It's a worms life

The weather is holding out. Still not too wet. A few showers during the week has kept the soil at the lottie damp and loose. I went to the lottie on Saturday morning. It was really misty to the point where it almost rained. It was dry enough for me though. I move the black compost bins to give me access to the big compo bin. I set about the bin with wood, nails, bolts, hammers and screw drivers and after about an hour of freestyle joinery I had a wormery.

It is a little under four foot long and eighteen inches deep and wide. It is lined with a bit a old pond liner. I managed to find some planks to make a lid but ran out of fixings. I still had a bit of my allotted time left so I set about the lid onthe main compost bin. I had found a decent fence panel sometime ago and have been using it as an over size lid. With the extra time I trimmed the panel down to just the right size and reassembled the end batten. So now I have the lid the right size. The next job is the find some hinges to make opening the lid easier.

I had moved the black compo bins which meant I had the contents of the bins all over the floor. I repositioned the bins and re-filled them. It is quite amazing how much the contents have broken down. The dock root have still got quite away to go.

Sunday was drier. I got down the lottie for a few hours in the morning. I had the wormery from home in the car. I had a some potting compost that I had been growing Carrots in from home as well which I dumped into the new wormery as a base layers. Then I tipped in the contents of the old wormery. I had to re-layer the contents of the old wormery so that the top layers were still on top. Then just to make the worms feel at home I layered on the some new "food". Once the worms were installed I nail together the planks that make the lid. I found a a piece of spare carpet, cut it to size and it now covers the surface of the material in the wormery. Whilst I was knocking wood about I made a little shelf to carry the water butt. Where the butt was positioned made it awkwad to fill the watering cans. How it is at just the right height to fill the cans and to top up the butt itself.

Just to finish the morning off a dug over an eight by twelve foot area of the old pea bed. I took two wheel barrow loads of weeds to the black compo bins. Just as well the contents have rotten down! Another eight foot and the bed is complete. I am feeling quite chuffed as over half the of the plot is cleared.

An 'Omage to Tom Good

Any body of a certain age in the UK will know of the comedy series from the late 70s called "The Good Life". Click HERE for the link to BBC Good Life page. When Tom Good's had friends round he always got out the Pea Pod Burgundy. It was supposed to be potent. As an "homage" to Tom I have started a Pea Pod wine. Whether it is a Burgundy or not is anyone guess. It is bubbling away in the dining room and is a vivid yellow. Lucy says you should not eat or drink anything that is fluorescent.

Seeing that I have a glut of football sized Beetroot a short rummage on Google came up with several recipes for Beetroot Wine. It is supposed to be ready in two weeks as well...result. I started in last night [08.10.07] and it was bubbling by this morning. It is also a vivid colour, Vermilion Red, like Cranberry. Watch this space for the tasting notes.

Compost & Worms

I have had a wormery at home for a few monthes. It is great but it has a big draw back. It grows Vinegar Flies by the score. I am not sure how these tiny flies contribute to the big picture but there loads of them. I keep the wormery in the back garden but still a few flies make it into the house.

One of the Plot holders, Martyn, was enthusing about a wormery during the summer so I think I am going to convert one the the compo bins into a wormery. The wormery needs to be shallow but with a large surface area. Imagine a big deep tray. I will need a insulated lid to keep the worst of the frost out. I figure I will use the area under the wormery as a compo heap and hopefully this will give some heat to the underside of the wormery. I just need a little bit of pond liner and I'm good to go.

Our Own Harvest Festival

H and I had our good friends the Peter's round for a long walk and then dinner on Saturday. Dinner was made up from the bounty from the lottie, the Pork we recently had in from the local butcher and Air dried Ham from the pig we had this time last year. There was even a bottle or two of the Apple wine from last years pressing.

