From the end of October to early March is a time to catch your breath in the gardening world.
A time to tidy up, caretake winter veg, evaluate, rebuild, plan and recreate.
Sometimes you do all or just a select few.
But either way, the schedule should be more flexible.
I have realised over the years that the ambition sometimes outweighs the free time.
And what ever happens the manic start of the season will happen if the changes are done or not.
This winter has been busy for us, with some big build projects.
Every year I come up with crazy ideas.
Alec and I thrash out the ideas and then Alec makes a realistic plan.
Alec is the master builder and I, full of enthusiasm but lack basic carpentry skills.
But somehow together we seem to get through it without a divorce.
So, this year (we/Alec) (have/has) converted the open lean-to into a green house.
And
Built 2 giant compost bins.
Over a number of years, the learn-to has been a neglected space.
It was put up, to enclose and join up a space in between two sheds.
It started its life as a sitting area which was ideal when Billy was a baby as it was in the shade, but it often got too cold to use.
Then it became a storage space when we got too lazy to put things away properly.
But it seems sacrilege to not use it as a growing space, as space is at such a premium.
So, we decided it would be great to have an over flow space for the chillis, peppers, lettuce and tomatoes in pots.
In February (we/Alec) lined the sides and roof with thick plastic and built a door frame.
The original structure was too cold without a lining as the sides were made of wood, metal, recycled sailcloth and a Polycarbonate roof.
And as we are gardening geeks, we set up a thermometer to check out the climate against the other 2 enclosed structures we have.
It was interesting to discover that it was a happy medium, not the hottest or the coldest.
It just sat in the middle range nicely, probably due to the protection from the trees.
So great for starting off seeds at the beginning of the season when frosts are still a threat and reducing plants from being burnt in the heat of the summer.
The giant compost bins have been a long time coming.
For any gardener, feeding the soil is vital to producing good crops.
The plants within the growing season are a great drain on the nutrients within the soil.
So, replacing nutrients is key to producing, enabling water retention and good soil structure.
The clearing of beds, mucking and covering is the bulk of the work within the Autumn months.
We have used plastic compost bins for years, be we always run out of matured muck and end up using fresher, which isn’t ideal.
After finding a pair of large gifted wooden gates that wasn’t used on another job before Christmas, we decided it was time to get creative.
And Alec rose to the mark with a top of the range 2 compartment, separate lifting top lids with 2 front removable doors.
Each compartment will hold around 20x 50 litre bags, the worms will be happy in there.
As always, time ran away from us and the 3rd project wasn’t even touched.
But I did hear from a little birdy that this may be starting on Saturday 😊 and this build is a little special.
Watch this space for an update.
Happy Gardening x
Remember you may not feel strong but you are
Love
The Rose-Tinted Mum
The Rose Tinted mum 