Category Archives: Smallholding

No dig diary, 31st March 2024

Posted on March 31, 2024 by james

My timing was all messed up today because of the clocks changing, confused even more by my bedside clock resetting itself early in the morning thanks to a power cut. Nonetheless, I managed to get lots of sweet peas, sugar … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 30th March 2024

Posted on March 30, 2024 by james

Such a pleasure to have a day without rain! I was on a mission today, starting with planting out all my onion seedlings. I reckon there are in the region of 700 plants, a mix of red and brown onions. … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 30th October 2022: Not much room left

Posted on March 29, 2024 by james

I’ve often wondered what triggers this to happen… Given that we’ve lived here almost twenty years, it’s common to see mushrooms pop up in roughly the same places each year. And there are some that appear where I’ve been spreading … Continue reading →

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So I might build a “polycrub” sooner than planned

Posted on March 29, 2024 by james

Given the problems I’ve been having with my cheapy polytunnel, it struck me today that I could turn it into a kind of polycrub given, say, some recycled scaffold boards for the sides and six sheets of twinwall polycarbonate. I … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 29th March 2024

Posted on March 29, 2024 by james

You’re not going to believe this: we had a load more rain today. More than once I was forced to take shelter in a greenhouse or polytunnel to avoid the horizontal raindrops. I was watering in the polytunnel at one … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 30th October 2022: Yes, we have no tomatoes

Posted on March 28, 2024 by james

We’ve reached that point. I decided that what tomatoes there are aren’t going to ripen any further on the vines, so I picked absolutely everything. and then removed all the plants from the polytunnel. I’d missed spreading compost on the … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 26th October 2022: Is this the last of the peppers?

Posted on March 27, 2024 by james

I’m really not sure, to be honest. It’s not the last of the fruit on the plants and the weather is still very mild, so it may well be that they aren’t. We’ll just have to wait and see if … Continue reading →

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More plywood than I know what to do with

Posted on March 27, 2024 by james

A local business generates a fair bit of scrap birch ply, mostly 5.5mm, but some larger sizes too. I’ve been exchanging small amounts of cash for their offcut sheets (which are often just under 4′ or 1220mm square and therefore … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 27th March 2024

Posted on March 27, 2024 by james

The weather still isn’t on my side 🙁 This afternoon has been wet and windy, but before it got too bad I did at least get a few more wheelbarrows of compost spread on the beds in the veg plot. … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 26th October 2022: A different kind of harvest

Posted on March 26, 2024 by james

My compost bins have been slowly gaining a roof of corrugated plastic sheet and a gutter to collect the run-off. Today it was time to play with the 3d printer again, and produce this It’s a downpipe rain collector/filter. (Hopefully) … Continue reading →

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