709-218-7927 The Landfall Garden House 60 Canon Bayley Road Bonavista, Newfoundland CANADA A0C 1B0 CPRGreaves@gmail.com Home

Diary

Back to Diary_2024_07

OK. April I was ill; May was a succession of cold drizzly days; June I got outside a bit more; July has been hot (30c) and I have spent much of the time indoors, reading. August too promises to be hot.

I have a new policy: when someone orders or reserves trees for their neighbours I email a photograph, with the Landfall Garden House sign as a backdrop. Branding!

I dug out two daffodil plants this morning and obtained eight bulbs. I am not sure about those small ones, but they can go into a “lucky dip” tub.

I had used an old barrow to collect the bulk of the sieved soil, but now have laid down old sheets of lumber-wrap, with a plank at each end. As I work through the timber in the shed (tomorrow?) I will add more baulks to hold down the edges of the tarp.

The theory is that I can tug up the edges of the tarp then shovel the sieved soil into serious containers.

And a method for apple trees: As I find decent-sized tubs, they go at the foot of the propped rack and are part-filled with debris, then topped off with sieved, watered, and the next morning receive trees from small or wrecked pots. My driveway will start to be an avenue of larger trees in larger tubs and fewer pieces of random junk.

I am sorting tubs into three classes:-

(a) Food quality (cod fillets, rainwater etc.)

(b) Storage (with lids, suitable for items in the shed such as hinges, motors)

(c) Planting (tubs with cracks or drilled holes for drainage)

Saturday, August 10, 2024

Yesterday I accidentally made a pitchfork. I have two pitchforks, one in working condition, one with missing teeth. David doubts he can fix the second. Two pitchforks would be good; I could keep one in the driveway to load the barrow with grass clippings, and a second by the bins to unload the clippings.

David found eight metal rods – part of some sort of gardening kit – and said he could weld them. My contribution was to suggest that I make a sandwich to hold the tips in position while David welded the tops.

So I got two scraps of pine and made a sandwich with two wood-screws per tine. Looked and felt pretty good.

Well, you know me: I need space in the shed and I figured if I screwed on a third, longer piece of pine I would have myself a pitchfork.

And here it is.

Grass clippings have dried up (a bad season), so I will use this mock-up for the rest of the summer and if the tines prove strong enough, ask David to weld them in place.

I have begun excavating the driveway beds. A plan is to cart away two barrow loads each day. About eight feet of soil has been removed.

I park bulbs of any sort that I find in a tub; I will sort them later into Daffodil, Tulip, and Garlic. The soil in the barrow is nowhere near as rich as I had hoped.

I dump the soil by the propped rack and will shovel it through later as needed to fill apple-tree tubs.

In the shed I suspended two fluorescent light fittings, crudely I am afraid.

I want to see how much better the lighting is at night or during rainstorms.

Sunday, August 11, 2024

A slow day; last night I decided to collapse and rot a huge pile of large cartons. I had claimed the large cartons from a neighbour who was inclined to cart them to the dump. Yesterday while cleaning up the shed I realized that I had about fifty collapsed cartons in the rafters, and another twenty or thirty was overkill, so the excess cartons have been collapsed and will be cut up into individual panels (from the folded flaps and sides) and laid out to rot in a compost bin.

Making compost out of cardboard is not as good as using cartons for storage, but it is better than dropping them in an anaerobic hole in the ground, yes?

I am burning scraps of wood for ash; my fellow who welcomed kindling has this year removed all his wood-burning appliances, so my scrap and rotten timber will be burned, polluting the atmosphere, but enriching my soil.

Thursday, August 15, 2024

Several 4-foot plots in the raised bed have sprouted a new crop of dandelions.

I culled the SW corner plot, but could not fit all the leaves into my washing-up tub.

Indoors I soak them in tap water for an hour, then drain and bag them. Enough leaves for over a week.

Here some dandelion leaves are diced and mixed in with my lunchtime pasta dish.

I ran the rotary hoe down an eight foot portion of the a driveway bed and am pleased with the result.

http://www.chrisgreaves.com/LandfallGardenHouse/MechanicalTools/Rotary Hoe/SecondEssays.htm

Saturday, August 17, 2024

Kerry’s two raised beds. I am impressed!

Beets in the eastern bed.

Potatoes and carrots in the western bed.

And a load of sand, perhaps for use next year?

I suggested to Kerry that she petition for a 16’x4’ raised bed made like mine.

Sunday, August 18, 2024

Sitting eating a pear I considered next year erecting the cubic-metre compost bins hard up alongside the raised bed.

(a) Les distance to toss or cart compost into the bed

(b) Makes a rich border around the bed for cucurbit roots to use

(c) Leaves the two fence lines empty. After two years I can chop down dead tree trunks and/or rotary hoe the spaces between and gain rich soil for the raised bed.

The compost bins are portable, right?

Monday, August 19, 2024

I found one container with a blackcurrant cane, and felt sorry for the little orphan.

But when I came to drop the little thing in my gooseberry patch, I found that it was three orphans, clinging to each other, so this year, in what might be called “early fall” I am back in the blackcurrant cane business.

Top-right is my rose bush.

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

More thoughts from Sunday, August 18, 2024: I have 18 more cells (four-foot plots) to fill with compost. Why drop clippings and sawdust into bins along the fence line and then shovel-and-barrow compost into the raised bed next year? Why not put six bins IN the raised bed and then next spring all I need do is slip the four loops of rope and move the panels to the next spot?

I have set up the first bin in the western cell of the second row; I dumped last year’s compost into the first row last May. What a lot of work THAT was.

The view from the western edge looking along the second row towards the shed.

