Allotment update (first harvest of 2014)

After the hard work keeping the weeds at bay comes the good bit,harvesting the stuff you've grown,it's then you discover that the aches and pains from the digging,weeding and everything else have all been worth it.

We dug our first lot of spuds up in June (this post is a bit late) and despite the plants looking a bit sorry for themselves we actually got a good haul of new spuds,12kg in fact,which is 3kg more than last year.


Spuds -

Not bad,should last a while.

I've already filled the hole where the spuds were with this years sweetcorn,and it won't be long before some of the other stuff can be dug up,like the carrots and possibly some of the onions.

Sweetcorn planted - 

More plants than last year.

Fingers crossed we'll get a crop of corn,these plants are all grown from seeds we saved from last years crop,kind of experimental maybe,but it'll interesting to see what happens.

We've also picked the broad beans and although we didn't get quite as much as last year this is because we've picked the beans a bit earlier while they are still smallish,even so we've still got over 2kg of broad beans,which have now been blanched and put in the freezer (by my lovely wife) for the winter,they are very good in stews.

Shelled broad beans ready for blanching -

Very tasty,and good for you.

I enlisted the help of some bean picking elves to help with harvesting -

Get yourself some picking elves,they come in handy.

The pea harvest was a bit of a non starter really, we got enough for a meal,but we would have had much more if it wasn't for the rodents,yes we've had a bit of a rodent problem on the site this year,we're not the only ones having issues with the furry buggers,and it has to be said some people aren't helping by giving the rats and mice places to hide,but enough about that.

Some of the squash plants are starting to show signs of fruits,hopefully the rodents won't get too them,we'll have to make sure they don't.

Baby squashes,they'll soon get big (if they don't get eaten) - 

I'm hoping for some large pumpkins this year.

And here's everything we got on the kitchen table,there's some rhubarb and a couple of beetroot's,but we've got more on the way,and even though we've got slightly less of some things we had extra spuds,and I guess that in years gone by this is something farmers and gardeners of old would have had to adapt to.

The harvest so far - 

Can't beat home grown veggies.

There's plenty more going on at the plot,and the council have seen fit to change the rules again so there's that to get to grips with as well,it's all good fun.

Thanks for reading.

Wooden casters / wheels...

A while ago I made a rotating table for my bench sander (which you can read about here) it's come in very handy,however recently I've had need for another rotating platform but I didn't have any little wheels,well not enough anyway,so I figured how hard could it be to make some?

It turns out it's not that hard at all,and they work just as well as the ones I bought last time round.


Here's a bought wheel / caster -

Cheap enough,but I couldn't be bothered to go out and get more.

And here's what I made - 

Almost the same.

You can see how they are made,basically each wheel has two triangle shaped sides,then there's a small dowel that runs through the whole thing and works like an axle,then there's the wheel,this I made using a small diameter hole saw.

Here's a more detailed view of the casters - 

Simple,but effective.

And that's about it,once I had made four of these little casters I then constructed the rotating table in exactly the same way as I did for my bench sander (see link at the start of this post) there are a couple of things to consider with these wooden casters,firstly they aren't quite as strong as the plastic ones and secondly because they aren't as strong they will wear out quickly and may break,although they won't really be getting that much of a work out the way I'm using them.

Here they are on the small rotating table I made them for - 

There's a fair gap,makes things a little less stable but not too bad.

Although these work well enough for what I want I'm not that happy with the gap there is between to two bits of wood,and about five minutes after I'd made this little platform I realised I could have made this in a better way,which is usually the case,I often look at things I've made and think why did you do it like that when this way would have been better?

I figured that instead of making these little casters I could just incorporate the wheels into one of the bits of wood,as an example in the picture above I could have fixed the wheels into the piece of wood the motor is fixed to,this would then reduce the height of the whole thing,in this case by nearly an inch.

Here's a quick drawing of what I'm getting at - 

Click on the picture for a larger view.

To fit the wheels into the wood isn't difficult,and as far as I can tell is no more work than making the casters,I made one quickly to show how you can make something similar.

Here it is - 

Works just as well.

To make it I took a scrap bit of plywood and made it square,then I marked a circle onto it,by drawing diagonal lines to find the centre,then I measured and marked lines at halfway both vertical and horizontal, then on the halfway marks I measured out a rectangle.

