cataloging baskets

I don't have a complete record of all my baskets. Some of the more utilitarian ones just got (mis)-used till they disintegrated and may not even have been photographed. I even gave some away, without making any record of them. In case I'm ever a collectable maker (stranger things happen :) I think I should do some record keeping, so I'm going to try to get recipients to send home photos and to catalogue some of the ones around the house, and even to make a note of fallen but not forgotten ones. I know I should edit this photo but the sun is shining and I have an allotment to dig, and a dog to walk.

murphy bed part 3, the mechanism

OK. So this 6" coach bolt is the mechanism that the whole fold up bed project hinges on.

You need to drill a clearance hole that the bolt can just freely rotate in into the bed frame. On my bed that hole is 41cms up from the floor, and 41 cms out from the wall. Since the center of the 2x2 "axle" on the bed base itself is centered on 35cms from the outside edge of the base. this leaves me about 3cm of clearance from the inside edges of my frame at both the wall and floor edges, so the whole thing swings freely in the space.

To fasten into the "axle", start by drilling a clearance hole part of the way in. You want the screw thread on the bolt to start biting into the wood for the last couple of inches, so change down to a drill bit that's just a bit too tight to slide into without screwing for that last inch or so. Obviously you need to do the same procedure on the other side before trying to assemble it.

Balance the bed base on magazines to lift the bed base drill holes level with the ones in the outer frame. Use a washer either side of the outer frame (can be a bit tricky getting the inside one onto the bolt) and use a spanner or socket to tighten them into place. It might take a little bit of playing around to get the tension/centering between the two sides even. Remember to pull the mags out before you try to rotate it. :)

I'll do a couple of photos of the single bed version in a later post.

seed potatoes, height above sea level

My seed potato buying trip before heading off to France ended up in a random grab of two small bags. The information I needed about the type I was buying (e.g. waxy or floury, blight resistant, etc)wasn't available in the store. here are some sesources to help with choosing seed potatoes. I am now off to make a more informed choice on what others to grow. chart from gardenorganic.org showing main characterisitics of various "tatties" The when's why's and how's of all things potato, from topveg. A bit about slug resistance, I think it came from a gardenweb forum If you have a problem with slugs eating your potatoes then there are anumber of Slug resistant varieties some of which we have tried and canrecommend (marked with **) for clay soil... Kestral** - second early (good keeper for a SE) Lady Rosetta - se Maritiema - se Romano** (red skinned)- early maincrop Hermes - maincrop Midas- mc Pentland Dell - mcSpey **(child of Kestral, very similar)- maincrop

broadbeans in yellow pages pots

Here are some more BB's in the yellow pages pots. Each pot is two sheets of yellow pages thick and uses no staples or fasteners. At planting out time the bottom of the "poke" can just be unfolded, although they might just disintegrate once they're in the ground anyway.

allotment panic

I have grown veg before, in fact I've shared an allotment before, and that might be the source of the panic... I know how much hard work it is but I still feel like a complete beginner. bought some seed potatoes, now chitting on the window sill, but still need more,

researching:
4 year crop rotations
companion planting, (savoury with broad beans)

should buy some lime for the brassicas.

made some nifty little root trainer pots out of old yellow pages and sowed my first lot of Broad beans.

feeling a bit wobbly round about the third chakra, but other than that I'm fine thanks

first ever basket

here's a picture of my first ever freeform basket. ( A fair old while ago now)

made from old drift wood, roots, bark and rusted curtain wire all found on a walk on the Shaldon side of the Teign, combined with some recycled wire that was dumped at my compost scheme. I had only just started my basketry love affair then and I hadn't much idea of what i was doing, so I soaked all the wood bits in linseed oil to make them pliable and set about joining them together with copper wire gods eyes. I called it "Sea Witch Cauldron"