Since Degsy was sorted, well I know what the problem is, H was out and Miss L was contemplating her belly button, the snow had put paid to the lottie and the trailer was postponed, I had the afternoon with nothing to do. I tried watching TV. I tried a book but I was restless. The dryer sits on top of the washer but the gadget that holds the dryer to washer has failed which means the dyer slides off the washer...not good. I ferreted about the garage and found some nice timber and with it made a frame to contain the wayward dryer. It only took a 90 minutes or so but it had to be done. It also has other benefits:
A. Major brownie points
B. Used up some timber that was taking up room in the garage.
Time for a brew. Still much of the afternoon stretching out in front of me. I remembered that at the back end of last year I had bought the makings of frames for the hives. They just wanted putting together. I checked the hive in the back garden. The three supers were empty so I needed to make up 33 frames. I had the side bars for 20 brood frames so I thought I would make them up as well. I set myself up in the living room with the timber framing, wax foundation and the pins that join it all together. H was not best pleased but it is a clean job if a bit untidy. When the timber and wax warmed up there was a pleasant resinous pine and waxy perfume in the air. I set off but I had forgotten what a repetitive and boring job it is. Miss L made me brew, we watch a bit of sport and talked about her plan if the uni thing did not come off as I worked. Still the pile of frame parts did not seem to diminish. Each time I completed 11 frames I loaded them in to the hive in the back garden then back to the toil. Eventually I got there. All my supers are complete with frames. The two nucs are complete with brood frames and I have a few ready for when I swap out frames from the first hive. I even have some parts left over. I will have to do an inventory to see what I need in the frames department to use up the extras.
I have an appointment to see my hive supplier next week. I am desperately trying not to get carried away.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Mucking in
This was the first weekend for a great while that I did have not commitments on my time. Miss L was at work and H was doing a long walk. I had been out for a few beers the lottie chaps on Friday night and was feeling a little jaded. I had a good breakfast which set me up though. Degsy had been poorly and I figured it was the coil. I got one during the week and had put aside Saturday morning to deal with it. It was a slow process but I got it done. Degsy fired up straight away and ran strongly. I had a look at the carbs. I oiled the linkages in the hope of making it more responsive. I also took the opportunity to better route some of the cables and to make the seal on the air cleaner pipe a tighter fit. Feeling very pleased with myself I had a spot of lunch before heading to the lottie.
I loaded Degsy up with the things a needed and went to the lottie. Degsy did not miss a beat. I parked up at the lottie and had a chat the Steve and Grumpy Dave. Steve looked a little slow on the his feet, probably the Lemonades we had the previous night. Grumpy was, as usual, leaning on the spade and grumbling about this and that. The sun was bright, the snow had melted, just, so I was keen to get on whilst the weather was fine if cold.
I decided that I wanted to empty the muck bin on my plot. The muck has been mellowing since the previous spring and I need the room. I had long decided that when I got time to empty the bin it would go on Bed 4, the legume bed. This bed has all the greedy feeders, Peas, Beans, Squashes. First I got the fork and levelled out the soil a bit. There where small heaps of spoil from where the soil had be dug to form the edging. I took my 16 foot plank and dropped it on the soil length ways long the plot rather than across the width. I always plant the Peas and Beans growing in rows roughly north/south. In actual fact they are more north-west/south-east just because of the position of the plot. I do this because I figure the sun can shine along the rows, whereas if the rows were width ways across the plot the taller plants would shade their neighbours. Since it is difficult to second guess which plants are going to grow tall, and more importantly when, the length ways row seems a good hedge bet [no pun intended]. I dug a trench the length the plank using it as a straight edge. I dug from one end to other and piled the soil to the right. Then I went back up the trench, having taken the plank out of the way, deepening trench and piling the soil to the left. From the top of the excavated soil to the bottom the trench was a least the foot. Then the best bit, I wheelbarrowed muck from the bin and tipped it into the trench. Each trench took five barrow loads. I repeated the exercise three more times creating four long trenches. The soil level has been increase massively, not only by the turning over of the soil but by adding close to a ton of well rotted manure in a little less than 20 square yards. The soil and manure will compact over the growing season but cannot help but think the soil has been replenish. The ten percent of the muck from the bin must have been worms. I cannot believe just how many there were. They are now all in the soil getting busy. Again a good thing I think. That exercise had transformed about a third of Bed 4. The picture shows how deep the trench is and how the extra depth came about.
