Thinning Fruit

There is a phrase about how you should get your enemy's to thin your fruit.

But mine are busy, so I have to do my own. 

It's been interesting this year seeing a new area become heavily fruitful for the first time. When I used to graft a few apple trees (something I need to get back into) I put some trees down in the coppice.

This year they've cropped really well. In fact they've cropped just too well. I waited for the June drop, but it just never happened, so last week I took to knocking some fruit off the trees. It always feels wrong, but I know it's for the greater good. 

I love being able to have different areas for fruit growing, all with different microclimates and quirks. These seem to have faired much better this year with being a bit of open light and air, unlike the orchard which is tucked away a little bit. 

Lovely to see these trees to start coming into their own. Hopefully this should help fill the pantry for winter if they get to ripen. 

Who else as thinned fruit this year?

Dehydrated Blackcurrants

One of my absolute favourite preserved items lately has been the super intensely favoured dried blackcurrants. 

These have the unique blackcurrant flavour but condensed down. We use them each year in baking now, they've become a store cupboard ingredient rather than using sultanas or raisins. 

They take an age to dry though. Probably nearly two days in the dehydrator. The video above shows the process I went through. Cleaning them is often the hardest bit, but I discovered I could winnow them once dry, using an old bouncy castle fan I own. It worked well and blew out all the bits we didn't really want to store. 

Do you dehydrate blackcurrants? 

What's your favourite store cupboard ingredient you make yourself?

 

A Few New Tools

As I go deeper and deeper into making small batches of my products I'm always looking for ways to either speed up the process or to make it easier on myself. 

One thing I spend a lot of time doing is sanding. I tend to use two orbital sanders for this and in all honesty it can be a little tough on my hands. I'm either holding the sander or holding the wood. 

So I had a think about how I could improve this process. I knew a bench mounted disc sander would be the right answer, as well as a bobbin sander for all the curves I cut on my work. 

First Hive Inspection With Both Daughters

Last weekend we had a break in the weather and decided to quickly get outside and do an inspection on our two hives. 

I was keen to make sure the bees had settled into each hive from the two swarms we caught last year. 

The girls were really keen to come and help (the boy not so much). So they donned their suits and came with me. 

Have a watch of the video to see how they get on. 

It was a really lovely thing to share with them. Both very enthusiastic and really keen to learn. 

Adjustable Sloe/Berry Scoop

So today I came across someone who had a carbon copy of my gooseberry scoop on Instagram. That I'm not too worried about, it was going to happen and they're not selling them. The bit that annoyed me was the fact they denied that it was a copy, saying they saw something on holiday last year, but could show me no pictures. I only asked for  tag in the video so people could find me. I understand that people will make their own, I'm fine with it, but say where you got the idea rather than passing it off as your own. 

There are also 2 3D printed designs out there that very closely resemble my design. They have given the plans away for free, so they don't really benefit from it much.

I'm tempted to make a video showing how to make mine, as people that will, will do it anyway, maybe making the design have a creative commons licence, so I can still build them but morally others shouldn't do it for profit. Not sure, willing to take advice. I doubt a patent is worth it, and it'll probably only cause me headaches and paperwork in the long run. 

Anyway, on that note I thought I'd share the prototype for an adjustable berry scoop, with sloes in mind really. By sharing it here I know people can copy it, but at least the original idea is mine. I had considered it when making the other scoops, but it takes longer to build and is heavier.

Young Beekeeper - Collecting Swarms With Middlest

 So last week I collected two swarms on my own. Well I say on my own, but I actually had some help...

 

I had a phone call in the middle of the day from Lesley who got me my first swarm (which unfortunately didn't stick around). She said there was another swarm in the church yard, she was away so I should get it! 

Getting My First Bees

 So the last few weeks have been a bit wild for me. I don't think I've actually sat down in the last three weeks! 

My business has been really crazy, which is awesome. I've been trying to make as much as I can to make sure no one is disappointed. The other thing that's been filling my time is a bit of beekeeping. Not just from the training course every week, but I've also got some of my own bees now! 

