A warming tail

We bought a halogen heater to stave off the cold in the unheated kitchen.  We were not the only ones to appreciate the extra warmth!

Underfloor heating and a new kitchen is planned for this year

Bio Diesel Update

Since April 2010 we have been collecting waste vegetable oil (WVO) from a cafe in Narberth and one in Pembroke Dock.  It generally comes in 20 litre plastic or metal containers which have slowly been taking over!

We therefore bought 3no. 1,000 litre IBC Tanks; two for the oil and one to collect rainwater from the barn roof.

This weekend we finally got around to moving the tank into its now permanent home and started filling it with the VWO.  The next challenge is what to do with all the empty plastic containers.

Still no diesel car, but will continue to stockpile (we have around 1,200 litres so far!) the feedstock for future use!

Polytunnel Part 1

We have now ordered a 20' x 30' polytunnel from First Tunnels. Delivery is expected in 2 to 3 weeks then the hard work of putting up will start.  Using Sketchup, I have planned the layout of the raised beds which will be made of scaffold boards if I can find any.  More to follow once it arrives.

The Soft Fruit Garden

This weekend we have planted up the Blackcurrant cuttings taken last year.  Mum kindly bought me 5 bushes for Xmas last year (Big Ben, Ben Connan, Ben Sarek,  Ben Lomond and Ben Hope) which when planted were cut down to the ground as instructed.  I left the cuttings lying in the grass and came across them a few weeks later to find they had started to root.  I therefore potted them up resulting in 17 new bushes but   unfortunately, I don't know which variety they are!

Including the original 5 and one we brought with us from Kent, we now hopefully have 16 productive bushes.  The next challenge will be what to do with all the Blackcurrents!

We have also planted a few Blueberry bushes.  Last year we planted one each of Duke, Bluegold and Ozarkblue to give a long cropping season.  I had wanted to plant Nui as well, however, they seemed to be out of stock everywhere until juat before Xmas.  I ordered 4no. from the RHS and these have been planted as well.

Planting Raspberries canes proved a bit more of a challenge.  The plan was to have 3no. 20' rows which required three lots of wires and 9no. 8' posts hammered into the ground.  A post knocker was bought for the purpose but it still proved hard going as there is rock about a foot down.  A trench was dug along the rows a couple of weeks before and lots of compost dug in.

Early, mid season and late varieties, Glen Moy, Glen Ample and Autumn Bliss respectively were planted last Spring (2011) and we did get a reasonable crop off the late variety as they fruit on first year canes.

Cold weekend in January

Today we started planting for 2012 with 67 garlic cloves going into one of the raised beds.  We have bought garlic bulbs from the Garlic Farm on the Isle of White for the last few years and it has always done well are still working our way through the 75 cloves raised last year.

It was also time to prune the fruit trees.  This was a bit overdue for the apple trees planted in 2010 and it seemed a bit brutal following the advice in the RHS Encyclopaedia of Gardening.  I guess time will tell.

I have also started feeding and mulching the trees with some of the 4t of cow manure that out neighbour Wilf kindly let us have last year.  It is still a bit 'fresh', so I put a layer of straw down first and then covered this with the manure at the rate of 1 large barrowfull per tree.  The raspberries have started to get the same treatment.

We have also started turning the compost heap and mixing in some of the fresh manure so hopefully it will break down faster.  Back breaking and rather smelly work!

Happy Xmas from Valley Gate

Happy Xmas from Valley Gate.  In contrast to last year, it was a mild, overcast, damp day.  In the morning we went for a long walk around Caneston Woods before coming home to start cooking at 1.00pm.

The obligatory nut roast (Delia page 298) had been made the night before along with pears poached in red wine.  The potatoes, swede, brussels sprouts, onion and garlic were all from the garden.

The nut roast didn't quite set and turned out more like a pile of stuffing but was still delicious.   Home made Xmas Pudding to Mum's vegetarian recipe followed but also turned out a bit loose.  The meal was finished off with a large slab of Colston Bassett Stilton cheese.

The Cats enjoyed more traditional festive fare thanks to a few turkey necks from Andrew Rees.

We then took it in turns to fall asleep in front of the TV.

We hope you enjoy the pictures of the day on Picasa

Stoned

After two winters of paddling through a sea of mud, we finally decided to get the yard stoned.  This will be a particularly welcome improvement for Kim's clients who needed wellies to get from their cars to the treatment room.

The underlying soils are impermeable so when it rains hard the yard turns into a river draining out through the gate to a gully in the road.   The plan was therefore to scrape off all the loose soil and stone and shape the formation will a fall towards the gate to prevent ponding.  The yard was then to be surfaced with 2" to 3" of single sized stone to allow it drain down to the formation.

This was going to be a major civil engineering operation so we employed Peter Thomas and his JCB for the job.  (Peter had previously helped extend the duct to the treatment room, see previous post on the installation of the first half...).

Peter carefully shaped the formation and the stone and soil was stockpiled out of sight for another day...  Next a layer of geotextile fabric was laid to stop future weed growth and stop the stone sinking into the underlying soil.

We thought that 16 tonnes of stone would probably be enough which arrived in a very large truck from G D Harries.  This covered about half the yard so another truck was ordered.  This proved ample and we now have a small surplus for other projects.  

For the first few times it rained hard we were out watching the runoff emerge through the base of the stone onto the road like a small spring (as planned!).  Now we have to sort out the path to the house where the paving stones across the grass turn into a series of puddles.