Author Archives: james

Single use plastic for seeds? Really?

Posted on February 25, 2024 by james

My wife gave me a packet of petunia seeds that she’d like me to sow for her today. I was a little confused because there was clearly something lumpy and hard inside the packet. When I opened it I found … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 17th July 2022: I can see you!

Posted on February 24, 2024 by james

My next little tablesaw/woodworking project: clear, insulated crownboards for beehives. More box joints for these, to make up a box about 60mm deep. Then a sheet of clear polycarbonate on the bottom, held in place around the sides by a … Continue reading →

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Having a bit of a turn

Posted on February 24, 2024 by james

A few weeks back I picked up a new (to me) lathe: a Boxford ME10 (which is not even remotely new; more likely an antique) converted to single-phase. Fitting it into the workshop in its final place is going to … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 24th February 2024

Posted on February 24, 2024 by james

Sowing day again! Not that much this weekend though: calabrese, red cabbage, more antirrhinums and more ammi majus. The rain has reached quite depressing levels here. I think we’ve had at least double the long-term average rainfall for February, even … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 6th July 2022: Ouch!

Posted on February 23, 2024 by james

Ahem. Beekeepers may find it easy to guess how this happened 😀 I have a couple of colonies that are, shall we say… a little feisty. I shall be doing something about them as soon as possible. I normally wear … Continue reading →

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Fun (and irritation) with Qt Designer

Posted on February 23, 2024 by james

I’ve been lining up a possible new project today, thanks to stalling a bit on the work I was doing on Deep Sky Stacker. It’s more C++/Qt development, but in this case I thought I’d try to create the entire … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 22nd February 2022

Posted on February 22, 2024 by james

More dark, windy, rainy weather today, and cold with it, too. So no actual progress in getting stuff done. Lots of seeds are making progress however. Chiles and peppers are starting to appear, together with (I think) antirrhinums and busy … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 3rd July 2022: Floors in manufacture

Posted on February 22, 2024 by james

Next job for the new table saw… My bees tend to fill mesh floors with propolis, suggesting to me that they’re not very keen on them, so I’ve decided to move back to solid or sealed floors, and to kick … Continue reading →

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Bee inspections

Posted on February 22, 2024 by james

Never mind the fact that “it’s still winter”, we’ve had very few days below 10°C recently and earlier this week when the Sun was out I was watching the bees in my home apiary flying strongly. I got to thinking … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 26th June 2022: How green is my garden?

Posted on February 21, 2024 by james

Everything in the veggie plot looking lush. This sort of view makes me feel so happy 🙂

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