So with a knock at the door it all properly began for me! 

The video explains it better than I'll probably write it so give it a watch. Hopefully makes for some good viewing!

Let me know what you think. 

2 Magazine Articles This Month

 I'm not very good at posting all the articles I write on here, and I should do it each month. 

I've jut had the two regular ones I write for published (while currently writing two more), it's always great to seem them on paper, especially as they take a fair bit of effort to get out into the world (not just mine). 

The first is in Woodworking Crafts magazine, it's my three bay "rat Proof" composter. 

I've loved using this compost bin, although I must admit that I've not done as much gardening as I should have the last month as work wise I've been ridiculously busy. 

The second is...

Secondhand Beekeeping Equipment - Maybe I got carried away...

 So last week I ended up assembling a flat pack hive I bought really rather rapidly (more on that in another post and video). then I ordered a second cedar hive (that has also had some action today, but again more on that another time). I then saw a post on Whatsapp that in the village one beekeeper was selling up.

It was a guy I knew so I gave him a ring to see what he had for sale. I then, maybe, got a little carried away...

Hedgehog Rescue

So late on an evening last week my time was taken up with this little dude. Found on the road covered (and I mean covered) in maggot eggs, in his eyes, nose, ears, all between his spikes.

But he had a bit of life left in him. So I spent two hours picking off every single egg I could find, bathed him, got some fluids into him and gave him some food. The maggot eggs were even under his eye lids, luckily none had started to hatch. Reminded me very much of flystrike with sheep.
Good job my hands are tough as he was understandably spiky.
He went from near dead and lifeless when we found him, to snuffling around the box we'd put him in (on top of another box with a hot water bottle in for a bit of extra heat) once I'd done my bit. I was surprised how lively he was this morning.

Once he survived the night I managed to get him off to some specialist care. News is he's doing fine and eating lots now.
Cute little guy to be fair.

*no doubt I'm going to get criticism for not taking him somewhere the first night, but tried numerous numbers and couldn't get through to anyone, nearest place was an hour away, so just did the best I could.

Readyy Steady Cook! But For Scouts

 I can't take any credit for last nights scout session - but it was good fun.

The scouts were given a selection of ingredients, then split into their troops to make whatever they fancied. 

It was fun to see what they created. A few of the scouts really impressed me with how quickly they could make some very tasty food. It was fairly obvious which ones cook at home, they just had a feel for it even though they were cooking over an open flame. 

Going Viral On Instagram - 3.3 Million Views!

 So my short, 7 second clip, on Instagram went a little viral. I mentioned it before when talking about my gooseberry scoops. Since then it's just built momentum. 3.3million views so far and counting...

This has meant that I've sold lots of gooseberry scoops. As many as I could make really, which has been great as often June can be a pretty quiet month as far as sales are concerned. Although I'm not sure how many more I have left in me this week!

The Most Important Bit Of Beekeeping Equipment

So along with the beekeeping trainings course I've been going to every week, I've also been slowly acquiring what we need to actually keep bees. 

I've ordered a hive that I need to assemble (I'll also be making some), a smoker and feeder. But I've also got the most important thing - 

 

Some bee suits for the children. They're keen to get involved and I'm keen to have them help me. So I thought it should be one of the first things we got. That way if we do stumble upon a swam we'll be able to gather it up and give it a home. 

Both girls seem really keen with the beekeeping, the boy not so much! But it will be up to them if they get involved. The girls seem to have the idea of using any wax for making wax wraps to sell (which will go alongside what I do really nicely), and hopefully they'll come up with some other projects as well. 

Hopefully I'll get to assemble my hive soon, it's been a busy couple of weeks with orders and talks, but hopefully I'll get to do some smallholding jobs the next few days and this may be one of them. I think the children might like to assemble the hive with me as well. 
 

A Trip To Wales

Over half term we popped to Wales for a few days break. Always nice to get away as a family. 

