Category Archives: Projects

My rain gauge died again :(

Posted on November 18, 2021 by james

A short while ago my AAG 1-wire rain gauge stopped telling me that rain had fallen at all. The 1-wire device still shows up in Linux and is readable, but the 1-wire counters never change. I’ve checked by dribbling water … Continue reading →

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Tonight Matthew, I am Kenwood Chef repairman

Posted on September 8, 2021 by james

Well, actually it’s taken more than one night, but tonight I finished the job after receiving the last of the spares I had to order… A few weeks back our Kenwood Chef stopped working. It’s a KM400 model that we’ve … Continue reading →

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Grow your own pineapple #2

Posted on August 23, 2021 by james

Nothing doing in the garden on Saturday because the weather was utterly miserable — rain and thunder almost all day. I went to the beer shack and made a batch of beer instead. Sunday was lovely by comparison, particularly as … Continue reading →

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Fixing a UPVC window that won’t close

Posted on June 29, 2021 by james

One of our UPVC double-glazed windows stopped closing properly. There was always a gap (and a fairly large one at that) at the bottom on the side with the hinge. After some investigation and fiddling about I decided that the … Continue reading →

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Grow your own pineapple

Posted on April 18, 2021 by james

Well, ok, maybe 🙂 I’ve never done this before, so my daughter and I thought we’d give it a go as we have a couple of pineapples to be eaten this weekend. The top had already been cut off, so … Continue reading →

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Trailure Failure

Posted on April 18, 2021 by james

It is alleged that there is an ancient Chinese curse that translates as “May you live in interesting times”. On Wednesday, I certainly had “interesting times” 🙂 My father-in-law had asked me to help him take his old freezer to … Continue reading →

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My greenhouse vent opener may be an antique

Posted on March 16, 2021 by james

I removed one of the openers for the greenhouse vents. Amazingly the company that made it (Thermoforce) is still around, so I emailed to ask if they could help with spares. Sadly they couldn’t. A very polite response came back … Continue reading →

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Almost there with the no dig greenhouse

Posted on March 16, 2021 by james

All the glazing is now done on the new greenhouse; vents and the door are fitted and only a few small jobs remain. The most important issue for the moment is probably that the door can flap about (yes, that … Continue reading →

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Composting the no dig greenhouse

Posted on March 16, 2021 by james

As the greenhouse only has a single door, it was clearly going to be easier to get the compost onto the ground before the frame was in place, so my daughter and I spent a happy morning in the sun … Continue reading →

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Return of the “no dig” greenhouse

Posted on March 16, 2021 by james

Last December I posted about setting up a new (to me) greenhouse, but thanks to the fact that it’s barely been possible to stand up outdoors for the last couple of months (unless it’s only possible to stand up because … Continue reading →

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