Bodmacity

Amy was out with the girls last night so Jake and I had a boys night in. We potted the tomato plants that Charbel had given me. Jake had the task of filling the little pots with compost while I held the seedlings. We then tidied up the new raised borders by picking up all the cherries that had fallen from the neighbour’s tree.

We then had pizza for a treat. Jake had already eaten but he wanted more :-). I was explaining to Jake that the pizza was a little spicy, like the slim-jim we had on holiday. Jake obviously remembered the slim-jim because he said “I ate it!”.

He has discovered that he can kick off his shoes under the table. He did this and then asked me to look under the table. I then did a very suprised look and said “what? no shoes!”. He found this game very funny and laughed like a drain each time I did it. He then pulled off his socks and the game continued. I took off my sandals and Jake copied my voice and said “What no sandals?”. It was very amusing.

I’ve moved all gardening related musings to Organic Gardening – A Beginners Journey

I spent the morning/early afternoon making my second raised bed. I decided to double-dig because the soil is very heavy clay. The frame was a little more complex than the previous one. The slope necessitated three 4 inch planks. The extra height meant I needed to add a half length plank along the bottom of the trench to hide an unsightly gap.

It was hard work and very hot. We missed the mini heatwave in May so this has definitely been the hottest day of the year so far for me.

I have filled the bed with two layers of compost sandwiched between soil removed during excavations. For the final finish I will mix up some compost and topsoil. The top soil was salvaged when I put decorative bark chippings in the border at the front of the house.

They arrived this afternoon so I immediately set upon the task of applying them. The pack covers forty square metres which is more then enough for my needs. The steps involved are:

• Take a quarter of the nematodes and place them in a watering can
• Add eight litres of water
• Mix
• Apply to a quarter of the area to be treated
• Add eight litres of clean water
• Water the area that has just been ‘nematodized’
• Repeat another three times until the whole area is treated

I now need to wait a week for the nematodes to home in on the slugs living in the soil.

It’s good that I’m working from home today. The weather has been lovely, even though I’ve only been able to appreciate it from the spare room. This is where I have ensconced myself for a day’s work at home. I have my trusty IBM laptop, mediocre Internet connection and a nice tea and a biscuit. What more could a man want?

Amy has gone to the cinema to see ‘Sex and the City’ and Jake is still sleeping in his big bed. If all goes well, then he should wake around the time I knock off. Today’s work day will end at 4ish and then we’ll pop round Trudi’s to pick up some pumpkin plants.

Still no sign of the carrots or runner beans. Trudi reckons they should make an appearance in a week or so. Fingers-crossed!

After work I spent the evening in the garden. I’ve potted a tray of lettuce and some beans. I started cutting the timber for the next raised bed. I’ve had to make this one 8 inches high because of the inherent slope at the back of the garden.

I’ve lost another marigold to the slugs!!! Instead of eating the leaves they just chomp straight through the stalk :-(. I picked a few more off this evening but fear I’m waging a losing battle(at least until the nematode army arrives).

I dispatched half a dozen slugs last night. I’m not sure what the neighbours thought. If they had looked out of their window they would have seen me peering at my marigolds, with a torch in the pouring rain…

This morning I found a few more of the slimy beasts munching away at the base of the marigolds. It didn’t look like there was much damage. I think the foxes are doing a good job of hoovering them up. Still no sign of my slug trap :-(.

I planted my carrots and runner beans last night. Just before it got dark I went out with my torch to go ‘slug picking’. I found several of the beasties inching their way to my marigolds. They were soon dispatched with some salt. I’ve ordered some nematodes in order to get rid of them organically.

The weather has turned thundery again. This morning it was raining heavily. I went out to see it there was any slug damage. No damage by the slimy beasts, thankfully, but the foxes have run off with my home-made ‘beer trap’. They also have been digging where I planted my beans yesterday. Maybe they were looking for slugs to eat?

I started work yesterday creating a raised bed for growing veggies. The reason behind the raised bed is my frustration at the heavy clay nature of the soil. You could literally grab and handful and throw a pot with it. I decided to raise the area a little so I could introduce a top layer of compost with a nice rakeable tilth.

I initially dug the area over and added plenty of manure/compost. I bought some exterior 2×4 boards and some battens a while ago which I used for the job. I bought some decking screws to hold everything together.

I only needed three sides because the raised bed was to abutt the garden wall. I measured up and proceeded to cut three lengths of wood. I screwed the first two together and ended up breaking the screw. So with the next one I predrilled the hole. I put two screws in each side and then lay the frame next to the wall.

The next step was to ensure that the frame was flat. My garden is on a slope so I had fun and games digging out one side so that the whole structure was sitting level.

Once I was happy with the placement I took the four battens and cut each one into a point. I then hammered these into the ground at each inside corner of the frame. A couple at the back would only go down halfway, due to the concrete under the posts holding the retaining wall up. I sawed the tops of these and then screwed each batten to the frame. In hindsight chunkier square posts would have been stronger but we’ll see how long these last.

The final satifying chore was to dig over the soil and then add a nice top layer of compost.

Tonight I will plant my runner beans :-).

I now ride to Waterloo from Ladywell most days. I had a bit of a wobble when I started. I didn’t research my route properly and ended up by the Imax on the other side of Waterloo. I also encountered some ‘white van rage’ which was a little disconcerting. I now have the route cracked. It’s not bad, the only downside being ‘The Old Kent Road’ which, quite frankly, is a nightmare. Pollution is very bad and there are road works at either end. This doesn’t make it easy to navigate and often I’ve been stuck behind a bendy bus sucking in the lovely diesel fumes.

The journey time is good. It takes me 30 minutes door to bike rack and it saves me £3 a day. Now that I have to lug the laptop around, a pannier is a must. I can feel a wiggle purchase coming on.

Jake has been in his big bed since Saturday night. It was a little tricky to put together. Those scandinavians and their diagrams. Jake loves his bed. We bought him a new duvet with wizards and dragons on it. He loves to cuddle into it while clutching his ‘boudoir’ pillow. How very decadent.

It is lovely to put him to bed and then sit on the bed and read him his stories. Tonight we read his ‘ touch and feel’ Horses book and the Gruffalo(which it seems is at just the right level for him now). Tonight he said “my love my bed”. He is a poppet.