the 1 diagonal) this isn't going to stop a charging bull, but it'll do to keep things out of certain areas of your garden (things like the kids or the dog, or both) and as the diagram says you don't need the diagonal piece, but I would use it as it will make the gate much stronger.

Thanks for reading.

Handmade row markers ... ...

To go with our new veg beds, we decided to make some bespoke ;-) wooden row markers, after all you need to know what you planted and where, with a memory like mine I need all the help I can get :-)

Here they are (the ones we've done so far, there will be more)

Ta da ! 

Okay they are simple enough to make, these are made from scraps of wood, the one in the background was made from a scrap of wood left over from the pallets we used to make the raised beds.

Nothing special, built more for function than form I guess. The lettering was done using a pyrography tool which if I'm honest has been sitting around for more than a year, this is the first time I've used it (pyrography is basically burning designs into wood) as you can see it's not perfect, probably requires a steadier hand than mine, I used a letter stamp set as a template, stamping the letters on in ink first, then burning them into the wood.

The other three markers were made out of a couple of bits of tongue and groove, I marked a basic stake sort of shape out on the wood and then cut them out on my scroll saw, you could use a coping saw or a hack saw, then I gave them a quick sand, I haven't coated them in anything yet, I'm still wondering about what to coat them in, I'll probably use a varnish of some sort.

Some more pictures -

I should have drawn a line on them to get the letters level :-)

And another - 

Handy if vampires invade the garden ;-)

I got to thinking that this would make a nice project for older kids to do, I say older kids because of the tools involved, but there's no reason younger kids can't do it, you could do the cutting out and such like for them, then they can decorate them, they don't even have to be wood, you could make them out of clay, although it would need a varnish or some other coating, it might make a nice project for kids to do as well, why not set them the task of designing their own row markers ? they could research designs,materials and it doesn't matter if you don't grow veg or have a garden they could be presents for relatives who do.

This is the one I made from a piece of scrap left over from the veg beds - 

A slightly more decorative one.

They don't have to be plain stake like markers, which is why I thought about making it into a project, or why not just for fun ? you can find scrap bits of wood in the off cuts bin in most diy type shops, you could make them from branches that have fallen off trees, or as I mentioned clay, or some other material.

The stake like ones in the veg beds - 

Beans.

Peas.

And there you have it, it didn't take long to make them, I've since made a few more for the various other things we've planted, and I'll make more as we go along. Okay so we didn't need to bother, but why not add a little bit of a personal touch to the garden ? no harm in it, and as I've said it might keep the kids busy for a little while.

Thanks for reading.

 

I've got a lovely bunch of... bird feeders ?

It's the time of year when our feathered friends may be having a little trouble finding a good meal, so why not help them out a bit ?

Just lately our youngest has developed a taste for coconuts, or rather coconut milk, it started when I got a couple from the supermarket so I could use the shells, it's amusing to watch her sitting on the sofa with a straw sticking out of a coconut with out a care in the world, it's what's great about having kids.

So onwards, I got the coconuts to use the shells for making bird feeders, not original I know, but as it gets colder we like to help the birds out a little, we don't feed them everyday but we do try and make sure they can at least get a meal every few days.

I built a bird table a few years ago and up until this year it was pretty much all we used, we would just make up some food and lay it out on the table, with a bag of peanuts hanging on one side and a seed feeder on the other, so as to give a mixture of things to eat, and we have had some interesting visitors, we regularly get magpies and jays in the autumn and winter, we get robins,wrens,finches and on occasion we even get a greater spotted woodpecker, we also get great tits,blue tits and a whole load of other birds.

This year though we decided to try and get some more into the garden, so we used the coconut shells as feeders as well and we've hung them in trees to offer a little cover and some near to the front room window as well, mainly because we dabble in photography and we figured we might get some good pictures.

Here's the coconut feeders -

Bird feeders ready to go.

All you need to do is drill a hole for some string to go through so you can hang them on something, it helps if you manage to crack the coconuts more or less in half, then you can pack them with food.

The food is easy enough to make, we have tried different things but settled on doing things the same way now, it works, and it gets a lot of interest from the kids, they love to watch the birds in the morning and evening feeding and flying about the garden, they get to learn about birds and how they behave, so we kind of use it as an educational tool as well, our son is especially interested in them.

