Tag Archives: raspberry plants

Tuesday 29th April 2014 – I WAS UP …

… before all of the alarms had finished going off today. That’s keenness for you and it shows just what an early night can do for you.

It was a gorgeous day too at that time of morning. But it didn’t last. As I was working on the website again it started to rain and that’s what it’s been doing on and off all day.

after the website I went out to plant the raspberries and strawberries that Liz gave me yesterday. That meant hoeing the bed right through from one end to the next and then adding a pile of sand to lighten the soil.

Once I’d raked and hoed all of that well in, I could plant everything, and now they are in. And to take me up to lunch time, I hoed the onion and shallot beds.

I was in no rush after lunch as we were having a rainstorm. But once it died down a little I popped out and put the secon coat of wood treatment on the raised bed that I made the other day.

I’ve also been working on Caliburn. The back is all cleaned out nicely now and I’ve rebuilt a bed for the back. I’ve been using the old hammock-type of attachment that was a fifth bed in an old caravan that I broke for spares ages ago. But that gave up the ghost a while ago.

But then I had a brainwave. When I was living in a caravan I cut down a bed to fit in an odd corner and I’d forgotten all about it since I scrapped that caravan too. I resurrected it, cut it to fit the rear of Caliburn, fastened it all together with some angle brackets and aluminium strips riveted in position, and then made a cradle out of the old hammock supports.

It works a treat too, and I’ll be very comfortable on that bed, for I’m going away next week for 10 days or so, I reckon.

-2

Monday 28th April 2014 – WE’VE BEEN RADIOING …

… today.

First off was to record the rock music shows that I do, which means that I needed to be in Marcillat by 09:30 this morning. Liz came to join me at 10:00 to record a month’s work of the Radio Anglais information programmes.

We went round to Liz’s for lunch – some of the left-over aubergine and spaghetti casserole from Saturday, and went down to Gerzat to record the Radio Anglais sessions for Radio Arverne.

While we were in Gerzat we had to track down a parcel that had not been delivered. We tracked down the depot where it was kept, and they tracked down the parcel. It seems that the address on the parcel was incorrect, hence the non-delivery, so we’ll let them off this time.

But it was nice and sunny down there and what was so ironic was that we could see the thick black clouds over the Combrailles from there.
“I bet that those clouds are right over our houses” said Liz, and she was right too. Torrential rain up here.

The parcel was the towbar for Terry’s new Jeep and so once he had checked it over and was satisfied, he said “have you got half an hour?”. So while Liz was sorting out some surplus strawberry and raspberry plants for my soft fruits bed in exchange for me having driven her in search of this parcel, Terry and I fitted the towbar.

Liz cooked a tea for us, which was always very welcome, and then I came home.

And now I have more gardening to do for tomorrow.

0

Thursday 29th March 2012 – IT’S "NEW TOY" TIME AGAIN.

akai 12 volt DC DVD player television les guis virlet puy de dome franceI told you the other day that I had ordered a new DVD player – an AKAI 12-volt television, 16″ screen, with built-in DVD player.

Anyway, it turned up this morning.

First thing that I did was to cut off the cigarette lighter plug (I hate these) from the 12-volt connector lead, wired a fuseholder into the lead and then wired it up to an American plug.

Regular readers of thie rubbish will remember, but for the benefit of newer readers, I have a 12-volt electrical circuit running around the house, using American plugs and sockets.

I use them for the simple reason that they take heavier cable and I use 6mm cable for the circuit – the bigger the better to avoid voltage drop.

Anyway, the cable works and so does the DVD player. It even played one of the DVDs that wouldn’t work on the old in-car DVD, and the sound quality is exceptional.

I’m really pleased with it.

Only downside is the remote control. The keys are moulded plastic with the symbols moulded in., the same colour (light grey) as the keys. And so it’s really difficult to tell which key that you need to press, especially in the dim light.

But that’s a minor point.

Apart from that, then besides another couple of hours on the computer, I was outside in the garden for much of the day.

Another bed has been dug over and the remainder of the onion sets were planted and a few lines of leeks were sown.

After that I did a little hoeing and planted the beans that I had soaking, some cabbage, sprouts and cauliflower seeds.

I’ve also planted all of the raspberry plants that Liz kindly gave me in exchange for the lettuce from the other week.

All in all, it’s been another busy day today.

-4

Monday 26th March 2012 – AND SO AFTER MY JOHNNY …

… Cash impression yesterday – you know, “I walk the line” – which is so much better than my impersonation of Glen “I am a linesman for Notts County” Campbell, I had a quiet day today and I hardly went out.

Seeing as I was in the mood – which doesn’t happen all that often – I wrote a huge raft of stuff for the radio programmes. As well as a few more of the 20 questions I did an article about how to appeal against a speeding ticket and also some more useful phrases in French for our non-French-speaking listeners.

That was really about it, I suppose.

But I did have a heated shower.

The temperature in the 12-volt home-made immersion heater that I use as a dump load went off the scale again and so I tipped 10 litres of the hot water into the solar-heated shower tank (which raised that up to a glorious 42.5°C) and put 10 litres of cold water into the dump load, which cooled that down to 62°C.

Tomorrow we are radioing in the morning and in the afternoon I’ll have a bash in the garden. I have garlic, onions and shallots to plant, as well as the shrubs that I bought the other week.

And not forgetting the raspberry plants that Liz gave me either.

-2

Tuesday 26th April 2011 – SO NOW …

… that we have the internet up and running again, I can tell you all about today’s little events, such as they are.

We’re back at work again now and I spent the first while working on the computer – carrying on with the Newfoundland web pages.

This is the kind of thing that will go on for ever, I imagine.

Later, I set about the garden. I’ve done more planting, some weeding and hoeing and I’ve also put the two raspberry bushes in – those that I bought two weeks ago.

But I don’t like the look of them. If I get anything at all from them I’ll really be lucky. But they stand more chance in the soil than they do if they aren’t in there, so let them have a go.

Tonorrow I’m going to make a start on building the greenhouse.

That’s the cue for a thunderstorm, isn’t it?

-2