STeve @ 12:56 pm
There is always a bit in a garden that doesn’t get the sun much, maybe is down the side of the house too, a little bit that is too narrow to really use but too wide to say is an alley way. Without any intervention it can well become a place out of site where you can just dump things.
This is what we have done with our ‘bit down the side’. It currently houses an old wormary which we haven’t used since we moved and I really need to empty and start it again, and of course a number of unwanted pallets and bags of wood and well, lots of rubbish! Project ‘bit down the side’ is underway with a cunning plan to use a number of pallets that we just happen to have laying around (everyone should have pallets laying around handy, they can be used for so many things) as ‘rustic looking decking’.
Just a trial to start with then. I cleared out all the rubbish, talked to a couple of toads who had made their house there, pick-axed some concrete out and had a look how it might look by laying down the two pallets. Not too bad I thought, using my imagination. So work is now underway. At the moment you too will have to use your imagination, but watch this space for the finished ‘bit down the side’.
Related:
STeve @ 12:54 pm
Years ago we bought a worm composter from a company called Wiggly Wigglers and their now quite famous Can-O-Worms. That was quite successful, living in a small house with a smaller garden it seemed like that ideal way to get rid of our compostable rubbish. I remember very well the moment that our kit arrived and in the kitchen we opened all the bags that came as part of it, finding one bag full of wiggly worms! We moved house and our worms came with us, just tied down the sections and didn’t like to tell the removal men what they are transporting for us.
We moved house, we put everything where is should be, we left the Can-O-Worms in the garden while we started working on the house. Unfortunately working on the house took a little longer than we first thought and nearly three years later I finally decided it was time to “look at the worms”. Of course, the worms had now long gone, probably died I suppose and become part of the compost, but was interesting to see a friendly big spider on the top level with a huge web. The top layer had decomposed food (under the spider web) and loads of egg shells, but the layers underneath were all very nice and earthy smelling soil just as you would hope for.
I have emptied the whole thing (used it to dig into a newly cleared bit of garden) and now it is time to start again. 2007 will be the year of the worms, lol.
So why now? It is really a bit to do because I have been listening each week to the Wiggly Wigglers Wormcast Podcast. I download it using iTunes and burn it onto CD in order to listen to in the car on the way to work, and the free and easy talk that goes on it both informative and amusing. Makes you want to go out and kiss the first worm that you see. Well, maybe I won’t quite do that, but I thought it might be good to write about it all. The first time round we just went for it, never really looked after things, just added stuff and that was it. Doing that did actually seem to do the job most of the times, apart from the occasions of flys and maggots, non-eating worms, and a soggy mess. Sure, it all sorted itself out (esp with some Worm Treat) after a little while, but I don’t suppose it was nice for the worms, it def wasn’t nice for us each time we opened the lid. This time, it is going to be different, we are going to look after our worms (when we have bought a new batch) and treat them as part of the family 
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STeve @ 1:00 pm
Ok, it’s nearly time to celebrate the first anniversary since I started working on the front garden. You know, you start things and sometimes leave it for a bit and then go back again……
But now, it is nearly nearly there!
Related:
- October 11, 2008 -- Sunflowers in the front still looking good
- October 5, 2008 -- Snapshot October 08
- September 30, 2008 -- Wigwams down
- September 14, 2008 -- Autumn Grass Seed
- August 11, 2008 -- w17 - Sunflowers at the front
- August 11, 2008 -- August 2008
- August 11, 2008 -- w17 - Sweetpeas
- July 31, 2008 -- w15 - Sunflowers in front
- July 28, 2008 -- New Lavenders from Gardener’s World
- July 10, 2008 -- Buddleia escapes!