We hang the feeders near to trees in order to provide a little cover for the birds, it seems to work, all the feeders get emptied pretty quickly.

Here's one in one of our twisted willow trees - 

The smaller birds like this one a lot.

And I've also made one from scratch similar to the ones you can buy, this was to see if it was easy for my son to have a go at, but to be honest the coconut method is probably the easiest you can get.

Here's the one a made a while ago - 

Complete with bird :-)

This one is hanging about two metres from the front room window, and it does get a lot of attention from a variety of birds, mainly the smaller ones and this young starling, the picture was taken last year.

Right here's what we tend to use for our bird food. We buy the 1kg bags of seeds you can get from places like poundland, the Bill Oddy ones, they have a good mix of things that different birds like, and they are cheap, we've also bought packets of meal worms when they have them.

We basically get out the blender and chuck in some seeds, a little bread, about a slice (we make our own bread, so we usually have a slice spare) then we use either a fat ball or a small bit of lard (27p per block from Tesco) or some other type of fat, the bacon juices from the grill go down well and it helps to stick everything together.

You can add bits of apple, the blackbirds like this a lot, we have even used small bits of cheese, and other fruits, pears etc you can also chuck in a little cooked bacon rind, some of the larger birds like this, like magpies, and peanuts (not salted) Just mix it all in a lump, you can use a large bowel and then pack it into your coconuts the birds will love it, you can of course just buy them, but it's more fun for the kids this way (if you use a blender don't mix it for too long, you don't want to break the seeds down too much)

It's okay just to lay the mixture out on a bird table as well, but we wanted to encourage the birds to come a little closer to the house so the kids could see them better and so we could photograph them.

As we grow a variety of sunflowers we usually take the seeds we need for next year and lay the heads about the garden for the birds, this requires a little more work on their part but they seem to like them, so if you grow a sunflower in a pot lay the head some where for the birds, the sunflower hearts are very good for them at this time of year, it'll help them fatten up a bit.

Sunflower heads - 

Ready for the birdys.

Before I go I thought I would include some photographs taken by us of some of the birds we get in the garden, some were taken last year, they aren't the best but you'll get the idea.

Thanks for reading (pictures below)

Robin on our bird table (taken in the winter) - 

We get robins every year.

A magpie, we have had regular visits from these for the last few years, they are quite nervy birds, they don't stay long on the table, they take what they want and fly up to the large sycamore tree at the bottom of the garden to eat what ever they got, still nice to watch them.

Remember to salute them if you see them, bad luck if you don't ;-)

Next up, a great tit looking through sunflower seeds from our sunflowers, the smaller birds will almost always go for the sunflowers if they are about, then go for the food if there's no sunflowers.

Seems to know what it's looking for.

And then we have the jay's they have only been coming for a bout a year or so, they prefer the peanuts, but will go on the table for other stuff if there's no nuts, we have a pair that visit in the winter months on an almost daily basis, maybe you could make a project out of your bird watching, you could write down what birds ate what food, how they ate it, did they take it to a tree to eat, or just stay on the table ?

The jays - 

They don't seem to have any trouble getting the nuts.

Another jay in a tree - 

Don't know what it's looking at.

Rocks rock ... ...

I thought I'd post about my rock, it was a stone from the garden that my son painted for me for fathers day, I think it's great, and I thought that if the weathers been bad where you are why not grab a couple of stones from the garden, or the beach if the weathers okay, or where ever else stones and rocks like to live and give them a paint.

It's something that may give the kids something to do for a while, it's not a new idea, people have been painting rocks,stones and such like for years, I pretty sure I painted them in school when I was a kid, although I may not be remembering correctly, brains not as good as it used to be.

All you need are some paints, acrylic type paints will be best, but other paints work, you could add a little pva glue to poster paints, or you can even stick stuff to them to make them look like bugs and other things.
I did a quick search, I was surprised at how many different designs people have used, there's a lot of inspiration out there.

Here's my rock -

Rock's are great :-)

As you can see mine has eyes, these can be bought from craft shops, or anywhere that sells crafty type stuff, most pound shops sell this type of thing, so it doesn't have to cost a fortune, and it's good fun for kids and adults alike.

