Author Topic: Progress  (Read 3647 times)

cambourne7

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Progress
« on: November 25, 2017, 21:45:23 »
Hi All,

I have the handyman in next week to do a few jobs for me. Hes making 3 high planters with wood for me one will be for a yucca which has been in a temp pot for the last 3 years and needs a pot in a specific wedge shape to fit into a specific space. Hes also making 2 other pots for mr to pop in 2 climbing roses against the garage wall.

Hes also making me 4 frames to go inside my vegi trugs (dont want to screw into them directly) the frames will have clamps for blue pipe and a nice span of blue pipe i can then tuck the plastic sheeting or netting under the wooden frame. I am getting some clamps in wilko to hold them in place anyway.

Hes also making a surround to go around the greenhouse with marine ply and reinstating the wooden frame around the concrete pad. As the cowboy who layed the concrete pad messed it up i am worried about water undermining the concrete over time and it dropping. Will be bad as greenhouse bolted to it. A topper will go above the concrete and the lip of the greenhouse to direct water away from the greenhouse and the concrete. I will then paint to match the greenhouse :)

Feel like i am making progress :)

Gardener is coming in over the next few weeks to wash out the inside of my greenhouse with Jeyes fluid for me which should remove any spores from the tomato blight. I have removed the top of the soil and will be planting something else there before planting tomatoes there again.

Were empting my mother in laws flat at the moment as were having to move her into a nursing home due to dementia so my time is very limited but i am looking forward to planting some walla walla onion seed i sourced in spring :)

One step forward, one step backwards and one step sideways not nessacaraly always in that order :)

Cam


pumkinlover

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Re: Progress
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2017, 07:59:37 »
Pleased for you that you are getting ready to do some gardening despite these difficulties.
I still have an email from John Miller on here and he says that they are short day onions. I got his email after I spring planted mine so I grew them on into little bulbs then dried them off to stop growth and set them off to grow over winter.
A quick Google search came up with a late October date for sowing. 
Amazingly I got a good crop! So good luck with yours. X
Galina might explain it better!
« Last Edit: November 26, 2017, 08:02:34 by pumpkinlover »

galina

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Re: Progress
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2017, 08:14:51 »
Pleased for you that you are getting ready to do some gardening despite these difficulties.
I still have an email from John Miller on here and he says that they are short day onions.
Galina might explain it better!

Nothing to add, Pumpkinlover.  Short day onions bulb up when days are short or in areas  near the equator where there is not a lot of difference in day length between summer and winter.  WOW, there are not many people who grow their own onion sets!  What a great save.   :icon_cheers:

Good luck with the workmen Cam and their work.  Don't stress about having had blight in the greenhouse, just more ventilation next time, like leaving the door open as well as the vents including over night when the tomatoes ripen to prevent it.  :wave:   

Vinlander

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Re: Progress
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2017, 11:35:36 »
I can see it might be nice to square off the base of your greenhouse, but the chances of it sinking or sliding are very slim** unless there is a river under it - or a broken sewer (or you live in Ripon like Lewis Carroll did).

The main thing is to be sure it is thick enough and made with the right mix to stay in one piece... The base of my sun room was laid in two halves (the previous owner was a clueless bodger), and every year the floor looks more and more like a pitched roof.

Cheers.

**PS.  A 33cm thick concrete base will weigh 800 kg per square metre - but that pressure is at the bottom of a hole - probably 28-30cm down.

If you were to dig and step into such a hole you would find the surface quite firm compared to soil level (and the thicker and heavier the base, the deeper it rests & the more stable it becomes).

The weight on the welly you are stepping on will depend on many things - but heavier people have bigger feet - so everyone's kg per square metre evens out to at least 2000; that's why elephants' feet cope better with mud than we do - especially as quadrupeds tend to keep two feet under them when walking.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2017, 11:37:33 by Vinlander »
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

cambourne7

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Re: Progress
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2017, 22:56:10 »
I can see it might be nice to square off the base of your greenhouse, but the chances of it sinking or sliding are very slim** unless there is a river under it - or a broken sewer (or you live in Ripon like Lewis Carroll did).

The main thing is to be sure it is thick enough and made with the right mix to stay in one piece... The base of my sun room was laid in two halves (the previous owner was a clueless bodger), and every year the floor looks more and more like a pitched roof.

Cheers.

**PS.  A 33cm thick concrete base will weigh 800 kg per square metre - but that pressure is at the bottom of a hole - probably 28-30cm down.

If you were to dig and step into such a hole you would find the surface quite firm compared to soil level (and the thicker and heavier the base, the deeper it rests & the more stable it becomes).

The weight on the welly you are stepping on will depend on many things - but heavier people have bigger feet - so everyone's kg per square metre evens out to at least 2000; that's why elephants' feet cope better with mud than we do - especially as quadrupeds tend to keep two feet under them when walking.
[/quote

Well i would love to say its that thick but its not, in some places its half an inch and in others its two. Its on clay soil on a slight dip which means all the water in garden drains down the concrete pad. i can easly put my hand into the gap between the concrete and the soil.

Cam

Vinlander

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Re: Progress
« Reply #5 on: November 29, 2017, 11:12:19 »
That's appalling - it's probably already turned to rubble but doesn't know it yet.

I've worked with quite a few cowboys in my time, but it sounds like your guy gives 'cowboys' a bad name - if he's still working at all he's probably in Banking or the Stock Exchange by now.

Cheers.
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

cambourne7

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Re: Progress
« Reply #6 on: December 03, 2017, 22:01:29 »
That's appalling - it's probably already turned to rubble but doesn't know it yet.

I've worked with quite a few cowboys in my time, but it sounds like your guy gives 'cowboys' a bad name - if he's still working at all he's probably in Banking or the Stock Exchange by now.

Cheers.

well he left some of his tools with me when he left but his trust a trader account is scathing, he went to fit kitchens under a different business name but after a few posts i dont think anyone will employ him. The guy who did the surround was shocked when i put my hand up to the wrist under the concrete in a few places and hes put almost an entire bag of sharp sand into the gaps as he was doing the wooden surround. Only one new crack so far so i am hoping we have rescued the situation. new builder back tuesday to make the planters for me but happy that the jobs done now :)

Digeroo

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Re: Progress
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2017, 09:30:54 »
Life has enough problems without people causing more.   Is there some way you can pour more concrete into the holes.  Sharp sand might just wash away.   If all concrete to the sand it might gradually harden.

Tee Gee

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Re: Progress
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2017, 12:39:28 »
Quote
   Is there some way you can pour more concrete into the holes.  Sharp sand might just wash away.   If all concrete to the sand it might gradually harden.

Based on the clues that I have read I would suggest that you place a piece of wood (shutter) at the point/s you can get your hand in.

Then drill a hole/s from the top into the gap/s and pour cement grout into it/them.

The grout is basically neat cement and water made into a pourable slurry which should run into all the nooks and crannys under the slab and the shutter will prevent it from running out!

When it dries you should have a solid slab.

This is only a suggestion but worth a try I think!

cambourne7

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Re: Progress
« Reply #9 on: December 13, 2017, 21:13:10 »
Hi

Thanks for suggestions all xx

The wooden surround and sand had already been put in place when i read the last post about the concrete so might do that next year or so :)

Handyman was back and made my 3 planters, hes also built a wooden surround which sits inside the vegi trugs and hes attached some PVE pipe to for me which will allow me to drape netting or plastic over :)

Really pleased with his hard work :)

Cam

 

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