@Jenny-Aster love your ingenuity as I too find that making equipment to use in the garden is so rewarding, can I ask did you use the thread in a sewing machine and if so did you have any problems using it? I ask because I'm wanting to make a run of carrot fly barrier using scaffold netting with channels sewn into it to take plastic coated stakes and that thread looks to be ideal for the job.
Thank you @barry island yes the thread went through my normal domestic Singer machine without a problem. Think the needle is size '16'. The only 'aggravation' if you can call it that, the thread does have a mind of it's own, I filled a couple of spools before I started but the thread wanted to 'unwind' if you know what I mean. I picked up the thread from Amazon.
I'm just wondering if a compost bin could be made from the material? Maybe not enough air can pass through.
Thanks Jenny-Aster will have to get the project underway it will soon be time to sow the carrots. I don't know if the ground cover material would be ridged enough to support damp compost material it gets pretty heavy once it starts to decompose and compacts.
The shelving system I bought for under-the-stairs/panty was a disaster! It was too unstable by far. Instead of throwing the 33cmx33cm square wire mesh pieces out, I thought I'd turn the shelving system into a 'raised bed'. Incorporating 'Square Foot Gardening', and 'Container Gardening' ("100% of the harvest, 20% of the space, 2% of the work" to quote the book).
Wood work just isn't my 'thing', this is why I went for the mesh shelving system in the first place, but I can sew a bit....
The square bags are all numbered so I can keep a record of what's been grown in each of them, what compost, and what fertiliser has been used. (Anorak? )
Should there be an infestation of something or other, the offending bag can be removed. The whole thing is portable.
All the bags are tightly up against each other, with the bags on the outside having a plastic sleeve inserted between the wire mesh and the bag to help stop the bags drying out.
24 bags have been made so far, there're more to be made as I also put this shelving system in the airing cupboard which will soon be replaced, therefore the 'raised bed' will get bigger. The 24 bags cost over £1 each.
...The only 'aggravation' if you can call it that, the thread does have a mind of it's own, I filled a couple of spools before I started but the thread wanted to 'unwind' if you know what I mean. ...
@Jenny_Aster , is the thread "bouncy" like heavy duty nylon monofilament? Or some different kind of "mind of its own"? I'm wondering whether my machine would cope with it (I'm thinking of making a cover for my cold frame). I have a new-ish one with a horizontal spool pin and top-loading bobbin and both tend to control the thread better than my previous machine that had a vertical spool pin and front-loading bobbins. What do you think?
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
...The only 'aggravation' if you can call it that, the thread does have a mind of it's own, I filled a couple of spools before I started but the thread wanted to 'unwind' if you know what I mean. ...
@Jenny_Aster , is the thread "bouncy" like heavy duty nylon monofilament? Or some different kind of "mind of its own"? I'm wondering whether my machine would cope with it (I'm thinking of making a cover for my cold frame). I have a new-ish one with a horizontal spool pin and top-loading bobbin and both tend to control the thread better than my previous machine that had a vertical spool pin and front-loading bobbins. What do you think?
Yes, it's like it's a sort of wire, but it does stay in place when it's in the bobbin bed. My machine's a normal 'Singer' top loading bobbin (over 20 years old), the bobbin doesn't fit into a spool or anything.
Yes, it's like it's a sort of wire, but it does stay in place when it's in the bobbin bed. My machine's a normal 'Singer' top loading bobbin (over 20 years old), the bobbin doesn't fit into a spool or anything.
Magic, thanks. I'll give it a try when the project gets to the top of my list.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Things have gone on a bit in a month. There's now 40 sq ft of grow bags. Each is 30x30 cm cubed (10 rows of 4). I can't make a wooden raised bed for toffee, but I can 'sew' one
Each cubed bag has two loops sewn into the outside seams of each corner for a cane to 'threaded' for plant supports, or in the case of the picture below, cane hoops have been 'threaded' to make the cloche tunnel.
Half of the bags are being temporarily used as a 'bed' covered by two cloches/tunnels to protect seedlings and young plants. At this time I'm sorely tempted to leave the polythene off now as the night time temperatures looks to be ok for the next week or two. Once the young plants are in their permanent positions, the bags that were underneath them will be planted up.
So far 'bunching onions', red onions, carrots, beetroot, radish, 'cut 'n' come again salad leaves', cos lettuce, and parsnips have been sown directly in the bags of which most have germinated. Besides the flower seedlings under the cloches, there're cauliflower, red and white cabbage, tomato and cucumber plants that are also waiting to be planted.
Arron Pilot and Charlotte potatoes are growing in homemade 'potato bags' next to the square bags with Arron Pilot already having about an inch of leaves showing. 'Pink Fur Apple' potatoes are still waiting to be planted, but they will be planted in the more traditional way in a corner of the garden.
Along the fence will be Climbing French Beans, with shop bought gro-bags for the tomatoes in front of them.
Mangetout will just have to fit in somewhere, exactly 'where' is still an unknown
It'll be interesting to see how much we'll be able to feed ourselves through the 'square foot gardening' method. I'm seriously hoping that over the next years growing veg will be a lot cheaper and easier.
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I'm just wondering if a compost bin could be made from the material? Maybe not enough air can pass through.
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
Wood work just isn't my 'thing', this is why I went for the mesh shelving system in the first place, but I can sew a bit....
The square bags are all numbered so I can keep a record of what's been grown in each of them, what compost, and what fertiliser has been used. (Anorak?
Should there be an infestation of something or other, the offending bag can be removed. The whole thing is portable.
All the bags are tightly up against each other, with the bags on the outside having a plastic sleeve inserted between the wire mesh and the bag to help stop the bags drying out.
24 bags have been made so far, there're more to be made as I also put this shelving system in the airing cupboard which will soon be replaced, therefore the 'raised bed' will get bigger. The 24 bags cost over £1 each.
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
Each cubed bag has two loops sewn into the outside seams of each corner for a cane to 'threaded' for plant supports, or in the case of the picture below, cane hoops have been 'threaded' to make the cloche tunnel.
Half of the bags are being temporarily used as a 'bed' covered by two cloches/tunnels to protect seedlings and young plants. At this time I'm sorely tempted to leave the polythene off now as the night time temperatures looks to be ok for the next week or two. Once the young plants are in their permanent positions, the bags that were underneath them will be planted up.
So far 'bunching onions', red onions, carrots, beetroot, radish, 'cut 'n' come again salad leaves', cos lettuce, and parsnips have been sown directly in the bags of which most have germinated. Besides the flower seedlings under the cloches, there're cauliflower, red and white cabbage, tomato and cucumber plants that are also waiting to be planted.
Arron Pilot and Charlotte potatoes are growing in homemade 'potato bags' next to the square bags with Arron Pilot already having about an inch of leaves showing. 'Pink Fur Apple' potatoes are still waiting to be planted, but they will be planted in the more traditional way in a corner of the garden.
Along the fence will be Climbing French Beans, with shop bought gro-bags for the tomatoes in front of them.
Mangetout will just have to fit in somewhere, exactly 'where' is still an unknown
It'll be interesting to see how much we'll be able to feed ourselves through the 'square foot gardening' method. I'm seriously hoping that over the next years growing veg will be a lot cheaper and easier.
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.