It's been a while since I posted one of these, but here's a video of the latest visit to the plot, today I've dug up our spuds and now we have 18kg of good potatoes, not bad really.
I haven't had quite as much time lately so the plot has got a little wild, but I've started clearing and making plans for next year, and I have been back since this visit to pick beans and squash, as well as the apples.A short video of me turning a spinning top from oak, it's a simple turning project, but the end results are always pleasing, who doesn't love a spinning top, and it's a good use for those little odd bits of wood you end up with after a project (or is that just me?)
The oak is still a bit green, but it turns well, there's a small video at the end of some of the tops I've made recently.Here I use some buddleia (buddleja) that I cut down at the start of the year to make some bobbins (also known as spools or reels) on my lathe, this wood has a very soft pith to it which is handy if you want to make something with a hole through the middle, although I did do some tests and found that if you want a perfectly drilled hole an 11.5mm drill bit works best.
My wife and daughter use the bobbins to wind ribbon onto and other materials for crafting, it's a good use for a material that would probably end up as fire wood or mulch.How to easily make a string holder from garden wire (other wire could be used) this has come in quite handy because you can hang it up in the shed or greenhouse, or on a fence or even from a tree branch which is what I did the other day when I was tying our tomato plants to their canes.
I'm pleased with it and it has become quite useful, and it's such an easy thing to make, hopefully the video is easy enough to follow, and you don't need any special tools, just a pair of pliers will do the job.This is a little behind where things are at on the plot, this was just a quick visit to the plot to get the other bed ready and to plant some more plants (squash) out, also planted some bean plants and got the polytunnel ready for our melon plants and birdhouse gourds.
We've had a lot of rain in the last few weeks, what we really need is more sun so the pumpkins and other squashes can get going.We're getting ready for harvesting some of our crops and what better to carry things in than a trug, this is a simple thing to make and it can be made out of scrap wood or even a pallet.
This isn't the first time I've written a post about making trugs but I thought a video might be helpful and I always enjoy the process of sorting out the wood so it's more workable, this one is made from an old shelving unit, as have some of the others I've made.
Here's the blog post I wrote a few years ago on how to make a trug - https://the-shed-and-beyond.blogspot.com/2018/03/keep-on-trugin.htmlJust a quick trip to the plot this time, planted out some beetroot plants in between the borlotti beans, which is a good use of bare space that might have not been used otherwise, also planted six salsify plants, these are a new plant for us, we're growing them at home as ornamental plants and on the plot as a crop, the whole plant is edible, but we're growing it for the root and lastly I've put in some red chard plants as a cut and come again crop.
Not much left to go into the ground, we may plant some quick crops later once things have been picked and harvested, but for now it's waiting for things to grow and keeping up with the weeding, I might even have some free time to make some stuff in my work shop.
Here's the video -
Thanks for visiting.
