Decision, what decision?

449 litres

I am the best at making rock solid five minute decisions...  forget the compost bin idea, I have just bought this one from Primrose.  for £26.95.  It is cheaper than buying the timber and a whole lot less trouble.  I also like the fact you can remove the bottom slats if you get any good compost to use at the bottom.  I hope they still have them next year as I would like two but the budget won't run to that right now.

storage and seat

I've also ordered a storage bin which doubles up as a seat - useful for cup of tea time!.  I needed a decent size box to leave basic stuff in the shed so that fits the bill nicely and I can haul it over to my veggie beds easily and then park myself on it if I want to.

I have also ordered 8 foot canes for my beans.  They are always a pain to transport and there is a single delivery charge however much you order so they may as well be sent along with the other things.  I think £5.95 for ten (1.8m) is a good price as well???

I stole these photos from the Primrose site which I hope they won't mind as it is a bit of advertising for them. 

Ken and I went to the lotty again today to check that everything was as it should be as we have had some real gales yesterday, overnight and into today.  It was all fine.  

It was also an opportunity to take the water butt over.  Good old Ken took it with a load of water in it - half way there it broke the small garden dolly he had it balanced on, so the rest of the journey was a bit of a nightmare but those that know him, know he won't quit.  It is in place on its bricks and I know it will come in really handy on two levels.  Firstly, even though there will be water butts on the site - they aren't there as yet and I have stuff planted.  Most of it will be fine but the salad crops can't be left to dry out even for a short while.  Secondly even when we have the butts in place, if we get some serious sun they will be used up pretty quickly if everyone is keenly growing so I am hoping mine will help as it will be one less person drawing off the shared water.  The plan is to take water in a couple of one gallon containers every time I go  and so keep the butt topped up for when it is needed.  Hopefully there will be enough trips in between needing to use it to keep it full. 

When you realise that just 1" of rain on a 2' x 1' area is a gallon of water, just think what we are wasting down the drains with the rain coming off our roofs. Unfortunately I don't have a roof available to me on the lotty.  There is a great kit called a rain bowl for when you don't have gutters available to you; take a look at http://www.guttermate.co.uk/shop/rainbowl/rainbowl     

I am racking my brains as to how to construct something similar to do the job - some sort of upturned umbrella system.  Right now I am thinking on the lines of a tarp or better still butyl pond liner (except I don't have any of that) hammered to a rectangular frame on legs with a bit of slack in it and the centre over the open butt, weighted down with gravel (also that will keep out any rubbish) and small holes punched in it to let the water through??????  We'll see.

It was also worth the trip because I was comforted in that the strawberry bed didn't have any water on it, so the membrane did let last night's rain through without a problem.  We also topped up the fruit tree planting with some more compost.

I was curious as to the soil temperature and remembered to take the thermometer - it is 10 degrees so is OK (ish) for planting.  This is another plus for raised beds, the soil warms up more quickly.  The covered bed (strawberries) is already a couple of degrees higher in just in 24 hours of a cool day.  Now I worry it will get too warm for the rhubarb.  Actually even strawberries quite like the cool I think.  Aaaaarrrggh! trust me to overthink gardening!

Incidentally I took my camera with me as I intend to record this year inch by inch... it does help if you also put the memory card back in it before you go.  Hey ho.

All lotty photos I have actually taken are at Garden - Allotment 2013 in my web albums and the 'arrival of the butt' one will make it to there after my next trip.