 

Gooseberry Harvest Scoops

As you know I'm always making or tinkering with something, and my berry harvester I made last year is no exception. It was great for berries and currants, but for gooseberries the extra fingers were a little pointless.

So I decided to start designing it again, but like I'd never seen a normal berry harvester. 

So I went to the workshop with some design criteria and started making....

1Rat Proof 3-Bay Compost Bin

I've wanted some good compost bins ever since I ripped out my last lot that were rotting away. 

The last two years I've just made piles and let them rot down. Yes, you do get compost, but it's messy and not ideal. 

So this time I've decided to go all out. Meet my three bay, rat proof, compost bin. 

Curing Meat

 It's been a while since I've cured any meat. But now my wife and children seem to have sandwiches most days (and me) I want them to have the best lunch boxes possible. We already bake all our own bread, 4 loaves of sourdough for breakfast each week and about 28 rolls for lunch, but I get fed up with buying little packets of meat, with far too much plastic, cut far too thinly. 

I decided it was time to up my game. 

Cycling Scout Camp

It's fair to say that since joining Scouts some 7 or 8 years ago it has become a constant in our lives. I help out in all sections when I can and I'm now moving from Beavers to Scouts (more on that in another post). 

This weekend just gone we had a scout camp. It was for their expedition badge. So they had to plan a route using their bikes from the scout hut to the local scout camp (which is 14 acres and an incredible space). 

Although my Middlest isn't quite old enough to be a scout, she's on the cusp of joining properly and as I'm a leader I said that if I was to come she should as well. Turned out to be a really good thing as my girls were the only girls out of the scouts so they could share a tent (especially important with the eldest's diabetes).

I didn't bike the ten miles. Instead I drove my truck with all their bags. We only had 9 scouts sleeping over, with 4 leaders it made for a really nice time. The truck was great as well as otherwise we would have had to carry stuff a long way! 

Tour of the coppice in May

Another video this week! A quick little tour of the coppice and I get to test out my new chipper! 

 As always let me know what you think. What would you do with this area? 

May Garden And Orchard Tour

So a little wonder around the garden. It's the usual mixed bag, some things are looking good and others aren't!  

Slugs and rabbits have been my biggest enemies this year, although trying to get more infrastructure up and running has slowed me down as well! 

So I filmed a little walk around video, going through the beds. I hope to get some more in fairly soon and get everything planted out that I've got as seedlings, May always seems so busy, fairly sure I could do just the garden and smallholding and still not have enough time! 

Give the video a watch and let me know what you think. How far on are your crops in comparison?

Second-Hand Greenhouse Build - Part 3 - The Bed!

I finished this a few weeks ago, but it's great to have the video to go with it. The second greenhouse is all ready to go and planted up. 

 In the end I built the beds out of some beams I had had left over from building my brother's porch five years ago. 

Beekeeping Lessons

 Last Thursday was the perfect evening for a beekeeping lesson. The day had been warm and sunny and the evening felt long, a perfect spring evening. 

The lesson started with them letting a captured swam "walk" up to their new hive. They shook out the skep and let the bees walk up a board into a national hive. It happened in a matter of minutes. apparently once the queen goes up they all follow. 

Putting Up A Second Hand Greenhouse

Although my "new" greenhouse has been up and running for a week or more now, I finally got around to putting the video together. 

 Hopefully this is a fun video showing me putting up the frame and glazing it.

5 Guinea Fowl Eggs

 I have a few smallholding friends who live locally. One of them is the head of a local private school that has a little smallholding attached. He's been great in getting a mini farm going for the children there (I wish every child could be so lucky), along with a polytunnel and veg garden. 

Last week he was going to borrow a broody hen from me to hatch out some guinea fowl eggs, but in the end he only managed to collect five eggs, so decided it probably wasn't worth moving the hen. I aid I'd give it a go here anyway. 

Super Early Cucumber!

 I love trying to get a super early crop of some of the veggies we grow and love. This year I thought I'd try and go for early cucumbers. The children are in love with the mini cucs you can buy from the supermarket. I'll get them as treats sometimes and they love them for their afternoon snack or to put in their lunchboxes. 

