Make use of Stones

Nothing goes to waste in an organic garden. In my garden the soil, which is thin over rock, is full of stones and as I work our patch of  land I take out the stones from soil where I am preparing seeds beds for onions, brassicas and lettuces or to sow crops that don’t like stony ground. Buckets of stones come out of the ground every season and what better use to put them than to make paths.  They suppress weeds and make walking around a lot easier.

I use the larger flatter stones to place around capsicums, when planting out, to help retain the sun’s heat that will radiate back at night and help plants get a good start.

A Bit of Bodging

I love the word Bodging because it is an old word meaning someone who works with green wood using hand tools, generally to make chair legs but it could be anything. In modern day British English slang, a “bodged” job is one that although it may be fit for purpose it is not very elegant or finely done …erm yep that would apply to my woodworking .. so all round a top word.  I could blame my blunt axe (I am sure Rachel files it down so that I can’t do myself a mischief), or the far from green wood, but really I am just awful at anything that approaches building. I don’t let it stop me though and in a true bodging spirit, both old and new, I give it a go. 

What I am after are support poles for the tomatoes and pea frames, so I’ve been in the woods cutting some long poles.  Mulberry and chestnut that had long since died. To make the poles into stakes all I need do is cut them to length and to make a point on one end so that it can be driven into the ground. Might sound easy but with a blunt axe it’s not that easy. A good woodworker could do this job with just two deft blows, some 20 or so later I am puffed out but at least I get one done. Just another 50 or so to go.

For more info on bodging
craft guide to bodging