Ok, this post is mostly just to show my family what I've done to grow my various peas and beans. But I thought it might also be useful for someone to see how I did it. I basically made little tee-pee's from 6 foot bamboo canes.
Each 'tee-pee' is 4 canes. I did this because I planted my peas and beans (or bees and peens if you say it often enough and quickly ;D) up each of the canes. Sometimes I planted 3 or 4 around each individual cane as well as I had alot of healthy seedlings. They just wrap around each other so it's worked out fine.
To make them, I simply stuck 4 canes into the ground about a foot deep to form the outer 4 corners of a large square (about 2 feet x 2 feet across). I then criss-crossed the front 2 canes nearest to me (standing in front of the 'tee pee') and tied them together with twine wrapping around and double-knotting them to the best of my ability.
I then criss-crossed the back 2 canes the same way. Then I took the two joined up criss crossed canes together and tied those up with twine. The bamboo bent just fine.
In my own 9 foot by 9 foot beds I put up 9 tee-pees in each bed. For stability against the wind and for the netting, I then added 8 foot long bamboo canes along the top and used cable ties to tie them onto the existing tee-pees. Fruitcage netting was placed along the tops and sides and tucked under the wooden beds.
As we have wild rabbits, foxes, vermin, and a wide selection of birds, we did feel netting them was a necessity. We just water them through the netting so we don't really touch the netting much except when Simon had to 'crawl in' to de-weed and when we'll be harvesting.
Can I show off my peas and beans?
Our fruit cage at the allotment
Never let it be said my plans are not grand....although there is still more to be planted, here are some pics of the fruit cage Simon and I built a few weeks back but have only recently put up the netting and front door.
The cage is approximately 14 feet wide by 24 feet long and 6'1" high (so I could walk through it without bending over - I am 5'11" but am probably getting shorter year on year :D).
It was built using standard stud timber, hammered about 20" into the ground. The netting is standard fruit cage netting which allows bees to float through but not birds.
I will be keeping the following fruits in there: bluberries, strawberries, raspberries (2 lots of these), tayberries, loganberries, dwarf kiwi, cranberries, red gooseberries and goji berries. (I can get wild blackberries at several places already in the allotment and in places near to my house.)
21 bags of 100 liter wood mulch large bark chipping were used as well as weed control sheeting made from recycled plastic bottles (purchased at B & Q). Without this approach, the grass would have taken over immediately.
I still need to paint the 3" divider beds with woodstain and put in the blueberries which are currently still in my back garden but otherwise I'm pretty happy with it.
I wish I had eaten more cheese
Since Michael Jackson's passing at only 50 years young, I've been really pondering what life is all about. Maybe it's because Simon is now 44. Living another 6 years is nothing. It's a speck of time.
I met Lindsay Wagner!
This was an evening I had been waiting for, well, for months! Lindsay Wagner spoke at one of our local libraries in Middlesbrough on her life from dealing with dyslexia to her deep connection to mind, body, spirit oneness.
With a smile that lit up the room, one of my childhood icons lived up to all my expectations and them some. After her talk she took questions for an hour from the 50+ audience. She was articulate, gracious and charming. And did I mention beautiful? Simon was in awe too.
Lindsay gives workshops on emotional healing through meditative and hands on exercises as well as chats. She is currently in the UK and her future workshop events can be found on http://www.lindsaywagnerinternational.com .
Where have I been?
Gosh it's been a while since I've been blogging regularly. I do miss it but life has this way of getting away from you.
One of the main issues we've had is with our jungle, I mean, allotment. It is huge and even though we thought we had the upper hand when we rotavated it, we didn't. Nature did.
When we left for America for a fortnight we came back to weeds nearly 2 feet high. Everywhere. However with only 5 days to prepare for a very promising craft fair, it was non stop Flowersack dress making action. Yes the craft fair was a success but now the weeds are 2 1/2 feet high.
I decided it was more important to clear the beds we needed to move seedlings into rather than de-weed beds with beans, peas and onions etc already in otherwise the seedlings were going to die. Halfway into the middle of this plan, my daughter went into hospital for a week. (she's fine).
We were also halfway finished with a large fruit cage (minus the netting) and had planted soft fruit bushes. Did I mention we have wild bunny rabbits in the allotment? And gee, they like strawberry plants!! grrr.........So this weekend has been manic, now that my daughter is out of hospital and when she's been with her father, we've been at the allotment trying to finish the fruit cage (picture soon I promise) and digging out the weeds from the peas, beans, and onions.
So there you go. I'm still looking at the bright side of life and even managed to take my little one and Simon strawberry picking at a Pick Your Own farm and walked around in some nearby woodlands yesterday afternoon (Sunday). We had a lovely time and I was able to reconnect with nature again. Tonight I am going somewhere special and hope to blog about it tomorrow....till then, :D
It's Summertime and craft fairs are in the air....
It was a great day weather-wise and I even managed not to spend most of my profits :D
Our fantastic trip to the USA!
Although I did not announce it beforehand, as I didn't want to give carte blanche to would be burglars, I have been away these last 2 weeks on the most incredible trip back home to the USA. I brought Simon and my daughter to see where my parents, sister and her children now live in Washington D.C. and to New Orleans, where I went to University for 5 years - a city that is truly in my blood, heart and soul.
You can't visit Washington D.C. without taking a trip to see the White House, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and the Capitol Building. We also went to see a couple of Smithsonian museums, including the Natural History Museum, now part of the new movie Night of the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonians with Ben Stiller. We had a fantastic time! Here are a few pics:
While we were visiting my family, we took in a concert featuring my niece, Nikki Bellini, an up and coming star, singing for the Viriginia School of Rock, in their 'Tommy' concert. Nikki, as you can see from her t-shirt was, in fact, 'Tommy' and she rocked the house with her voice. Nikki just turned 10 years old.
It was then off to New Orleans for 4 days. I took Simon and my daughter to my favourite places like Mulates to hear a proper cajun band, to Pat O'Briens for a Hurricane, to get a mufflelata sandwich, a daiquiri, down a St. Charles streetcar (no, it wasn't called Desire), beignets at Cafe du Monde, Jackson Square, Bourbon Street, Royal Street, boiled crawfish, more alcohol, a casino and all the tacky souvenir shops you can shake a mardi gras mask at! Simon says New Orleans is the coolest place on the planet. Here are some pics!
My parents went too and we all had a fantastic time. I haven't had a real holiday for nearly 5 years so we really did make the it the best we could.
Hope everyone has been well.