Like so - 

Onto drilling and cutting.

The rectangles will be where the wheels go,these obviously need to be cut out,so I started by drilling holes in each rectangle to make things easier,then I cut them out.

Like so - 

I wasn't being too careful,as you can tell.

Next I marked out where I was going to drill holes for the axles to go,I used vertical and horizontal marks I'd made as guides,then I made a small hole to locate the drill bit into,you want to be as close to dead centre as is possible,otherwise the wheels will end up at slightly different heights.

Like so - 

Add caption

I used a drill bit about the same size as the dowel I used to make the axles (8mm) and using my post drill I drilled out the holes,if you make something like this then a post drill is handy as you want to get the holes as straight as possible,otherwise the wheels will sit at odd angles and not spin very well.

Drilling - 

A bit off from where I wanted,but it should be okay.

The wheels I made the same way as with the casters,and as it turns out the drill bit on the hole saw was also 8mm so it worked out well for fitting the dowel through the wheels.

Onto assembly - 

Almost done.

To fit it all together I just pushed a bit of dowel through the hole in the wooden plate,then through the wheel and finally into the last hole,then I just cut the dowel off,to make sure the dowel doesn't work it's way out I drilled a small hole through the wooden plate and into the dowel,then I used a small piece of wood as a peg.

Hole for the peg - 

I just tapped a small peg into this hole.

Here's a view of the edge of it,you can see where the dowel goes - 

All done.

And that's that,what it is I guess is a very simple wooden bearing,but it's easy to make and as the next picture shows it would reduce the height quite a lot.

Height difference is about half an inch or so - 

I may have to adapt this.

I plan on making some more of these wooden bearings,no idea what I'll use them for,but it was fun making them,although I do have some ideas for wind powered models for the garden and these may come in handy for that.

Thanks for reading.

Allotment update...

It's been almost two months since the last allotment update and a fair bit has been going on,and not just at the plot either,things are progressing at home.

This year we seem to be ahead by about a week or so,mainly due to the mild winter,which has allowed us to get things planted a bit earlier and the weather for the most part hasn't been too bad,bit more sun might be in order though.


This was the plot when I got there the other day -

Very green.

Not all of it is weeds,I hadn't done anything to the plot since the last visit and expected a bit of weeding,which didn't take long. It's been easier to keep on top of things as the years go by,what took a few hours two years ago now only takes an hour and as long as we keep on top of things it'll remain easy to deal with.

My main focus this visit was the top section of the plot as I had plans to plant our squash plants,so I had to do a bit of clearing first.

The top section before clearing - 

Spuds are doing well.

 Top section after clearing - 

Looks better now.

It won't be long before one lot of the spuds gets dug up,the rest will stay in the ground for a while yet,once the one lot of spuds are harvested I will plant out our corn plants and anything else we happen to have.

Squash plants in - 

I ran out of room and had to plant some elsewhere.

More squash plants - 

I crammed them in where I could.

Once that was done I also decided to sort out the entrance to the plot,as it turns out the gate I made a while ago has been damaged,so I'll have to fix that on the next visit,but I did get a slab put in to make more of a step which should help the gate open and close better.

Slab in place,just need to fix the gate - 

Not perfect,but the gate opens better now.

Here's the plot once I'd finished - 

All done for now.

And that was it for the plot,next time I visit it'll be more weeding and most likely harvesting our first lot of spuds,and any thing else that happens to be ready,we've got things like beetroot and spinach on the go.

The things we grow at home are doing well,the corn plants are looking good,they'll go into the plot once the spuds are harvested,the asparagus plants we've grown from seeds are growing well,although it'll be a while before they are ready for harvesting.

Corn plants - 

Nearly ready for planting.

 

Baby asparagus plants - 

They look like ferns at the moment.

The tomato plants have survived the rain we've had (it's been very wet) 

They seem to be okay,they need some sun now.

Our plum tree is covered in plums this year - 

I've had to prop some branches up because of the weight of plums.

By all accounts it will be a good year for fruit,we've apples and pears growing along with loads of logan berries,currants and raspberries,both in the garden and on the raspberry plants we have at the allotment,and we should also get a good crop of grapes from the grape vine I have in the greenhouse,this year it has the most bunches it's ever had.

