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Friday, 20 March 2009 19:46 |
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Last year we grew tomato plants, ending up with 15 plants and enough tomatoes to keep a small army fed. We ended up giving a lot of tomatos away as we couldn't eat them fast enough! This year we're having a go at two varieties: Gardener's Delight and Hundreds and Thousands. The seeds were sown on 13th March in two seeds trays, which have gone in a propogator on the lounge windowsill. The Gardener's Delight packet had about 85 seeds in, and the Hundreds and Thousands packet had 15 seeds. So far (1 week later) about a dozen plants of each type have germinated. If they all germinate as well as last year's crop (100% success rate), we might end up supplying the supermarkets! So far I haven't worked out what we're going to do with all the plants. Last year's plants went in growbags, but I can't see where we'd put growbags for 100 plants! |
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Saturday, 17 January 2009 17:54 |
 When we moved to our house just over a year ago, we gained a compost bin. A year on, we generate enough compostable waste that I decided we need more than one compost bin. A trip to Welshpool recycling centre and £10 later, we had a second bin, which went straight in situ. I had a pile of removed turves, leaves and lawn clippings, along with the growbags from last year's tomatos. An hour later, these had nearly filled the new bin. I wanted to relocate the existing bin, so I topped up the new bin with the compost from the base of the old bin, and lifted the bin off the compost pile. Note to self - this is hard work, and quite messy! Looking through the old bin, I was quite surprised to see just how well composted its contents were, with only the top 12-18" looking like they needed a few more months. It also made me resolve to not put so many grass clipping in in one go, as they go slimy and smelly. Putting the compost back in the bin in its new location gave it a chance to get some air, for it to get turned, and for me to pick out some of the sticks that shouldn't really have gone in there in the first place. Now that's done, I think I might have to get a third compost bin... |
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