Here are some sites that have painted rocks - (links open in new windows)

http://www.karlascreativecapers.co.uk/animalrocks.htm

http://www.suzybug.com/howitisdone.html

Or if you feeling a bit daring just google (or use your search engine of choice) "Painted rocks " or " Rock painting " As I said I was surprised at the designs some people have used on rocks, some look like cats curled up, some look like faces, and it seems some people make a living out of selling painted rocks, but either way it's a good fun project and they make great little gifts.

Thanks for reading.

Write like the bard with this attractive pen......well almost...

This is a fun thing for kids to try, my son loves his quill type pen.

To write or not to write ?

You will need a biro type pen and a largish feather, so if you live near a river or somewhere that birds frequent you should be able to find some swan feathers, or maybe a goose feather or two, you will obviously need to collect four feathers if you intend to make four pens etc.

Supplies needed, a feather and a biro type pen -

Supplies.

It's easy to do, you basically need to remove the writing section of the pen and stick it into the feather.

Like this -

It should come out quite easily.

It should come out of the pen easily, but you may need some pliers, you will need some scissors or a sharp knife to snip the end off the feather.

It's a good idea to try and not snip too much off the end of the feather because you want a snug fit for the pen, if you do take too much off, then use a bit of tape or some glue to secure the pen innards into the feather, and that's it, one almost authentic quill, just like Shakespeare would have used, well almost :-)

Thanks for reading.

A couple of projects for the kids and you to try - Pt 2 - Planting seeds.

Now this next project is to be honest an experiment in what things will actually grow.


Ever since I got into gardening I have tried to grow a variety of things, the usual garden type stuff, flowers etc I also grow veg and fruit as well, and this is where I got this idea from.


I have in the past spent a fair amount of money on quality seeds from garden centres and such like, and I have had mixed results, I don't claim to be a professional gardener (or even a halfway good one) and because of this I started to look for alternative sources for buying less expensive seeds, I now get a lot of my seeds from pound shops and I manage to grow a good amount of things, but I have also grown some slightly less obvious things, and this is something you could try with your kids, you don't even need a garden. just a window sill that gets a bit of sunlight.


So what to grow ? well why not try anything that you can get seeds from ? do you have a tomato or two in your fridge ? why not scrape some seeds out of one and try and grow them ? all you need to do is wash the seeds to get as much of the fleshy stuff of them and then put them in a pot of compost in your greenhouse or on a window sill.


Gardening experts will always say it's best to use bought seeds because they are guaranteed to grow because you will get better crops, but this way you might get something useful out of it (something you can eat) and the kids can learn a bit about plants, and all for the price of a bit of compost and a pot or two.


Here's some examples of stuff I've grown.


Sweetcorn. I have actually given up buying sweetcorn seeds, and now I use this (no really I do)

Honest this is what I use, it grows just as well.

I'm not joking, a bag of popping corn costs under a pound and you get loads, and it works even if it's out of date, and it will grow if looked after properly (like any plant) sweetcorn you can eat with a bit of home made butter ;-)

And just to prove it the next picture is some popping corn growing in a pot, the other plants are in the ground, and I couldn't get a good angle with the camera, but I will post pictures when they produce some corn later on in the year.

Popping corn growing in a pot 

Pop corn growing in a pot.

I also have an avocado plant growing in the kitchen, if you feel like trying to grow one my advice is to get a pot, fill it with compost and put the seed into the compost about halfway, and then give it a good water, and just keep the pot watered, don't soak it. After a while you should notice the seed starting to crack, this should mean it's starting to grow. I've have grown a few of these, they get quite tall, the last one got broken by our dog because we had to stand it on the floor due to it's height :-(

Other things will grow, you can grow pumpkins from the seed you find in a shop bought one, and butter-nut squash.

And then there's slightly more exotic stuff, like physalis, I have managed to grow the seeds from a passion fruit, but the plants died in the winter, I will try these again now I have a cold frame.

Here's a couple of pictures, the first are physalis plants, the second are apricots.

Physalis plants.

Physalis plants.

Apricot plants.

Apricots, may be some time before they grow any fruit.

