Child of the Planet

And finally I bought this Stihl. I’ve been hiring chippers for a few years, and it’s nice to have one permanently on the property. I’ve been using it all summer and though it has some annoying design quirks, it gets the job done, eventually. In depth comments here... And here... It’s light enough that I can drag it up to stand on a raised garden bed. Stihl advises only chipping recently cut material and I agree with this. It will mulch up stuff that’s dried out but the going is much harder on the blades. I’ve run this thing all day and never had any issues with overheating. Things I like are… Much less noise running then an ICE mulcher Much less maintenance, all I’ve needed to do is get the blades sharpened. Lighter and narrower than most metal constructed ICE mulchers No exhaust or hot engine cowlings Can leave it standing in a shed for twelve months without worrying about fuel 'going off'. NO RIP CORD! just plug and play I spent a morning chewing through this lot. Pile before...

In a previous post, I detailed the planting of tomato seedlings ( Click here ) Only six survived the heat, the wind, and the blackbirds digging. I had some seedlings left over from the first planting so they got dropped into the ground today. Things I’m doing differently are… Watering the ground before the plant goes in, not after Toilet paper tubes around each seedling Have built some new windbreaks

This is a weed that winds its way around everything and takes over the garden. It’s crazy hard to eradicate as it will grow a new plant from any little fragment. I hate spreading chemicals around in the garden, so I mix up some poison (‘woody weed killer’ in this case) and pour a splash into a bottle. I find a tendril of the weed and poke it in the top of the bottle.  I place the bottle on it’s side just in case the weed follows the light and grows back up out of the mouth. Click here if you can't see the video above

Now that the material I added earlier in the year ( read here ) has composted down, it's time to top up the bed. First I pulled out all the weeds that have appeared. I’m adding horse manure and coffee grounds. Sealed it all in under cardboard. Finally a big load of willow mulch to seal everything in.  I have a friend who is making the most of the summer and is providing me with regular deliveries of fish bits. They and the flourishing comfrey are added as supplies appear. Click here if you can't see the video above

Follow up to this post ( click here ) Something is very wrong with a large number of this second lot. This is a general variety... ... and this is Elephant garlic. The outer skin seems to have dissolved away.  I think maybe I left them in the ground for too long? Have started to replenish the bed where the garlic spent the winter. Digging in fish bits, comfrey leaves and coffee grounds. Covered the whole lot up with mulch.

This is a video tour round my garden.  It's in 360 so click and scroll within the video window to look around. Click here if you don't see the video

I know, I know, I’m like ‘super late’ but the weather has been pretty awful. Hoping for a long hot summer. Grabbed some stakes from the store I established over the winter. Cut holes in the cardboard that was keeping the weeds under control     Shoved a stake in each hole and planted a seedling. Covered the whole lot with mulch.

I’ve been working on slowing down the spring winds that thrash my vegi garden ( read it here ) Now that the weather has calmed down a bit, I took down the bamboo stalks and mulched them up.    

Getting less bird strike this year. I wonder if it is because there is more rain about, and they are less thirsty?