Whilst digging the trenches I harvested the last of the Parsnips. There was a bit of canker but not enough to stop them being made into spicy Parsnip and Apple soup. I filled up the bird feeders which the birds had completely emptied in a week. Whilst in the process of emptying the muck bin a noticed it really need repairing. Having pallets sitting in damp conditions is not the best way to make then last. Mind you they have been there for five years. The bin is not quite empty so the repairs will have to wait a little longer.
Steve, with his brew, came over for a chat . We sat on the bench at the top of my plot with sun on us, watching the birds on the feeder and chatted about lottie things; the job a had just done, the vine training, damage to my netting, progress of the vine cuttings, the possibility of more vines on the other side of the plot, my bees and of course Degsy. That was about that. The sun was getting low and the temperature with with it. Even so I had worked up a sweat fettling the land and it had been very pleasant time spent.
Whilst driving Degsy I noticed the steering wheel was not on right. I had taken it off when I was trying to get the dash of earlier that day. After I got home I got the tools from teh gargare and went for a spin round the block. On a straight bit of road I pulled up. Took the steering wheel off and positioned on the splines correctly and did up the nut and crimp washer. As I drove home Degsy started to play up again. It was exactly as before. So it was not the coil! I coaxed Degsy home but it conked out again and again. I had hold of the steering wheel and hauled myself upon it move my position in the seat. The oil and ignition lights came on!! Hummm.............I moved the steering wheel left and right...light still on. I heaved on the steering wheel against the steering column...the lights went out and when moved it the other way the lights came on. Now I could break it at will. I put tension on the steering column to make the lights come on, started Degsy, and drove home. So that was it, an elecrical fault somewhere on the steering column.
It snowed again overnight so fettling Degsy was going to cold with three inch of snow on the his roof and bonnet. I made Miss L and I breakfast, got warmly dressed and set about the dash board on Degsy. Long story short I found the problem. The spade connectors on the base of the ignition switch were just about hanging on. In fact the white wire, the ignition feed wire, came away in my hand. Shortly afterward so did the negative connector. It was a problem getting at the ignition base but I managed it. I toyed with the idea of bodging a fix. I looked on the internet and found they were only a tenner, I ordered one.
It does not look like it from the picture above but a couple of hours next Saturday and Degsy is fixed for another while. The coil was good buy because when Degsy was running he ran more strongly and cleaner. Roll on next Saturday.
I loaded Degsy up with the things a needed and went to the lottie. Degsy did not miss a beat. I parked up at the lottie and had a chat the Steve and Grumpy Dave. Steve looked a little slow on the his feet, probably the Lemonades we had the previous night. Grumpy was, as usual, leaning on the spade and grumbling about this and that. The sun was bright, the snow had melted, just, so I was keen to get on whilst the weather was fine if cold.
I decided that I wanted to empty the muck bin on my plot. The muck has been mellowing since the previous spring and I need the room. I had long decided that when I got time to empty the bin it would go on Bed 4, the legume bed. This bed has all the greedy feeders, Peas, Beans, Squashes. First I got the fork and levelled out the soil a bit. There where small heaps of spoil from where the soil had be dug to form the edging. I took my 16 foot plank and dropped it on the soil length ways long the plot rather than across the width. I always plant the Peas and Beans growing in rows roughly north/south. In actual fact they are more north-west/south-east just because of the position of the plot. I do this because I figure the sun can shine along the rows, whereas if the rows were width ways across the plot the taller plants would shade their neighbours. Since it is difficult to second guess which plants are going to grow tall, and more importantly when, the length ways row seems a good hedge bet [no pun intended]. I dug a trench the length the plank using it as a straight edge. I dug from one end to other and piled the soil to the right. Then I went back up the trench, having taken the plank out of the way, deepening trench and piling the soil to the left. From the top of the excavated soil to the bottom the trench was a least the foot. Then the best bit, I wheelbarrowed muck from the bin and tipped it into the trench. Each trench took five barrow loads. I repeated the exercise three more times creating four long trenches. The soil level has been increase massively, not only by the turning over of the soil but by adding close to a ton of well rotted manure in a little less than 20 square yards. The soil and manure will compact over the growing season but cannot help but think the soil has been replenish. The ten percent of the muck from the bin must have been worms. I cannot believe just how many there were. They are now all in the soil getting busy. Again a good thing I think. That exercise had transformed about a third of Bed 4. The picture shows how deep the trench is and how the extra depth came about.
