Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

mrbadexample

emiff6 wrote: »

MrBE, I find with home saved marigold seeds, only between a quarter and half germinate. I think that's because I save the lot, but the really thin ones and tiny ones don't ever grow, so don't be downhearted

The thing is, I've got loads of seed, and sowed very sparingly! I'm just gonna chuck the lot in I think.

mrbadexample

Today I have done my best to cripple myself. As I've already got a bad back, this didn't take too much doing.

After much talking about it, and procrastinating due to the rugby, I finally decided to have a bash at raising the greenhouse.

First I drew round it with my Livestrong yellow chalk, purloined from the Tour de France the year before last. I knew it would come in handy:



With the assistance of my mate who'd come to collect his trailer (now empty of horse poo), we unbolted and moved the greenhouse onto the lawn. Fortunately, it's not too heavy. I then stood and looked at the slabs it was sat on:



:eek: Bloody hell, they're not very level, are they?



No, they're not.

mrbadexample

Ok, so I'm now faced with either trying to lay a sloping course of blocks, or trying to lay them level despite the slope. :undecided I've never built anything before, so I thought I'd best go for the level option. I think you'd need to be a very good bricklayer indeed to be able to accurately build a sloping course.

I got everything ready:



And mixed the compo (in that nice metal tray I picked up the other day from Freecycle):



Does it look like I know what I'm doing?

mrbadexample

I had been advised to do the corners first, but this presented a problem - how to get the blocks to the correct height? I couldn't easily work out how to run a level string , so I thought I'd blag it and just start in the highest corner at the back. I've spent my share of time on building sites, and even had a job as a hod carrier for a (very) short time, many years ago. Grandad was a brickie, so it must be in the blood somewhere. How hard can it be, eh?

Very. :rotfl:

These 4 blocks took me an hour:



I might have stood a better chance with bricks. The blocks are so heavy that getting them straight and level is really difficult! I've laid each of those four blocks 3 or 4 times. The mortar wasn't stiff enough to support the weight of the blocks, at least until it started going off a bit. At least with the size of the blocks I only had to lay 4 per side, so it made it easier to get them straight.

I soon realised that I was not going to get them perfectly straight and level, but would have to settle for a reasonable approximation.

mrbadexample

I plodded on. Three hours later and I have a course of blocks:



The top right corner has almost no compo under the blocks. Those at the bottom left have nearly 2 inches, to get it close to level.

:idea: I remembered to make a hole for drainage, so excess water does not make me that pond I'm after:



I'll now have to wait for the mortar to set sufficiently strongly for me to be able to drill and fix.

I've measured the diagonals to see if it's square. 261cm and 258cm. So just 3cm out. I was a bit disappointed with that when I first measured it, but after considering the fact that I'm not a brickie and I did it with not much more than a spirit level, I'm pretty well satisfied.

Next step is to fix the timber to the blocks, and pray that it doesn't get windy in the meantime.

I am jiggered. I need a masseuse. I'm quite pleased though.

s_glover

Well done MBE, looks like a fine result for a first attempt.

Please forgive my ignorance but why did you want to raise it up in the first place?

mrbadexample

s_glover wrote: »

Well done MBE, looks like a fine result for a first attempt.

Please forgive my ignorance but why did you want to raise it up in the first place?

I tell you what, I take my hat off to those people out there that do it for a living. That's bloody hard work. All I know is that if I was a brickie I'd be coming round your house for dinner, because I wouldn't earn enough to buy a bag of chips. :rotfl:

I wanted it raising because, err, it's too low. It's only 4' high at the eaves, and my tomato plants grow much taller than that, so I have to bring them in towards the middle. At 6'x6' there's not enough room for that. Combine that with the fact that it's only 6' high at the apex, and I'm taller than that so I can't stand upright in the damn thing. Stooping hurts my back. I've also lost count of the number of times I've smacked my head on the door frame. This should increase the height by about a foot, so it'll sort those problems. I'll just trip over the step instead.

s_glover

Ah I see, that makes sense. The extra height should make a difference.

furball

MBE green with envy.:D Well done. :beer: I would love a greenhouse but the only place i could have one is at the back. The little bu**ers across the road would smash the glass in minutes. The only other place would be at the side of the house where the chooks live but it's too shaded for a greenhouse. Given the choice of chooks or greenhouse though i would rather have chooks.

emiff6

mrbadexample wrote: »

The thing is, I've got loads of seed, and sowed very sparingly! I'm just gonna chuck the lot in I think.

That's what I do. I pretty much blanket the surface of the compost with seeds, and from that I get a decent number of seedlings.