The apricots were difficult to do because you have to crack them open to get at the seed, nut crackers work well, once opened plant the seed like any other.

Even the head gardener thinks I'm mad :-)

It'll never work, pop corn indeed.

Of course buying packet seeds will no doubt yield better crops if you are looking to grow your own veg, but there's no harm in trying to grow seeds from a shop bought tomato, or planting an apricot, although with apricots and cherries and the like it will be some time before you get any fruit, and there's a chance you won't ever get any fruit, but the planet isn't going to suffer if you plant another tree is it ? and it's a fun thing to try with the kids.


Thanks for reading.

A couple of projects for the kids and you to try - Pt 1 - Butter making.

(Links open in new window)


I was going to post these separately, but I decided to combine them as one post on things you could try with your kids (if you have any, and if you don't, why not try them anyway ?)


The first thing is butter making, my family and I have been watching a series on BBC2 hosted by Ben Fogle and called Escape in time it's basically a program where family's try their hands at living life on a Victorian farm, each family takes part in various jobs that would have been done on a day to day basis on a Victorian farm, it's a good program for kid's my son has found it very interesting because of the differences between how life was then and how it is now, and one of the tasks was butter making.


Now on the program they used 8 pint's of cream (which came from the farms cows) and a big butter churn, but you can do it on a smaller scale, and get some pretty good butter out of it, I've tried it, and I have to say that there is a certain pleasure to be had in making your own butter.


What do you need to make butter ? well basically you need double cream, you can use milk and single cream I guess, but it may take longer to get your butter, so go for double cream is my advice.


So you have you double cream, which can be bought from supermarkets, corner shops and loads of other places, you can use organic cream, and raw cream (I think raw cream and milk, are basically unpasteurised)  what else do you need ? well apart from a strongish arm (I'll explain in a minute) you will need a medium sized jam jar, or some other similar container, see below for full list of equipment and supplies.

1. Double cream
2. Medium sized jam jar or other container with a good sealing lid.
3. A couple of plastic tubs or bowls will do just as well.
4. Something to strain liquid from solid, a sieve or colander, or some cloth perhaps ?
5. Salt, this is optional.

 Here's a picture -

Lets make some butter.

I know, there are no tub's / bowl's in the picture :-)

The method is pretty simple, pour some cream into the jar (but leave room in the jar for the cream to move about, if it's too full it won't work) and leave it at room temperature for about an hour, it seems to work better if you do this first.

Now a 1/4 of a pint of double cream will make about 3 ounces of butter (give or take)

After an hour get your jar of cream and start shaking (hence the strongish arms) the shaking method is up to you, but it's best to try and keep it consistent, I've only actually done this twice, but each time it's taken about 10minutes or so of shaking before something happens, and it is quite quick, you will notice a change in the contents of the jar as the fat (which is what butter is) separates from the cream, once it's done don't shake for too much longer as this can make a waxy butter (from what I've read on line)


Next open up the jar and have a look, what you should have is a lump of butter with a slight yellowy tint to it and butter milk, which looks like... well milk.


Empty the contents into you straining device of choice, so that the butter milk can drain way.


If you have watched the program I mentioned and you saw the episode where butter was made you will remember that it was washed and then squeezed to get as much of the butter milk out, I have to say the first time I tried this I didn't wash the butter, and it does make a difference, so rinse your newly made butter under the cold tap, or you can fill a jug and rinse that way, but keep rinsing until the water runs clear.
You don't have to go mad with this next part, but trying to squeeze a bit more butter milk out of the butter makes a difference, our first lot was kind of creamy, the second was much more like butter.
To squeeze more butter milk out I just put the butter in a largish tub and mashed the hell out of it with a fork, while keeping the tub at an angle so the milk could drain of, although to be honest not much came out.


After you're happy you have got enough butter milk out then you can add some salt to taste, or not if you prefer unsalted butter, stick it in a tub or you can shape it into a little pat of butter and put it in the fridge, and that's it.




All in all it took me about half an hour or so to get this

Home made butter in half an hour or so.

I think it's pretty good, and if you like butter you might be surprised at how it tastes compared to shop bought butter, why not have a go and see if you can get the kids to help, maybe make a little lesson out of it and do a little research on why people used to make more of their own food.

Thanks for reading.