Whilst digging the trenches I harvested the last of the Parsnips. There was a bit of canker but not enough to stop them being made into spicy Parsnip and Apple soup. I filled up the bird feeders which the birds had completely emptied in a week. Whilst in the process of emptying the muck bin a noticed it really need repairing. Having pallets sitting in damp conditions is not the best way to make then last. Mind you they have been there for five years. The bin is not quite empty so the repairs will have to wait a little longer.
Steve, with his brew, came over for a chat . We sat on the bench at the top of my plot with sun on us, watching the birds on the feeder and chatted about lottie things; the job a had just done, the vine training, damage to my netting, progress of the vine cuttings, the possibility of more vines on the other side of the plot, my bees and of course Degsy. That was about that. The sun was getting low and the temperature with with it. Even so I had worked up a sweat fettling the land and it had been very pleasant time spent.
Whilst driving Degsy I noticed the steering wheel was not on right. I had taken it off when I was trying to get the dash of earlier that day. After I got home I got the tools from teh gargare and went for a spin round the block. On a straight bit of road I pulled up. Took the steering wheel off and positioned on the splines correctly and did up the nut and crimp washer. As I drove home Degsy started to play up again. It was exactly as before. So it was not the coil! I coaxed Degsy home but it conked out again and again. I had hold of the steering wheel and hauled myself upon it move my position in the seat. The oil and ignition lights came on!! Hummm.............I moved the steering wheel left and right...light still on. I heaved on the steering wheel against the steering column...the lights went out and when moved it the other way the lights came on. Now I could break it at will. I put tension on the steering column to make the lights come on, started Degsy, and drove home. So that was it, an elecrical fault somewhere on the steering column.
It snowed again overnight so fettling Degsy was going to cold with three inch of snow on the his roof and bonnet. I made Miss L and I breakfast, got warmly dressed and set about the dash board on Degsy. Long story short I found the problem. The spade connectors on the base of the ignition switch were just about hanging on. In fact the white wire, the ignition feed wire, came away in my hand. Shortly afterward so did the negative connector. It was a problem getting at the ignition base but I managed it. I toyed with the idea of bodging a fix. I looked on the internet and found they were only a tenner, I ordered one.
It does not look like it from the picture above but a couple of hours next Saturday and Degsy is fixed for another while. The coil was good buy because when Degsy was running he ran more strongly and cleaner. Roll on next Saturday.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Different worlds
This weekend was just a question of doing the trailer thing then going up to Manchester for a day's worth of riding motorbikes. Rural South Derbyshire to urban Manchester. Different worlds and different attitudes.
I had to use the Zaf because Degsy is still poorly. I was supposed just to empty the trailer but as usual I got distracted. I dug up the remaining Leeks. Then weeded that portion of the bed and levelled it off. It looks nice but lots more to do. I had a look at the top of bed 3. There is a terrible lot of twitch that has invaded from next door. When a dig out the new edging I hope to create a barrier to this pernicious weed. It also means I will have a right job weeding the bed and I may have to that before I do the edging. As I left and shut my gate I stopped for a second. When I turned round to look up the lottie the feeders were being buzzed by birds. There were Blue Tit, Great Tit, Robin with Dunnock scratting about on the bare soil and to my delight Long Tailed Tits. They are very cute and there were a couple of pairs flitting about.