So I built a planter for... our bedroom! My wife is very understanding! If you read this blog much you've probably already worked that out to be fair!

Saw Horses In Massachusetts!

 I got a couple of messages on my YouTube channel the other day, one from Brasil and one from Franklin Massachusetts. Both said they'd built the saw horses in the video I made in September 2022. 

It really made my day. I was lucky as well as John, who made them in Franklin, also sent me some pictures of them in use! 

Make Some Pigeon Holes For Extra Space

We're always struggling for storage space, too much stuff is probably the reason in all honesty. And we do try to chip away at it, and reduce how much we buy as well. 

But our porch isn't really big enough for the five of us, it was as big as I was allowed to build, but it is still a squeeze with all the coats and shoes (so many shoes). I decided a little extra vertical space would help so made a set of pigeon holes. 

As is my way now I filmed the process, and the plans have been in Woodworking Crafts magazine. 

 

It was a fun, fairly simple project to make using reclaimed boards and some spare plywood. It's been in use for a few months now and has been a great success. 

Has it tided up the porch at all? No, but at least I can find my stuff now! 

Could you do with some storage like this?

3 Course dinner Cooked By The Children

My wife was a way the weekend just gone, but me and the children still had a lovely time. We went to a friends for a fish and chip supper on Friday night, had a lovely sunny day outside on Saturday and Sunday we went swimming with friends and had a picnic in the park afterwards.  

On the Saturday the children were messing about making some fun fake food, when I suggested that if they liked they could plan a meal for when their mum got home, I said I wanted three courses! They jumped at the chance and grabbed some pens and paper to make a menu. 

They settled on Italian, I told them that before we go swimming we could pop to the shops and get anything extra they needed. The starter was fairly straight forward (above) and had everything they love! 

Trio Of Carved Toolboxes

 I've written a lot of magazine articles now, well over a hundred, and very occasionally I might hear back from someone who has read one. 

One of my first articles in Woodcarving magazine was about making a carved tool box for my daughters 9th birthday, this was a few years back now, so it was lovely to hear from Gordon in Ireland who had read my article and decided to make one.

He has now made three of them! I think the his use of colour on them is amazing! Talk about making  a project your own. 

April Homestead Tour

 I love this time of year. It's been a challenging spring so far (I know we're not even very far into it yet either!), but the sun was shining so I decided it was the perfect opportunity to go for a walk around the smallholding and have a look at what we've got going on. 

In this walk around you can see our downed oak tree as well as the garden ramping up production, everything is looking very green and lush, but we're still having lots of cold nights, so don't be fooled and get too much going too early! 

Let me know what you think (I'd love for you to leave a comment on YouTube as well if you would - helps loads! Even just a thumbs up is a big thing on that platform). 

Thanks for watching!

Stored Apples In April

Although we still have some good, tasty apples left in the store we have started buying some the last few weeks. 

The stored ones just don't travel well now and as four of the five of us go off every day and need to take lunch the apples look very bruised an unappetising by the time it's lunch! 

so although I'm eating ours from the (apple) store, the other's aren't. It's shame, I could do with growing some that travel a bit better at this age. The middlest still takes dried appple with her every day though. 

I think it might be worth stewing up some of these and dehydrating the better ones before they loose too much condition. I had a go through the other day and I think the mild weather has made a few of them start to turn. 

If you store apples how are yours looking this year?

 

Greenhouse Upgrade - Building The Base

 I've mentioned this before on the blog, but the little 8x6 greenhouse needed a bit of an upgrade this year. 

The base I put in some 12 years ago, it was just some 8x2 treated softwood I had left over from a job. It made a good temporary base and I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. 

The little greenhouse started it all off in the garden when we first moved here, it wasn't long until I got the bigger greenhouse, but it's always been useful. It's just the last few years it's fallen on a bit of disrepair and missed out on the love, becoming a bit of a dumping ground. As the base rotted out I just used it less and less. 

