50 GALLON ELECTRIC WATER HEATERS

Eco blog - March 7th
I have decided to move towards self sufficiency. Its a long hike but with 5 of the above seedbeds, various fruit tree's, weird beans growing on trellice and i think im part way their... though i may have starved by the time the lettuce seeds have grown.

The above bed is split into rows. rows 1& 2 carrots, 3 = Elephant garlic. 4&5 = Onions 6 = little garlic thingies 7 Big onions.

08/03/08
Today I planted brocolli, cucumbers, butter nut, broad beans into seed trays and saved some seeds for next months planting, and also the month after.. so in autumn ie aug, sept oct, i should have constant crop... Looking to buy a green house and paraffin heater as the UK is mighty cold. Currently propogating the 10 seed trays (each seed tray has 30 compartments...[rubs his hands]...come on yee little plants.

27/03/08
had to bring in the little bell pepper plants(x4) that you can see at the top right of the seed bed, the snow was a bit too much excitement for em. I now have about 16 seed trays in total with over 500 little plugs all sprouted nicely after only 3 weeks, the broad beans, marrow and courgette are about 12 inches high and about ready to pot into something a little bigger before planting out in a few weeks....the spring onions are delicate at the mo and cry in a soft wind all the rest of the veg stuffs are looking good. Thanks to _VAL_W for sending me the melon seeds, they arrived today and will be planted tonight...! if anyone else wants to contribute to the eco project in the way of seeds, or a greenhouse (ha ha), let me know. Your seeds will be given a happy home and you will see them grow too.. added bonus ;-)
30/03/08 - Planted out the broad beans and marrows... the marrows have been covered with glass containers to keep them from the cold winds but the broad bean is brave like warrior and rather loves the challenge i think.. ! The leaves dropped a bit when I moved em from the seed tray into the raised bed, i think i should have potted on first maybe, but they were a foot tall and strong.
My cucumbers, beetroot and spring onions are delicate and need some more growth before putting out into the real world. My onions are now starting to show some action and one of the garlic dudes has woken up. Summer is coming, very slowly but surely.

03/06/08 - Sweet jesus. The garden is now full of stuff and ive come along way from where i began, its a bit of an old mans journey but still been interesting none-the-less. Everything is well established now and made it through the frost, i did howere lose two lettuce crops which was harrowing.

The other thing is that marrows and courgettes are really fragile, once the stem bends it seems to break the circulation and basically they die. hint: once they have germinated in the seed trays, leave them until they are about 5 inches tall and then remove them carefully.. and put them straight into the ground with no support... remember, marrows and courgette plants dont grow upwards like a tomato plant, the big stem just lays on the soil and then throws flower.

Its all good fun. To keep snails away, either use salt or make stinky rhubarb leaf stew.. put loads of rhubarb leaves into a bucket of water and let stew for 10 days.. the result is a stinky water that will make you gag.. its awful but t keeps slugs and animals away without damaging your crop, alternatively use slug pellets but these are dangerous for wild birds.

The leak.

Beneath the glass is a layer of bubblewrap. This is over the seam. Inside the greenhouse is a paraffin heater, so the seam becomes a battleground between hot and cold, so the ice thaws and refreezes.