The trailer and some of the Leeks were dropped back off to Angie. Then I had a very important appointment. The bright sparks amongst you will have noted that the Sunday I was to be in Manchester was St Valentine's Day. I went into Ashby and bought some spring flowers and a card for H. I saw H in town but she did not see me. That is not that unusual, H has bumped into me in the street before now, apologised and tried to step round me only spotting it was me when I kept stepping back into her way. I got home before H had a shower and got changed in time for her return from town and then on to The Gelsmore for lunch. The food was good and cheap but the drinks were a killer. We spent a pleasant time in each others comapany just chatting. A bit before three o'clock we decided to nip over to Coalville and pick Miss L up from work and then home. A cup of tea later and a change of clothes I was off to Manchester.
Manchester was fun. Bloody cold to begin with, however the cold was kept out by my new long-johns I got the day before in Ashby. Highly inelegant but toastie warm. The afternoon was almost balmy at 9 degrees, until the sun started heading for the horizon. The event was a Honda open day at Hunts [Click HERE for Hunts website]. They had all the new models available. My brother had asked me to come along and help marshal the ride outs. It is strange that some people think they can turn up and trash other peoples bikes. When you have 170 brake horsepower on tap that is very fast and dangerous on ordinary suburban roads and even on motorways. I have something of a reputation and my job is to discourage folks from tearing off on the bikes. I know a few of the top brass that do the roadshows so whilst we waited for the shop owner to turn up we had some blokish banter. A very refreshing change of pace from work especially as we help the butty van to get positioned and they were quick to get the brews and bacon butties on.
I had to use the Zaf because Degsy is still poorly. I was supposed just to empty the trailer but as usual I got distracted. I dug up the remaining Leeks. Then weeded that portion of the bed and levelled it off. It looks nice but lots more to do. I had a look at the top of bed 3. There is a terrible lot of twitch that has invaded from next door. When a dig out the new edging I hope to create a barrier to this pernicious weed. It also means I will have a right job weeding the bed and I may have to that before I do the edging. As I left and shut my gate I stopped for a second. When I turned round to look up the lottie the feeders were being buzzed by birds. There were Blue Tit, Great Tit, Robin with Dunnock scratting about on the bare soil and to my delight Long Tailed Tits. They are very cute and there were a couple of pairs flitting about.
The trailer and some of the Leeks were dropped back off to Angie. Then I had a very important appointment. The bright sparks amongst you will have noted that the Sunday I was to be in Manchester was St Valentine's Day. I went into Ashby and bought some spring flowers and a card for H. I saw H in town but she did not see me. That is not that unusual, H has bumped into me in the street before now, apologised and tried to step round me only spotting it was me when I kept stepping back into her way. I got home before H had a shower and got changed in time for her return from town and then on to The Gelsmore for lunch. The food was good and cheap but the drinks were a killer. We spent a pleasant time in each others comapany just chatting. A bit before three o'clock we decided to nip over to Coalville and pick Miss L up from work and then home. A cup of tea later and a change of clothes I was off to Manchester.
Manchester was fun. Bloody cold to begin with, however the cold was kept out by my new long-johns I got the day before in Ashby. Highly inelegant but toastie warm. The afternoon was almost balmy at 9 degrees, until the sun started heading for the horizon. The event was a Honda open day at Hunts [Click HERE for Hunts website]. They had all the new models available. My brother had asked me to come along and help marshal the ride outs. It is strange that some people think they can turn up and trash other peoples bikes. When you have 170 brake horsepower on tap that is very fast and dangerous on ordinary suburban roads and even on motorways. I have something of a reputation and my job is to discourage folks from tearing off on the bikes. I know a few of the top brass that do the roadshows so whilst we waited for the shop owner to turn up we had some blokish banter. A very refreshing change of pace from work especially as we help the butty van to get positioned and they were quick to get the brews and bacon butties on.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Garlic
I forgot to mention that I planted the Garlic. I have had two cloves just sitting on the ground by the gate at the lottie. They have started rooting and sprouting. I found a dibber, made enough holes and having dropped the cloves into the holes covered them up. I need more cloves!
Guyot...who's he?
Sunday morning was supposed to be trailer day. I figured I would fix Degsy then get the trailer. I did fix Degsy after two hours but not permanently and he let me down. I managed to get home eventually. I took the Zafira instead and collected the trailer and then to the lottie. The newbie allotmenteers were busy on their plot. Their job in hand is turning the soil over and covering the area with tarps to keep to weds down. They seemed to take equal effort and are having fun. Perhaps not fun but deep satisfaction. I said hello and passed the time of day.