Oak Tree Downed By The Wet

I was a bit broken hearted the other day. My daughter noticed the tree on our drive to school, it had gone over. 

This oak was always a little stunted, trying to grow out from the huge veteran alongside it. Always leaning over. 

Watering Can Plunge Tank (mini one)

 Much as I quite like a few moments by the rain barrel to let my watering can fill up, I've decided that I'm wasting too much time doing it. 

So I dragged a water trough from the bottom field up tot the barrels at the back of the shed. It was just the right height (with the addition of a few slabs) to go under the tap. 

Polytunnel Clean Up

The polytunnel has been a constant source of shame for me over the winter. Full of dead plants and a thick green slime on the plastic. 

I was desperate to get it back into tip top form this year, it's such an amazing space for growing I really need to be making the most of it. 

So I've been trying to tackle it in spare moments when I could. Not that many spare moments make themselves known however... 

The Self-Sufficiency Garden - Book Review

My wife got me this book for my birthday and as she handed it to me she said "I feel this is the book you probably should have written." 

She also said that she knows I'm not the target audience, and as I write this review please bare in mind that I'm not the target audience. I've also met Huw once, a few years back, he's a lovely guy and I love his YouTube channel and what he's been doing. 

What I want to do is say that I think this book is great, but that also it's flawed in a few ways. I really think this book was on the very cusp of greatness, it could have been one that is alongside some of my favourites and then it didn't quite nail it. Which is a real shame as I think it does a few things so differently. 

The main thing it does is put it's money where its mouth is. Rather than reading about a theoretical garden and what could be done in it, Huw created a garden 10m X 12.5m, laid it out with raised beds, a small polytunnel and covered beds. He used hot beds to extend his season (something I'm really going to have to try again) and got multiple crops from each bed. He shows how the beds are built and has plans of things you can build. 

As well as this he creates his own compost, and makes sure each scrap of space is used. In the book he takes you through a year in this garden, show when he sowed the seeds, when he harvests it and the overall yields he gets from it. 

This section is incredible, it really quantifies what a space like this can produce, and it's brilliant to see the cropping and successional sowing he uses to maximise the beds. There's great information there, but I wish he'd included the variety of the veg he was growing - especially the tree cabbage he mentions quite a few times. It's laid out really well and broken down month to month. 

Then I have to talk about the bits I thought were a little lacking. The "In The Kitchen" section is where the book doesn't feel right. the book is written with another guy called Sam Cooper and I feel they haven't let him have enough space. Like there's a section on curry where he talks about it over three pages with a few quick recipes, or a few pages on pastry or No-knead focaccia which has two pages. It just seems a little bit chucked together and random and not really in line with the rest of the book. 

With the book only being 200 hundred pages it just feels like a waste of the page count to dip into these things, especially when it's obvious the other author (Sam Cooper) knows their subject, but not give them enough space to show this properly. If they had limited it to just one subject, like preserving, it would have been far better in my opinion. 

Maybe it's a reflection of what people want from books these days, a magazine style book. Snippets that can be read easily. I wish this was two books really, both of them having more space to share the knowledge, The Self Sufficiency Garden could have become a bit of a bible for growing food like this if it had.  

I still think it's an amazing book and I love what Huw has done with that garden. He writes brilliantly and clearly, the book is beautiful throughout, with thick high quality pages and great pictures and plans. It's truly worth buying for the middle section of the garden month by month alone. It will on the shelf rather than being passed on and has given me a few ideas of things I'd like to try.

Sowing Seeds And Potting On

With a break in the weather at the weekend I managed to catch up on a bit of gardening. First job was to pot on a good quantity of chillies and tomatoes. 

Some of these haven't grown at a rate I'd expect. And I think the compost is to blame, bought in, but it's so unpredictable. I'm going to start adding a bit of seaweed feed to the watering can, not something I'd normally do this early on, but I feel they all need a bit of a boost. I don't normally buy liquid feed to be honest but the comfrey won't take kindly to being chopped already. 

