by Neil Wilkinson | Jan 25, 2009 | Allotment
Phew. After what has probably been about four or five weeks the greenhouse is finally done. Today was the last push to get the remainder completed. Neil’s OCD and greenhouse related insomnia meant that he ended up changing a few panes around yesterday so that they were in the ‘right order’ and I have to admit that it does look better for it. When we arrived today the first job was to make some extra pieces out of some thin hardboard to cover those areas that had broken glass or we had run out of panes for. In the event we were only short two small rectangular pieces and Chris from the allotment opposite gave us some polycarbonate sheeting that we cut to fit. We then patched two very small areas of broken glass with some hardboard cut to fit. This is just a temporary job as we have kept a few sheets of glass that are a bit broken but still about 3/4 original size so pieces can be cut out of these at a later date. Neil had a go using a glass cutter but needs a bit more practice so we might ask Bob from the other side of the site to cut them for us as apparently he is a bit of an expert.
We have deliberately left a small opening at the back of the greenhouse as it is just the right size for Tammy to get through. In fact Neil found her asleep in our greenhouse when he arrived yesterday. She seems to be making herself at home.
Another job we made progress with is the building of the remaining beds. We had two left to build which are smaller than our standard beds so we have room by the gate to get things in and out. Neil did some nifty angled cutting and recycled some nails to build them. Next week we will build the last smaller bed to go round the base of the fruit tree we are planting and we will have to do some more digging through the gravel surface so they are ready to fill with soil once it has been ordered.
So it really feels like we are ticking some major jobs off the list now. Once these last beds are filled with soil we will tidy up the ground in front of the fencing so we can have some tubs of flowers out there and then sort out some staging for inside the greenhouse. Then it will be planting, planting, planting!
by Neil Wilkinson | Jan 18, 2009 | Allotment
For a long time I never thought that I would get to say this. To get this far required two trips to Wales, one to Wigan and a few to B&Q to sort out the base (the design of which literally kept me awake at night). We’ve been lugging bits of it around the plot for months. Every time the glass settled somewhere we had to move it. We had it in pallets, but needed those for the fence. We decided on a nice bit by the concrete bays – until the guy that delivers the manure crashed into them and smashed some glass. We moved them in the frame, but then had to move them to build the base. Every time we moved them we broke some panes. It came with no instructions and plenty of missing bits. We also decided to start glazing it during the coldest week of the coldest December for years. And now. The. Greenhouse. Is. Almost. Done.
It’s true! Look:
We have a working door and every bit of glass we have has been cleaned to within an inch of it’s life by Pilla. We started the day today by taking out some of the panes we had previously put in (all to do with having the little pieces at the bottom – don’t know if that’s important or not?) which was frustrating – but ended the day having all but 15 pieces done. And, fingers crossed, the rest should be straightforward.
So far we have put in 82 panes of glass. We don’t quite have enough glass to do the rest, we are about 3 little panes short – not bad at all. We might even be able to deal with that by lots of overlapping panes.
To make me feel better, here is what it looked like when we first got it:
So now we need to deal with staging for inside and we’ll be all set to grow. It almost felt spring-like today – it was sunny, warm and there were lots of people about. You can almost sense the ‘it’s almost spring, we’d better get things sorted’ feeling running through the place!
by Neil Wilkinson | Jan 17, 2009 | Allotment
Another day, more greenhouse glass. For a day that we were not really planning on going to the plot we did a good few hours and managed to get a good amount of glass in. For the first time in ages we didn’t have to wear coats and at some points we were actually getting too warm (well until pilla decided to start fighting with the tap and got covered in water).
We have completed the roof, and put glass 2 panes high around most of the ‘house. We have some tricky bits coming up because we know there are some broken bits of shaped glass, and there must be some pieces holding the glass in missing. Our pane count is now up at 54. Thats 54 panes of glass that had to be prized apart, scrubbed, rinsed, squeeged, proped up and then put in place. Oddly enough, even though it’s only about two thirds done and no walls are finished yet it did feel a bit warmer being in it today! The weather forecast for tomorrow is not great, so we might not get much done but hopefully we are only a few hours away from finishing the thing! Woo!
by Neil Wilkinson | Jan 4, 2009 | Allotment
Another cold day, another few hours at the allotment. In fact, it was so cold the camera batteries ran out of juice so the only pictures we have are from a few days ago. Here is what we had done to the greenhouse:
Exciting, glass! We’ve actually done more than that now, we have finished the roof on one side and done two-thirds of the other. Thats 20 panes of glass in so far, about another million to go and we still don’t have any idea if we have either enough, or the right shapes. Philippa was doing the cleaning (it is amazing how full of gunk greenhouse glass gets if you just let it sit) and I was wobbling about on a ladder and pallet combination to get the glass in.
This is a picture of the bed that Pilla made for Tammy the other day, and also the compost bin I made:
Hopefully with the week off Pilla has now and another weekend we’ll get a lot more of the greenhouse done by next week.
by Philippa | Dec 31, 2008 | Allotment
In keeping with the festive season the main job I have been getting on with at the site is some good hoeing. Neil has been losing sleep over the greenhouse base so each time we have been there he has been doing more tinkering with it, which didn’t leave much for me to be getting on with. But the soil in the beds was in very large clumps which is not good for planting so I decided to make a start on prepping them. I am sure we will need to do much more before we actually put anything in the soil but at least its a start.
Hoeing is surprisingly tiring with the advantage that it kept me nice and warm on the frosty allotment. We were at the site this morning and the temperature reading in the car was minus 4.5!! I think we win the award for committed winter allotmenting! Poor Neil needed to take his gloves off as he was building a compost bin with some fiddly nails so he had to have regular handwarming breaks!
One little job I did today was to make a cat bed for Tammy! It was so cold I cannot imagine where she goes to get warm when it’s like this so thought I would make her somewhere to hide when she needs a little shelter. I used a small vegetable box that Gilly had given us and lined it with some of Mum’s old carpet that has been protecting our glass. I left the box under an overhang of carpet so that it is sheltered from the elements. She seemed to like it as she did lots of rubbing her face on it. Will have to inspect it when we are next there for signs that she has been in properly.
by Neil Wilkinson | Dec 31, 2008 | Allotment
This is just a quick jobs list update, we’ll do a more in depth update later.
This is what we have done from our list:
- Build shed base
- Build shed
- Build greenhouse base
- Fix greenhouse to base
- Build leaf composters
- Collect leaves
- Build compost bin
And here is what we still have to do:
- Fix glass to greenhouse
- Clean greenhouse (it’s a mess)
- Finish building the beds and a nice surround for the fruit tree.
- Fill the new beds with soil
- Sort out a pond
- Buy apple tree
- Plant tree, asparagus, redcurrants, garlic, onions.
- Sort out seed trays, compost, pots etc for March time.
Which is not bad, but we only have about 13 weeks until the start of April and that’s when the growing starts to kick in. Eek.
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