I tipped the trailer. Then I filled up the bird feeders. The last job and one I have being thinking of doing for most of the winter, was the prune and tie in the grape vines. Pruning of vines can be done in many ways. the one I elected for is called the modified Guyot system. "modified" because it is not the exact method. Part of the problem is that he Guyot systems is meant for vines grown in a vineyard not as part of a fence as mine are. What is supposed to happen is that you let a single stem grow up from the root stock and when it gets to a certain height the tip is trimmed off and two sets of lateral shoots are trained along a pair of wires. Well my vines have not read the book. I left the vines grow all last year just training them to keep the vines inside the netting and not getting too entangled but multiple stems grew not just one. Last season I managed to lead the laterals along the lower wires. This winter I had enough leaders to train a lateral to each wire. When I had a lateral on each wire I trimmed off everything else. The result is quite stark and the pile of trimming is large. From what I remember of last year's growth the vines will throw off plenty of leaf. It is part of vineyard management to prune off the vines mid season so a great deal of growth must be expected.
I dropped off at Steve's on the way back from the lottie and gave him a bunch of the vine trimmings. He gave me a lesson in hardwood cuttings. I went home and did as I had been instructed with what I had reserved from the cuttings. I tidied up the Zaf and made sure Degsy was locked up. To finish the weekend I got myself a glass of wine whilst the bath drew then I had a good long soak in a mad hot bath and finished off my latest read, Patrick O'Brian's, Treasons Harbour.
I tipped the trailer. Then I filled up the bird feeders. The last job and one I have being thinking of doing for most of the winter, was the prune and tie in the grape vines. Pruning of vines can be done in many ways. the one I elected for is called the modified Guyot system. "modified" because it is not the exact method. Part of the problem is that he Guyot systems is meant for vines grown in a vineyard not as part of a fence as mine are. What is supposed to happen is that you let a single stem grow up from the root stock and when it gets to a certain height the tip is trimmed off and two sets of lateral shoots are trained along a pair of wires. Well my vines have not read the book. I left the vines grow all last year just training them to keep the vines inside the netting and not getting too entangled but multiple stems grew not just one. Last season I managed to lead the laterals along the lower wires. This winter I had enough leaders to train a lateral to each wire. When I had a lateral on each wire I trimmed off everything else. The result is quite stark and the pile of trimming is large. From what I remember of last year's growth the vines will throw off plenty of leaf. It is part of vineyard management to prune off the vines mid season so a great deal of growth must be expected.
I dropped off at Steve's on the way back from the lottie and gave him a bunch of the vine trimmings. He gave me a lesson in hardwood cuttings. I went home and did as I had been instructed with what I had reserved from the cuttings. I tidied up the Zaf and made sure Degsy was locked up. To finish the weekend I got myself a glass of wine whilst the bath drew then I had a good long soak in a mad hot bath and finished off my latest read, Patrick O'Brian's, Treasons Harbour.
Spud bed
I had the happy situation this weekend of having no other calls on my time except the need to do some work on the lottie. I loaded Degsy up with tea bags, milk, water and jam donuts. Then I had a good breakfast of the English variety. With the inner man looked after I set off for the lottie. I really had three main things to do at the lottie.
A. Make a path edge along bed three.
B. Dig up the remaining spuds in bed 2.
C. Prep the pea bed in bed 4
I decided to dig up the remaining spuds. This seemed the most urgent job. As the weather warms up the spuds will start to grow again. I did not dig them up over the winter as had intended, the weather was just so cold either wet or frozen. The lottie was hard hit by late season potato blight. Sadly I had a written off the remaining crop. I set about clearing spud bed in the usual rhythm, a wheelbarrow for weeds and bucket for the spuds. The growing spuds had suppressed the weeds so there were few weeds to deal with. As usual there were a few Dock to deal with as I progressed back and forward across the bed. The over wintered spuds had fallen victim millipedes, worms, mice and the dreaded blight. Leaving the spuds in the ground is not a strange as it may seem. In ye olden days where there was no refrigeration so preservation was very important. Building "clamps" is a very old method of preserving root crops, not only spuds. The essence of the clamp is to bury the root crops in a dry conditions. Spuds are dormant through our winter so in a sense my spuds were clamped albeit in the rows they grew. Clamping does not keep the varmints out, as I found. My back was still a bit weak so I took things easy. The digging was fairly easy if slow. I dug a row and a bit, then had a brew. I had my book with me so I read a dozen pages whilst I drank my brew......very civilised.
