Here's Jester climbing the tower I made for the SPCA kitties:
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Here's Jester climbing the tower I made for the SPCA kitties:
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Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.
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Built some shelves in a cupboard to turn it into a games cupboard for the kids. The shelves are just made out of 20mm MDF and to help prevent the shelves from sagging I glued and biscuited a Rimu 35x35mm edge band. The Rimu has a round over edge and I've used Danish Oil protect it. The Rimu edge band are made from studs left over from the my house renovations.
The top self is the location for the WIFI, ROUTER, VoIP ATA, MEDIA CENTER etc. That's why the shelf is recessed a bit for easier access.
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Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos
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I had a huge accident in Dec. Left me pretty much not able to walk for 4-6 months and even now pain and crutches get in the way of most DIY.
however, I invested 2.5 hours of my allowed on my feet time to get the garden working again after a year away from it. 5 hours later my wife kicked me back into my chair, gave me a scolding as the swelling was horrendous and bought me a beer from the super market as i had done such a good job getting the garden in order and working again.
Here's a photo - but I'll start a separate tread to post in as it progresses.
The raised gardens were built by me last year - eat treated pallets, sawn in half and nailed together. The painting buckets were from free cycle and the bird netting was a few dollars at mitre 10.
One of the five raised gardens made
This is a closhe(spelling?) - designed to let the lettuces grow in a warm sheltered environment. it is ideal for me as i cant bend, squat or easily sit on the ground and get up again.
I made this last week - the lettuce seeds are already sprouting a week later. This works well to keep greens going during winter and also keep the Herbivorous Vampires ( AKA the chickens) from eating all our greens. It does mean we have to visit it to water it each day / second day in summer.
A composting experiment.
One of the problems with planting in buckets is they dry out very very quickly. this is an experiment in trying to minimise water loss as well as putting a (hopefully) non smelly compost tube in the middle so kitchen scraps can be composted straight into the pot to add to the plant growth.
The middle pipe has 5mm holes drilled around it to let water and nutrients through but keep the worms contained. It was seeded with a few worms and some existing compost. Hopefully by blending kitchen scraps and adding a bit of sawdust, dirt occasionally it will stop the compost smelling.
The bucket was drilled with 50mm hole drill. There is also a 10mm hole about 50mm from the bottom. This means excess water and hopefully worm juice can pour out while maintaining a reservoir of water at the bottom of the bucket to keep the plants moist long term. The lid is also for moisture prevention between it and the compost will hopefully keep the garden from drying out too quickly. We put a tin over the top of the compost hole to minimise smell and water loss. Will see how it goes.
I did another bucket using 10mm holes in the centre pipe - that's too big - the water pours out the top strawberry holes.
If I did this again ( sorry - when I do it again) I am going to put a divider about 40 - 50 mm from the bottom of the bucket to keep the soil out of the reservoir. This would also mean water pured down the central pipe would go straight down, only slowed by the compost in the way - where as at present because he dirt is all the way to the bottom of the bucket we don't get the full reservoir effect.
We also planted some bottles in the garden, buried them nozzle first 9with the tops on), drilled holes around the sides (2mm) and fill them with water to help with slow release watering of the gardens
Bodge Job Fixes:
Didn't want to spend $10-15 getting the watering can fixed or replaced so a bottle, silicone gel and tape - plus a drill to make holes works wonders - better than the original.
Mayhem with the sons and daughter.
Youtube - a pyromaniacs delight. -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHD10DjxM1g
My kids saw this video on youtube so we decided t make a blast furnace. So far we have melted lead, copper, pig iron and aluminium. Along the way my son learned the difference between coal, wood , brickettes and charcoal as a fuel. He also learnt about blowing oxygen past coals to gain heat, how to make moulds (sand, wood and tin so far) and how much charcoal costs to buy. Oh yes - starter fuels - kerosene and turps = good. meths - careful, petrol - heck no!!!!
His next scheme is to make his own charcoal as we have over 3 years of fire wood that can be dried and charcoalised. Much cheaper than $15 per bag.
My other son decided to make a hobo stove along the way - side event from the main project.
one of the coffee houses imports coffee from italy in cans and throws the cans. Boy have I got some plans for them.
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Hammerer:
Thanks for the photos, made me smile. I don't enjoy doing gardening myself - my wife loves it - but I do enjoy do interesting or well designed equipment and gardens.
Cloche is the spelling for a semi-transparent or translucent cover.
Cloche it is then. Thanks.
I'm not a gardener per se - i just like walking past food, grabbing a handful and cooking (mostly because i love eating good food). Basil, tomatoes, fresh garlic and onions for a fresh pasta or corn cooked fresh and eaten with butter / salt / pepper, or fresh peas and beans munched to oblivion before you get them back to the kitchen.
Sarah (my wife) likes gardening as it is a good way to get he kids to avoid you ( oi you! - boy - come here nad help with some weeding ... he he he ) but doesn't like cooking. i enjoy making things but not so much the gardening. Good synchronicity here.
The raised gardens make life easier for weeding - walk past and pluck daily. The issue is watering - often has to be done daily or more in summer with buckets or gardens where the soil doesnt have enough body in it. that's a pain so it is our current focus to make it more enjoyable and less labour intensive.
One way we have done that is I built a pump that is the shape of a T. 12mm hose on the left bar of the T, 19mm on the right side and smallish diameter hose ( possibly 12mm from memory) as the stalk of the t. Drop the stalk into the fish pond, attach hose to the 12mm left bar and turn it on at about half flow. The water runs across the top of the t nad out the 19mm hose. Along the way the venturi effect or bournelli principle or some other Italian trick of physics causes water to get sucked up the stalk and also exit out the 19mm hose. it's like a paint spray system
My mess mad daughter (8) loves running around the garden with the 10m long 19mm hose watering the plants with the green algae laced, fish poo enhanced water from the pond. this also has the benefit of cleaning the fish pond and turning the water over. Good for plants too.
After raised gardens I'm not sure i would bother going back to the traditional version. Especially as I cant squat, kneel or even walk comfortable (more a shuffle / limp / wince type affair).
I also get to buy tools to make stuff that saves money in the long term. It's a win / win / win and keeps me out of trouble ( until Sarah finds what the tools cost me - gulp!! )
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