We found the guttering and down pipe for around our shed last year in the bank of a stream, surrounded by bits of bed etc. Terrible, the illegal dumping people do ~ but hey, we struck lucky out of it that time. The only things we needed were the joints and brackets etc and we had our water collection system, which I wrote about in my 2nd ever blogette- here. Plus there was a long strip left over. Well, don't throw anything away, folks - that waste piping was used last Sunday - for the grown' of peas.....
I was, as I've mentioned, hiding in the shed but I heard the commotion of Andrew measuring the bed width and cutting the gutter to fit, then drilling holes into the bottom of the pipe. Boy, either he was extremely noisy or I was so upright everything sounded deafening!
So here is Andrew's work in photo-story format, as above ~ these are 'Kelvedon Wonder' we're talking about.....
NB. the use of polystyrene as an end piece - genius
I believe the idea is to let the seeds grow in the cold frame and when they're ready to plant out you dig a long trench and easily slide the whole lot out from the guttering pipe. Well sounds good in theory. Fingers crossed, we have many a pea in the months to come.
Huge applause for polystyrene end piece. Rush to the patent office right now! The pea-in-a-gutter technique is usually very effective.
ReplyDeleteHope your world looks sunnier today (mind you your weather forecast widget is not encouraging).
Thank you for visiting my blog and sobbing along with the Chji Lites.
Thank you for visiting my own humble blog. I needed that cry, it was a good one, thanks again and I still have that fabulous song in my head. Do you really think we could make our fortune with the patented end piece?!! It is ever so good.
ReplyDeleteStill feeling very bad but ho hum, such is life..x
Andrew did a good job there Carrie, it really works planting peas that way, I haven't tried it but I know people that have. For anyone that wants to have a go it might be a good idea to compare the price of a length of guttering with the price of "Two West's & Elliot" ROW PLANTERS, same principle as the guttering, but you get a tray and inside is two lengths of tubing to sow your peas. No ends so they can slide out. Tray & two planters is £4.55. www.twowests.co.uk lucky you Carrie finding some for free, it must be your lucky horseshoe ! :)
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