Baby grapes - 

One of many bunches growing.

And last but not least this year we're trying to see if we can grow some mini pumpkins vertically,which should be fun,and we've also got cucumbers and lemon cucumbers growing,along with some spaghetti squashes,so fingers crossed it will be a good year for crops.

Here's our cucumbers and spaghetti squashes in tubs near our back door - 

Cucumbers grew well here last year.

Stay tuned for the next update,and thanks for reading.

How to make a milk tooth holder...

Just a quick post on how to make a little pot / holder for teeth,which may sound a little macabre,but if like us you practice the offering of baby teeth to the tooth fairy then perhaps not so much.


Here's the one I made for my daughter -

Vaguely tooth shaped.

It was really easy to make,although I did use my lathe to make the lid,but you could always hand carve the lid,or you can use a power drill to shape the piece of wood,although this may not be the safest way to do it.

The holder part is made from a small cube of pine with a hole in it for the coin and the bottom is shaped to resemble the root of a tooth.

To make it you'll need a cube of wood that measures about an inch on all sides,you'll need a forstner bit or a spade bit to make the hole for the coin,which needs to be big enough for a pound coin,inflation what can you do? when I was a kid a few coppers would have been great especially as you could still get half pence sweets back then.

Once you have your cube you need to find the centre of one of the sides,this will be where you make the hole for the coin.

Block already marked up - 

Needs a hole.

Hole drilled - 

Bit off centre,but not to worry.

Remember to make the hole deep enough to get the coin in with the lid on,around 15 to 20 mm in depth should do it.

To shape the holder I used a sanding drum to make the groove that looks a bit like the root of a tooth,and I rounded off the sides and edges on my table sander,but you can do this by hand or with a multi tool.

Ready for shaping - 

A small sanding drum is great for shaping things.

The next thing to do is make the lid,as I said I used my lathe,but you can stick a piece of wood on the end of a drill and use small files and sand paper to make a lid,or you could do it by hand,and if you're feeling really adventurous you could build your own lathe (which I've done,currently working on the mk2 mini lathe)

I have also seen small lathes that are powered by drills for about £50, Axminster make one that would be good for small turning projects,like this one (opens in new window)

Here's the finished milk tooth holder - 

Took about 20 minutes to make.

And that's all there is to it,they are simple to make,I made two from a small off cut of wood,in all they probably cost about 30p to make the both of them,you can leave them in plain wood,you could as I've done with the one for may daughter paint them in your kids favourite colour (my daughter loves pink) you can paint faces on them,really the sky is the limit,and it's much easier to find one of these under pillow than fumbling about for a tiny tooth.

Here's the two I made,which only took about 30 minutes to make both of them,I wasn't happy with the fit of the lid on the pink topped one,so I added an 'O' ring to make it a bit tighter.

Two milk tooth holders - 

A simple project,would be great for kids to try.

Thanks for reading.

Simple pea and bean frames...

I thought I'd do a quick post on the pea / bean frames I've been using for a number of years,they are simple to make,and in my opinion a lot less hassle than using netting.

As I said I've been using this way to grow peas and small bean types (French beans as an example) for a number of years and they seem to work well,there are occasions where we have to help the odd plant get hold of the string,but in general they work well.


Here's some I recently put in at our allotment -

Doesn't really get much simpler.

You can see that they are just bits of wood stuck in the ground with string threaded through them,one of the reasons I like them is because when I want to move them I can just pull them out of the ground and roll them up,but I guess you could do the same with plastic netting.

To make them all you need is a drill with a large drill bit (makes feeding the string through easier) a saw so you can cut the wood to length and obviously some wood and some string.

For mine I've been using random bits of wood I had lying about,these bits where from an old pallet and were quite wide,so I cut them in half,and luckily they were already long enough (more or less a metre) so I didn't need to cut them to length.

Here they are ready to be marked out for drilling - 

These six bits of wood will make two frames.

Next I marked out where to drill the holes for the string,I measured a couple of inches down from the top of each piece of wood for the first hole,then I put marks roughly 4 inches apart (about 10cm) down the length of each piece,making sure to leave enough wood to stick in the ground,if you have a square it saves time if you just measure out where you want the holes on one piece of wood,then just transfer the marks onto the other bits.

Marked out - 

Ready for drilling.