Wood Fired Pizza

 Saturday there was that yellow orb in the sky that we haven't seen for months. I decided to seize the opportunity, I got up early and set to making bread, then did my chores and lit the earth oven. 

I then tended it as I went about getting some gardening jobs (potting on far too many tomatoes and peppers), and invited some friends for lunch. Not much notice but it felt like we needed to grab this opportunity to worship the sun for a few hours. 

Make A Wooden Wheelbarrow

I managed to get a project I've been thinking about for many years done the other day - I made a wooden wheelbarrow!

Now this isn't a typical wheelbarrow, it's more of a flat one. I wanted one I could move seedlings about with, or other jobs around the smallholding. 

Insulin Pump

So we're over a year into our diabetes journey and our eldest has made the very big decision to switch from MDI (Multiple Daily Injections) for a pump on a closed loop system.  

So yesterday we went into hospital to go through loading a pod with insulin and fitting it, connecting it all up and working out the levels everything needs to be (this is after a visit to hospital last week to change the sensors over to a different type - dexicom). 

So as I type this, the pump is upstairs on my daughters leg slowly clicking insulin in at different interval. We're watching her CGM as her blood glucose find their levels in this new system. 

Wish her luck! I'll keep you posted on how it goes. 

Carving Tuition

 So at the weekend I gave my first days carving tuition. It was to a couple that had seen my videos on YouTube and enquired if I'd do some carving instruction. 

I was hesitant at first, it's not something I've done before, except with my own children. But I got talked into it via email!

As the day ticked around I was really looking forward to it. Something a little bit different to my day to day in the workshop. 

New Chicken Keeping Rules - Mass noncompliance needed - Resist

We need to take a stand against Defra's new rules on registering all poultry in the UK. Not just flocks of 50 birds or more. 

This was as the result of a consolation they did last year where the view was massively weighted by those who took part to keep things as they are. Yet in their wisdom they decided to do what they want anyway. What a surprise. You can see the results here. 

But they need us all to comply with this if it is to work from them. We need to stand up together and oppose this. Mass non compliance. Don't register. 

Flocks will "have" to be registered by October, although they've not updated all their web pages yet you can find information here - Government link. 

Planting a Gooseberry Hedge

I'm always walking around my plot looking at where I could squeeze in some more plants and increase the productive areas. 

One area is the orchard. I have one half planted up quite traditionally, but I also have one area where the trees are much closer together. In there is about 16 plum trees, plus a n area where I tried an experiment with soft fruit. The experiment worked, but not enough to make me think it was any better than any other way. 

I decided to change it over. the fence near the top needed a hedge (to my mind) and I had been thinking hard about putting in more gooseberries. A gooseberry hedge could be an interesting addition. I went and purchased around 15 different varieties and put them all in 3.5ft apart. 

This should give us plenty of fruit and enough different types to see which ones do really well here. Gooseberry is always going to be one of my favourite fruits, so it's nice to increase the amount we can grow here (I also put in a lot of rooted cuttings from the 14 bushes I already have here). 

Be A Real Man

 This is a video that isn't mine, but I liked it and it made me smile. Hugh and Fiona are going through a tougher time due to Fiona breaking her leg quite badly. It talks about the discuss of roles in a relationship and how you need to be able to step into each others shoes should you need to. 

I think it embodies how I feel about some things. Sometimes when I give my talks I discuss the fact that I went from doing a the very "manly" (traditionally anyway - I know anyone can do it) job of being a carpenter, to becoming a stay at home dad. and how that made me feel and how I saw other people's attitudes to me change, especially with my wife being the bread winner. 

Changing my days from working on roofs and hanging doors to looking after the children and making sure I had tea on the table when my wife got home from work. I left what is quite often a toxic industry when it comes to male chauvinistic attitudes. The guy who trained me to be a carpenter still won't cook tea, even if he gets back before his wife from work and never does any of the housework. 