I could spend the rest of this year moving semi-rotted grass from the fence bins into the raised bed bins, and then use the rotary-hoe to dig out the soil from between the trees. Maybe even bring down those three dead trees already?

I might have four or five or six bins working their way around the raised bed, acting as a cyclic fallow mechanism.

That would free up space around the fence line for fruit tree seedlings and leave my driveway tidier.

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

There’s no doubt about it – I am brilliant!

First thing this morning I hooked up two extra panels to make a two-cell bin, straddling the cell line. The third panel was the panel that would have divided this new bin into two 1-cubic-metre bins. I have already demonstrated that a 2-cubic bin works.

The barrow of grass clippings snuggles up against the bed. Because I dragged that first bin (from yesterday) eastwards to the cell boundary, there is a gap between that bin and the raised bed perimeter. No matter If clippings fall into that gap; they will all rot down in this, my first fallow-cell..

Here the first two barrows of my less-work procedure. I keep telling people that I hate work …

A square-metre panel makes a convenient and strong-enough ramp onto the bed. There is no need for a ramp on the inward side – that is already filled with last year’s compost.

Now I can load material into the double-cell bin from either end.

I use my pitchfork to load the barrow from the driveway, but unload it by embracing a clump in my arms and heave-ho!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch … I have turned over the base of the heap. Evident is the grey ash that is the result of the clippings oxidizing fast enough to burn and create “wood-ash”.

That’s heat!

I am now going to spend eight months dreaming about two minutes next May when all I need to do is slip the loops of rope off the six bins and voila! Six more cells of composted grass clippings ready-to-use.

At the end of the day I toss in a handful of weeds, just because I can.

By mid-afternoon I have assembled a third bin; how I love my panels and loops of nylon cord. I have dropped front panels on three of this year’s bins and begun forking partly-decomposed grass into the three beds in situ.

Saturday, August 24, 2024

So out weeding a few plots in the raised bed.

I harvested dandelion leaves for a salad and accidentally pulled out a potato plant, so I have capitalized on the error. Fried potatoes tonight!

The tomato plants are weeded. They were planted too late, but I MIGHT get a few green ones before winter comes.

The in-bed compost bins are another time-saver: I can toss handfuls of weeds towards the bin, the weeds slap the side panel and drop to the ground hard up against the perimeter of the bin. Saves raking and carrying.

I thinned out some of the beets, and should do the rest after lunch. The beets too were sown late and neglected. Still if I get even just a small jar pickled I shall be happy.

And here is where I harvested enough dandelion leaves for the next two days. Unless I add leaves to my cod au gratin this afternoon; I plan to make two casserole bowls.

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Well a good morning so far.

I cut down a stack of cartons into panels and prepared a stack to go to the trial compost bin where I am seeing if cardboard will rot down before next spring.

By 1030 I am in a position to extract my rainwater trough which should have been relined last March. In the meantime I set out two extra trays to catch water from the shed roof; rain is due late afternoon and this evening.

My shed floor is getting clearer each day, and I am improving my method of clearing too.

Here is the stack of cardboard, held down by my shovel (gusty winds today)

I have started using the first of this year’s bins; the black material is basically over-rich soil from grass clippings. I load a barrow …

… and head off to the trial bin. A couple of shovels of compost, a dozen or so sheets of cardboard, more compost, more cardboard … and a broken three-foot panel to prevent material flying into Herbert’s yard.

I did not start well. There is a gap around the base of the stack. If I do this again I shall “deal” panels of cardboard into each corner, leaving a depression in the centre of the stack. The depression can be padded out with a bag or two of grass clippings.

If I can get my rain-water trough established, I would like to end the day making a start on seed-tray construction from the scraps of wood I have amassed over the past five years.

I will stack the trays, filled with sieved soil, in the SE corner of the driveway from which, it is thought, they can be retrieved early next spring for use indoors.

I ended the day by filching scarps of timber of about-the-right-size and trimming each one to a 12” length. I used just two wood screws to lap (I think that’s the term) the ends.

Now I need four (and more) pieces of ply 12.5 inches square to screw into each tray as a base.

Friday, August 30, 2024

We had wind gusts up to 91 KM/hr yesterday, only one Km/hr shy of the gusts as Hurricane Larry passed directly overhead two years ago. The wind, as usual, flattened most of my artichoke crop.

Then out to weed and then layer the gooseberries. I have outlined two gooseberries masquerading as Muscat grapes. How many other gooseberries can you see?

I may be able to revolutionize gardening here in Bonavista, for I now have meat protein growing and thriving on my gooseberry bushes.

More yummy berries! I collected enough to make a two-inch thick layer in the bottom of a small pail, then carried them across the street and asked Kerry (or Chloe) to make a gooseberry pie just like my grandma used to make in 1955.

Layering: I hammered about fifty branches into the ground. Each white peg has a slot cut out at the bottom; the slot straddles the branch and then the stake is pounded into the ground until the branch deforms into a U-shape and the outer edge stands up at an angle of about 45 degrees.

The bottom of the U-curve will snap or be bruised, and from that part will grow roots before the winter comes.

Next spring I will sever the branch from the bush and cut the U-curve in half to make TWO plats.

So from 50 branches/stakes I should get 100 gooseberry bushes.

Two photos of he bed showing some of the stakes.

Seed-trays:

My enthusiasm carried me away, and I made four (I think) seed-trays, each about eight inches deep; far too heavy to lift when filled with damp soil.

So I am marking them in half with a pencil line …

… inserting extra pairs of screws …

… and then using the rotary saw to slice the trays in half; two for the price ($0) of one.

Here are two four-inch trays waiting to be assigned bases.

Here with a base attached.

Saturday, August 31, 2024

Another view of the toppled artichokes.

I lined the rain-trough with strips of galvanized steel and am now praying for rain.