Onoff

Got the frame half up. Suddenly dawned we were 8 pieces short on our steel cutting list! All nice and square / level. I'll put some diagonals in on the corners with rivnuts to take out any wobble. Then net & gate time (once I've cut and painted the missing steels). Sieved some soil and packed a bit more over the top of the cardboard pots, firming down as best as: As for the slug traps I'm trying: Cheap French beer in a tuna / bean can and 3 bricks: Half sunk / tilted pop bottle, again with beer in. That might not be such a good idea. Emptying might be a pain: In fact by putting traps inside the enclosure will I be attracting slugs and snails? Should the traps go outside? In the interests of H&S I thought I'd best sample the poison myself. Christ, I'm used to better things, British Bulldog it ain't! I actually feel sorry for the poor little critters dying in this. It's actually quite offensive: A sprinkling of wood ash around the perimeter and that's it for today:

Something else came up here...

Will do. Just going out to cut a piece of mesh, the seed tray will now double as a sieve. I'll put some of the trench soil down.

Pour les limaces et les escargots: Seemed fitting!

In awe. I knew there were some clever people on here but.....

Well they're in! Whether they're "in" enough I don't know. Dug two 4/6" deep trenches. Filled with compost. Half a bag of "Westland with John Innes" then a full bag of Grandiol from Lidl. SWMBO didn't like the Lidl one saying it's got "bits of stick and stones in it". I thought it was fine. I slit the cardboard pots and just sort of pressed them down and packed some of loose soil around them that I'd dug out doing the trenches. The weaklings I generally put where they'll get the Sun first. Let the games begin! Off out in minute in search of cheap beer for some traps. Will start assembling the frame today too when laddo surfaces.

Frame ready to assemble. Cut, painted, 3D connectors will go in with the aid of some cooking oil: Back then to the original business of gardening... I still haven't plant the beans yet. This is where they're going as of today. Still needs some gaps under the sleepers blocking off / filling. There's then the peripheral dirt to be de-stoned, weeded and levelled. The beans themselves, some leaves are going a bit speckly, would that be a nutrient issue? They've been in those tiny pots for a month. How do I "plant"? Never done it before. I was thinking core a hole in the soil with an old Starrett, pack in some fresh compost and drop the bean in. In it's little cardboard container still? Got my 93 year old man moaning "If you don't get them in you won't get a crop!"

With 20% off this was £34. Got it on recommendation of a few who have it. Comes with 4 spare spatter shields which are available separately. (They're not green, that's protective film that peels off).

Check this out, auto darkening helmet that has side windows for better perephral vision: The central window is the one that auto darkens. The side ones stay that shade.

Sleepers finally in to coral the slugs 😂 All the soil from the trench will be sieved and levelled off within the sleeper area. All the 25mm box cut to length for the frame. Net and 3D printed connectors all ready. Might get round to the gate tomorrow and try the new welding helmet!

If I buy/make some beer traps, then presumably there'll be a dish full of dead / drunk slugs in the morning. These beer soaked slugs.....leave them in a dish for the birds, badger? Visions of blackbirds careering into windows or lairy badgers going on the rampage!

It must be me! So you have this, what am I looking at? They're the boards the roof is made from and there's felt straight on top? We're looking up inside the cowl? You'd like a cylindrical bit of Rockwool 3' long and 3" in diameter you'll wrap around the silver pipe, between that and the wood? What diameter is the silver pipe and what slope is the roof angle?

Thought you were an expert on nasties under the rim? 😂

Well...the runner and dwarf beans SWMBO planted in pots have been fairly decimated by the b'stards! Found two snails under the rim of one pot then a big fat slug on the ground. Doesn't bode well for when the 50 go in the ground

Well without proper measurements that ain't happening then.

It's really good. Better than the Soudal Low Expansion I was using. Goes off to like a tough, flexible rubber skin rather than a 'crunchy' mass. I struggled to cut it like "normal" foam.

Those and the pyramid orchids....Shhhh! 🤐

Where do you think I get most of my stuff? 😂

How deep does the insulation layer need to be?

Just wondering out loud here... Could I "encourage" a couple of slow worms into my enclosure for slug control?

Lidl had carbon monoxide alarms the other day.

I might have some "proper", green, Rockwool slab offcuts that would be suitable if you'd be happier with that. If so I'll post them. I know where you live! 😂

Thanks. Yep, netting the beans. Debating brassicas.

Can't remember. I was probably thinking more of this sort of thing with a solar panel you mount externally. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zchui-Waterproof-Double-lamp-Wall-Mounted-Greenhouse/dp/B0885Y19BX/ref=pd_aw_lpo_1?pd_rd_i=B0885Y19BX&psc=1

I'll be making a gate in the enclosure. Itll be 8' high. 7mm netting appears to be the maximum mesh size if growing brassicas. Deters the cabbage white from laying eggs and also keeps birds out. Not sure how pollinators get in.....do brassicas get pollinated?