I like to think we share our workload well here and that my wife and I are a brilliant team (unless you judge us on how tidy our home is - lol). I don't like the unfair split that sometimes exists, although sometimes I'm sure we may feel a little that it is one sided here, especially when things are busy. I like that our children see us equally in any of the household tasks, and yes we have things we're better at, or recipes we won't do because our partner does it better, etc. 

The children are involved in this as well. If I have to go off in an evening (a regular occurrence at the moment) I won't ask my wife to complete the chores I need done, instead I'll normally ask the Middlest to organise it, she'll drag her brother and sister along and get what needs doing done. They all understand helping each other in our family unit makes it easier and makes it so we can do more. 

What really choked with the video above was the mention Hugh gives me at the end. I'm never quite sure how you're meant to feel as a parent, a lot of the time it feels like I'm winging it, and only sometimes does it feel like you're getting it right. So it was great to have a nice mention, hopefully it'll push me to be an even better husband and father in the future and keep on pushing. 

Hand Pollinating Our Peach Tree

A few years ago I put in a peach tree. The first year I thought it had died, but the next year it came back - it seems to still be living through the neglect I give it. 

This is the first year I've seen any blossom on it though. As my middle daughter and I were cleaning the plastic on the polytunnel we couldn't see any bees. 

It's still early in the year and the polytunnel might not look very inviting to something buzzing around. 

ShireHike

 On Saturday we had a great day completing the 12km "ShireHike" with the Scouts. 

It was a big event with some 700 scouts of different ages attending. There were different length routes, we did the 12km (plus the 1.5km to get to the start), there was a 5km for the beavers (we couldn't get enough leaders to run the beaver walk as well), a 24km for the scouts (our scouts are all quite young so they stuck to the 12km cub walk) and a 37km walk for the explorers! The explorers group set off really early. 

We walk on the hills plenty and it was all routes we knew, but it was still a fun thing to do on a Saturday. The weather was kind. 

Unusual Greenhouse Clips

My greenhouse has been up about 10 years now, second hand when I got it, older than me and still going strong. 

I have been struggling with the clips though. When I glazed it I had to stretch the clips out a bit, using a few less than I should of. I've looked everywhere for some replacements but unsure what they were even called (I searched greenhouse band clips and got some similar) it was hard to search. 

"unusual" greenhouse clips

In the end I joined a Facebook group called "Greenhouse Spares Group" and A guy on there told me what my greenhouse was (BACO) and that he had some clips for sale. 

More Seeds In

This time of year is so full of promise, especially when my enthusiasm has been knocked back by the weeds yet!

I've been busy sown little and often. 

In the greenhouse I've put the little 1930s (I think) cloche mum got me for Christmas with some radishes under (and some alongside as well).

Mothers Day Gift Ideas

 A very quick video today, where I'm a bit like a market stall holder on the hard sell! 

I've got some perfect products for mothers day. Every product is made by me, here in Herefordshire. 

Making a Bee Hive Stand - National Hive.

The bee keeping course I've signed myself up for starts in just a few weeks and I'm really looking forward to it. In the meantime my friend, who did the course last year, has bought herself a second hand hive and is getting ready for this years bee keeping.  

The set she bought was lacking one thing though - a stand. 

Wooden Potting Tray In Its Natural Habitat

I got sent these pictures by a happy customer the other day and they were just so lovely I had to share them. 

I love this potting area! It just looks like such a great space to work and a lovely space to spend a bit of time looking at the view! 

Mission Creep - Greenhouse Edition...

 I kept standing in that 8ft by 6ft greenhouse and thinking it wasn't really big enough for me. My head touches the top (I know I can raise it up), and I love my bigger greenhouse, the air flow is better and it is the real hub of my veg garden. 

I decided then to have a look at buying a new greenhouse, there's a good range of them out there, but for the size I wanted (12ft by 8ft) they start at about £1,000 for a budget model (with some pretty terrible reviews) and upwards from there. One I'd be happy with was about £2,700, which is so far out of my budget! 

My last one was second hand, so I decided I should look on eBay and other sites.