Heavy Blocks
A lovely couple in Kinglassie had some blocks going free. “I’m here for the exercise” I said “you’re at the right place” and I was. These blocks are called grunters, they are twice the thickness of a normal breeze block and feel about four…
Turf turns into soil
Two generous families have donated turf to the project. It took two loads in the Sportage loaded to the gunnels. Incorporating some horse manure and covering it up in black plastic to bake for six months will turn it into delicious soil to grow…
More beds – no compost
Building beds with blocks is quicker and easier. I need about twelve block per bed or nearly seventy bricks. In Zimbabwe, some of the white farmers were affectionately dubbed ama-pointer. With an outstretched finger “you do this, you do that.” The dining room chairs…
Shoveling Sh..Manure
In the corner of the poly tunnel, Rory built a pallet compost pit and both he and I filled it with a cube of horse manure. Rain water was added. A week later I was interested to see if the temperature inside the middle…
Planting Day
While potting up plants that I can’t plant because I’ve run out of compost, the thought hit me: A new tact. The Garden will have an open day in June or July and have a plant sale. Hence the ‘plant the whole packet’ mentality….
Bricks
After three load in my carpet lined boot of the Kia Sportage, has resulted in 200 bricks, all made by local brickworks now defunct. I ran out of steam, but I’ll get some more next week. The topsoil here is about a spade deep,…
Matthew’s potato donation
This huge box of potatoes was delivered by DPD, I could barely lift it into the house. When Matthew said he was sending seed potatoes, I expected a bag or two. He send twenty one! My guesstimate is I’ll need the area of another…
Jane Fonda Workout
Before I started this project, I weighed 110kg, about 17 stone. I’m six foot but my t-shirts were now getting a bit short because my “Rhodesian Front” was the biggest it’s ever been. Building beds, filling, lifting and raking meant lots and lots of…
A funny story
At the supermarket my folks noticed some vegetable seedlings for sale. My mother wanted a butternut squash, saw this label and bought it; there were two seedlings as well. When they got home and looked up the translation. It’s a giant squash, the size…
Prepping for the cover
Most of the trenches were dug using the mini-digger, I did need to dig about four or five yards of trench by hand. The tree roots held up work but nothing a bit of sweat could not fix. The next job was to cut…