Once marked out it was just a case of drilling a load of holes,I used a 12mm spade bit,but a 10mm drill bit would do just as well.

Drilling has commenced - 

Nearly done.

And that's about it really,after I had all the holes drilled I gave the wooden posts a coating of teak oil,just to protect them a bit so they last a bit longer,then I started to put them to use.

I made some for one of the small beds in our garden - 

Ready for peas to climb.

I also planted a few French beans in this bed,and used slightly longer posts - 

All done.

I've only used two posts in the garden beds,because they are only small,for wider rows you'll need to add more posts,which is why the ones I use at the allotment have three posts per frame (one at each end and one in the middle) if I didn't use the extra middle post the string would sag too much and not support the plants,you can also tie strips of plastic or carrier bags to them to help deter birds from pecking at the plants.

Here's the one I put in at the allotment,with what will be another crop of peas,all be it a small crop.

Just waiting for the peas to grow - 

The plot is almost fully planted now.

Thanks for reading.

Allotment update ...

It's the time of year for an allotment update,well actually having checked it's actually a bit earlier than it was last year,but then in this neck of the woods the weather has be decidedly mild.


First picture -

Not much to do really.

The picture above was taken in February,I had visited the plot just to see how things were getting on because I had planted some onions and shallots in November last year and some spinach,just to see what happens really so I didn't actually do any work.

I did start working on the plot about two weeks later,I got the top section cleared,and I also took one of three net frames I've made down,they're for protecting things like kale and broccoli from pigeons,I also managed to sow a load of carrots and parsnips in between the onions and shallots.

Top section cleared and ready for stuff - 

Didn't take long to do.

Weeding around onions and shallots done,carrots and parsnips sown -

It's so much easier to get on top of the weeds now.

The next visit was about two weeks into March,the winter has been very mild this year,we've not really had much in the way of frosts and generally speaking it's been quite pleasant,so I decided to take advantage of the weather and make an early start on things,so on the next visit,apart from weeding I managed to get the bean frame in place,ready for beans probably near to the end of April start of May time.

I also got seven short rows of spuds in,and on top of that I've planted six rows of peas and seven rows of broad beans,and a few rows of beetroot in the top section of the plot that I cleared in the last visit.


Here's the plot before -

Despite the mild winter there weren't many weeds.

And here it is after -

Doesn't look like much was done.

All in all I did get a fair bit done, the next visit was general tidying,there's a new sheriff in town (so to speak) and he seems to be very much on top of things.

The council have also introduced a new system whereby you are now graded on how your plot is kept,this grade will help towards getting your plot extended (if you've applied to get more space that is) and obviously a good grade is better in terms of keeping your plot.
It's a bit like being back at school in some respects,but there are some plots that really need a bit more attention than they get,and with waiting lists being quite big I can understand the council wanting to give plots to people who will actually use them.

Anyway over the next few weeks I managed to get the plot in a good order,again there was more weeding and I also started to use some of the wood shavings from my wood turning exploits to mulch the path to help keep the weeds down.


Before -

Getting there.

And after -

Almost done.

And that was March,on to April.

This was the plot when I visited on the 11th of April, few weeds to sort out,but not much else to do,the peas and broad beans are starting to grow nicely,and I'd had some kale and some broccoli growing in the greenhouse to plant,and I'd managed to make another two net frames,I was going to leave them in the garden until I needed them,but our cat kept getting caught up in them,so I figured they'd be safer at the allotment.

Here's how the plot was - 

Again more weeding.

Here's two of the frames now in use - 

The white stuff is crushed egg shell.

Fingers crossed the nets will keep the pigeons off the plants,the crushed egg shell works really well for slug control,I've tried various things and so far crushed shell is what works the best,so I guess it's handy we have chickens.

Here's how the plot was when I left it - 

Up and running,much earlier than last year.

I didn't weed round all the onions because the carrots and parsnips have just started to sprout,so in a couple of weeks I'll get that done,and by then I should have some runner beans to go in,I'll start them off in the greenhouse,I'm going to try and get some more peas in as well and I'm also going to start some squashes off,we've got another load of seed spuds for a late crop and the leeks I planted a month ago are almost big enough to go out,so hopefully this year will be as good as last year,but I'm going for better.

Thanks for reading.