I got up and had my cuppa as normal then headed straight out in the garden. The first thing I did was put my new cement mixer together. I was dreading it as when I looked in the bx the night it arrived, it appeared to be in bits and I'm not one to do instructions. When I get hold of them, they are more like destructions than instructions which is surprising as I am an electrician by trade and use to following drawings and diagrams. However, it went together really simply. Just bolted the legs together, bolted the handle on, slid the drum on the motor and slid the two together. Yep that simple, I was amazed. One job down.
The next thing was to make up my Root templates. I made them out of some 9mm ply-board. Bob and Chris lent me their templates to use as a guide. I marked them out and then cut them out using a jigsaw. The Carrot template has got six holes and the Parsnips four holes. This is the number I am going to put in each drum.
Parsnip Template
Carrot Template
I was now on a role. The next job was to insulate my Parsnip drums. I covered them with some thin foam underlay which is normally used for laminate flooring. I will then cover again with bubble wrap
With all that done there was only one thing left to do, the mix. Previously I have been unable to determine which mix to use, well I finally decided. I decided to make the compost based mix up. If the one complete mix was not sufficient for all the drums, I would do what ever was left with the Peat based mix. This way I would be able to compare the mixes against each other with the same conditions.
I weighed all my ingredients out first and just as I was going to put them in the mixer, I realised the mixer wouldn't take the full mix. I therefore had to split everything in half and make two mixes. I still think the mix was too much for the mixer and I was totally satisfied with the mixing as there was bits stuck to the back of the drum and I had to stop the mixer and mix in by hand then start the mixer up again. I did this a few times until I thought it looked like it was all in.
The mix I used was Graeme Watson's mix as detailed in recent edition of the NVS's 'Simply Veg' magazine
Well I was up and out at 8am and by the time I had finished and cleared away, it was 5pm and starting to get dark. All in all a very busy but productive day
hey like the colour of the mixer you going to put go fast stripes on it, looks like you had a busy day, template looks the biz. not done anything like that but its a good idea. like how your blog is going keep it up
ReplyDeletebilly
Cheers Billy
ReplyDeleteI'm quite please with it all. Just a few things to get and sort then it will just be the growing bit
I think Medwyn puts a few large rocks or small bricks in with the mix to break it up better in the mixer.
ReplyDeleteThat's not a bad idea, thanks
ReplyDeleteGood work, wish I had a day off! I'm going try and get all mine done on the 2 days off I have 17/18th. Templates look good, you've thought of everything.
ReplyDeleteNice one Darren!!! You had a busy day!
ReplyDeleteI assume with the templates, you drop them on top of the barrel, then stick a bar down the centre of the hole into the compost and then wiggle it about to make a nice cone shaped hole in the sand???
Then fill it with your compost mix???
Damo, not my thought's my good friend Bob, he is leaving no stone unturned. My head often swells with input overload
ReplyDeleteSimon, almost, I put the pipe inside the template which collects the sand and brings it back up and out. 4" pipe for Parsnips and 3" for Carrots
ReplyDeleteWell done Darren keep up the good work
ReplyDeleteCan I borrow your cement mixer?
ReplyDelete