Well this weekend (plus the bonus afternoon on Friday) has been jam packed and full of generous gestures. After moving the soil on Friday we wanted to make a start on a few little jobs that have been on the list of things to do for quite a while.
First on the list was planting the trees that were such a bargain from Aldi. Yesterday we realised that we were still in need of a few containers for our trees and also some to use as water butts. For some time we have been asking around friends and family and it just kept getting pushed further down the list. But having bought a plum and a cherry tree which needed planting asap this suddenly became a lot more pressing. We took a walk around the site to ask people where they got their containers from and we ended up with some very useful gifts! We got a big grey barrel for a water butt from Chris which had apparently enjoyed a previous life at the Robertson’s jam factory! He also donated a metal bin to match one that Bob kindly offered us which are perfect for the trees:
It took a surprising amount of time to fill two of them deep enough for planting! In fact, so much time that Neil was very productive in building some greenhouse staging. Neil’s dad provided lots of metal shelving which we adapted for the base and we bought 2m wooden batons to lay across the top.
Neil completed two sides and now only has one more to finish. We think that this will be sufficient for this year’s seedlings and one advantage of DIY staging is that we can take some or all of it down if we find we need more floor space for pots and growbags. We also added an old set of Ikea shelves that had been hanging around at Neil’s dad’s house since they were used in various university flats. I was a bit worried that all this activity in the greenhouse might have frightened Tammy off but she was around for most of the day and getting very friendly at times!
In order to catch up with Neil’s productivity I set about planting our garlic that arrived a couple of weeks ago. It comes in large bulbs which you have to break apart into cloves to plant just under the surface of the soil. Unfortunately for me whilst this again took some time to complete, all my efforts are now under 3-5cm of soil so not very visible-you will just have to trust me that there are now 30 cloves lined up between the canes waiting to grow into big juicy bulbs! Neil did some planting of his own on Friday as during our soil shovelling he found a lonely little unidentified bulb that is just sprouting a green tip. He rescued it and put it in our front border. We have a bet on as to what it might grow into. My money is on it being a crocus while Neil thinks it is a daffodil (as if!). We also put in a tangled cluster of strawberries that Debbie gave us-thanks Debs!
Finally, we popped to the store to buy some seed trays and some Jeyes fluid which we plan to disinfect the greenhouse with before sowing and Neil connected some spare drainpipe to the gifted water butt so after a few rainy Manchester days we will be able to water our fledgling plants without using the tap. All in all a good three days which has made it very hard to summon up sufficient enthusiasm for work on Monday morning!
Neil would like a special mention for the newly hung plot number which now adorns the gate. This was made out of a broken piece of pallet which Neil chiselled and scorched the number into. Very homely 🙂
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