I went to the lottie Saturday morning to dig up the veg for the table. Beetroot, Swede, Parsnip Carrot and Fennel. Only the fennel let me down. Five plants and no bulbs. Digging up the Fennel and smashing the stems ready for the compost bin was divine. I smelt of Aniseed all afternoon. The Potatoes, Onion and Garlic are at home, in the shed. I have beetroot of all sizes, tennis ball size to up to football sized ones. I tell you want I did with the big Beets in another post. I was chuffed that I had so many Carrot and on inspection there was only a little carrot fly damage. The Swedes were a bit of a mixed bags but I have loads to chose from.

We had Melon and Air Dried Ham to start, Pork Hotpot and roast vegetables for the main and poached sticky Pears for pudding. Julie brought a lovely box of home chocolates to go with the coffee. Alan & I were a little the worse for wear by th end, mainly because we had a head start by going to the Railway Inn on the way back from the walk.

Happy days!

When is the Sweet Corn Ready?

It is a question I am often asked. The received wisdom is to pull back the shelves of the corn and press your thumb into the kernels. If they bleed white juice, they are ready. If I did this I would have spoiled almost all the cobs waiting for them to be ready. I have a much smarter plan. Inspect the cobs as normal. As soon as you see mouse damage, they are ready. The mice alway tackle the ripest cobs first. This year was abismal for Sweet corn. I had a block of twelve plants and only got fourteen cobs. Usually I get four cobs per plant!

Go slow - work faster

I have recovered from the neck pain. The enforced slow down has re-newed my energy levels. Last weekend I dug up the remaining four rows or spuds. It has been a really poor harvest. It rained on Monday last so I went up to the lottie, after work, with intention of digging in the green manure [Buck Wheat]. The rain during the day had really loosened up the soil so the weeds flew out of the ground. It was lucky because it gets too dark to work by about 7.30pm. I am feeling quite righteous at the moment because I have at least half the plot dug over although not actually manured.

It looks like I won't be getting any Butternut squash, Pumpkin or Gherkins this year. I will wait until the first frost or when the plants wilt before pulling them up. You never know, I might have over looked something. I will give them every chance to produce. The leeks are rubbish but it seems I might have a Carrot crop in the ground. I will take a sneak peek this weekend.

On the beverage front, I made Damson wine and it is in the Demi-John fiercely bubbling away. The Damson Gin and Slow Gin have been started. H said she got some funny looks as she passed ten bottles of Gin through the check out. She said she was not going to justify the purchase to anyone. I am trying to find some small bottles on the Internet.

I have also resolved what I am going to do at the lottie this winter.
1. Make a proper path down the west side and north end. This will give me a clean edge to the beds and proper access.
2. Make path between the beds on either side of the centre path. The path edging will give a clean end the end of the beds and give access to the new path from the middle of the plot.
3. Put a pipe under the centre path of allow water to get away from the eastern beds.
4. Complete the patio area. I only need four, 2x2 flags.

I have this idea I am going to make room on the patio by putting the water butt, full of Comfrey Tea, on top of the end compost bin. I just have not sussed quite now I am going to support the weight. And there is the small matter of access to re-fill the butt.

The wait continues whilst the Sweet Corn ripens...or not.

Slow Work

As I was leaving the plot last week I head butted the top edge of the door opening on my car. It jarred right down my spine. I had a stiff neck all week. Whenever I had to turn round I was like a lighthouse. I was still not feeling loose enough this weekend and togther with the tablets everything was moving at half speed.

We were supposed to go to my Auntie's 60th birthday party on Saturday but I could not face to drive to Manchester. Instead I had a pottered at the Lottie. More to get out in the fresh air than anything else. I had a bash with the new hoe. It is very good. I sowed some green manure. It just has to braodcast and to cap it off it rained last night so no watering required.

During the go-slow through the week I have been able to get the Elderberry and Blackberry wine filtered and racked into Demi-Johns. They are bubbling away nicely. The Rhubard wine was racked for the third time. The next step for the Rhubarb is bottling. I am just thawing the Damsons to start the a new batch.

Note to self; I have to find time to sit down and make the seed selection for next year. I have resolved to plant my spuds much earlier next year. Hopefully I can beat the blight.