Ten minutes after restarting H turned up with goodies [Jam tarts]. H had a look round the plot and having pronounced herself pleased and left me to it. I carried on slowly but surely. The light was dimming and with the cold got more damp and penetrating. I had to crack on a little to get the job done. The soil came up light and friable. As I dug I raked the soil into flat seed bed. When I finished the whole bed was completed and uniform in level. I then got the bag of Lime from Degsy and flung it about the bed. The bed is now ready for the brasiccas.
I was quiet chuffed because, as it turned out, the area I dug over a little over quarter of the bed and now the whole bed is finished. I ended the day without hurting myself, in fact I felt better than when I started. I loaded up Degsy along with the bags of manky spuds and weeds and took them to the tip. On the way back Degsy started playing up. Degsy pegged out about a mile from home. Steve was good enough to tow us home. I parked Degsy up sure that I would be able to fix it in the morning.
A. Make a path edge along bed three.
B. Dig up the remaining spuds in bed 2.
C. Prep the pea bed in bed 4
I decided to dig up the remaining spuds. This seemed the most urgent job. As the weather warms up the spuds will start to grow again. I did not dig them up over the winter as had intended, the weather was just so cold either wet or frozen. The lottie was hard hit by late season potato blight. Sadly I had a written off the remaining crop. I set about clearing spud bed in the usual rhythm, a wheelbarrow for weeds and bucket for the spuds. The growing spuds had suppressed the weeds so there were few weeds to deal with. As usual there were a few Dock to deal with as I progressed back and forward across the bed. The over wintered spuds had fallen victim millipedes, worms, mice and the dreaded blight. Leaving the spuds in the ground is not a strange as it may seem. In ye olden days where there was no refrigeration so preservation was very important. Building "clamps" is a very old method of preserving root crops, not only spuds. The essence of the clamp is to bury the root crops in a dry conditions. Spuds are dormant through our winter so in a sense my spuds were clamped albeit in the rows they grew. Clamping does not keep the varmints out, as I found. My back was still a bit weak so I took things easy. The digging was fairly easy if slow. I dug a row and a bit, then had a brew. I had my book with me so I read a dozen pages whilst I drank my brew......very civilised.
Ten minutes after restarting H turned up with goodies [Jam tarts]. H had a look round the plot and having pronounced herself pleased and left me to it. I carried on slowly but surely. The light was dimming and with the cold got more damp and penetrating. I had to crack on a little to get the job done. The soil came up light and friable. As I dug I raked the soil into flat seed bed. When I finished the whole bed was completed and uniform in level. I then got the bag of Lime from Degsy and flung it about the bed. The bed is now ready for the brasiccas.
I was quiet chuffed because, as it turned out, the area I dug over a little over quarter of the bed and now the whole bed is finished. I ended the day without hurting myself, in fact I felt better than when I started. I loaded up Degsy along with the bags of manky spuds and weeds and took them to the tip. On the way back Degsy started playing up. Degsy pegged out about a mile from home. Steve was good enough to tow us home. I parked Degsy up sure that I would be able to fix it in the morning.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
It's been a full week already
One day left of the week and has been all go. Besides work; I presided at a fencing competition Tuesday night, went to London Wednesday and was back in time to go to Miss L college for a parent's evening and tonight I came home from work, had my tea, watched a bit of TV then did a short service on my car. I changed the plugs, air filter, oil filter and windscreen wipers in 30 minutes. So why does it cost a bloomin' fortune at the garage to do the same job and I did it outside in the dark? The car is in for it's MOT tomorrow.
I am hoping for a nice sit down tomorrow evening with a nice bottle of red wine before setting too at the weekend.
I am hoping for a nice sit down tomorrow evening with a nice bottle of red wine before setting too at the weekend.
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