Tag: gardening

August 7, 2011

Thermapen Bargain

The Thermapen is a wonderful gadget. A food thermometer that is easy to use, accurate to within 0.4 degrees C in the range -49 to 200, and 1 degree above that (all thermometers come with an individual certificate of calibration). More importantly, their latest probe – the Superfast – is the fastest food probe I know – measuring the temperature in 3-4 seconds. No more standing around watching the reading rise, and rise, and rise….

Anyway, the UK manufacturer is selling a limited number of refurbished (but otherwise fine) Superfast Thermapens at half price (28.80, instead of 56 quid), on eBay, so I thought I would give people a heads up:

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>Thermapen Bargain</span>
June 11, 2011

Barbduino update

June 11, 2011

Getting on top of the garden

Was planning to play board games today, but something cropped up and I had to stay in to wait for someone to call.

However, it meant that I did manage to spend about 6 hours in the garden today, and it is looking a lot tidier. After some very changeable weather, it was glorious sunshine today, and it was lovely out there.

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>Getting on top of the garden</span>
June 9, 2011

I won’t have to take out the garbage for a long time

June 8, 2011

It’s not that ‘ard (uino)

As I said earlier, I planned to hook my little-used netbook up to the Arduino.

One reason for this was that I felt I hadn’t progressed as far with playing with the kit as I had plannned; spending the day in front of a desk and computer for work, I hardly want to do the same in the evenings! Having the netbook working meant I could experiment with it on the sofa downstairs, while watching TV.

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>It’s not that ‘ard (uino)</span>
May 7, 2011

Oh bother…

My first free weekend since I got back up on my feet again, and I had planned to use it to get the garden straight. And now it is raining, and looks to carry on like that for the rest of the day (and possibly the whole weekend).

I did manage to cut the grass, before the skies opened up, but that is a small part of what needs to be done.

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>Oh bother…</span>
May 3, 2011

What’s in a name?

December 22, 2010

Oven Baked Brisket

I had prepared a brisket for smoking, over the past few days. This was using a recipe given to me by a friend, first brined for 2 days, then dried and a rub applied for 12 hours before cooking.

The interesting thing is that the “brine” is actually coca-cola based, with herbs and spices added. It sounds strange, but coke is actually quite acidic, which helps with the breakdown of muscle tissue. The rub was heavy in paprika, with salt, garlic powder and a little brown sugar added (too much brown sugar has a tendancy to burn).

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>Oven Baked Brisket</span>
November 22, 2010

I must be mad!

With the various things I have going on around my home at the moment, you’d think the last thing I needed was a new project. I’d be mad to consider taking on something else?

However, my garden has really been getting me down. For various reasons – both time and emotional related – I have let it go this year, and it is currently a jungle. I was contemplating when I would next have time to sort it out, and then thought how hard would it be to really sort it out – i.e. give me a garden I really want.

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>I must be mad!</span>
June 30, 2010

Berry, berry good!

A couple of years ago, I planted a thornless blackberry and two raspberry canes. I didn’t expect anything from the the first year, but last year I was hoping for some fruit, but was mostly disappointed.

This year, one of my raspberries is heaving with fruit. The other plant is a later variety, so there is hope for that yet. Meanwhile the blackberry is absolutely covered in flowers and small forming fruits.

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>Berry, berry good!</span>
June 22, 2010

The Pipes, The Pipes Are Calling

Following on from last weekend, I spent some time in the garden on Sunday, finally getting two of my raised beds planted up. I now have some mixed salad leaves, red onions, spring onions, and a couple of courgette plants on the way. Not nearly as much as last year, but it is a start, and there is still plenty of space to fill.

After getting the main bed planted, I turned on the soaker hose feeding that bed, and was surprised to see nothing much happen, even after a couple of hours. I knew my water butts were brimming full, so figured something had gone wrong, or got blocked, and had visions of having to vet several metres of pipe and soaker hose, much of which is buried.

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>The Pipes, The Pipes Are Calling</span>
June 12, 2010

I can see my garden!

As my car is currently iffy, I decided not to go to my board-game group’s Second Saturday session, and spend the day in the garden instead.

I actually was going to spend most of yesterday in the garden, but my first job was a quick run to the garden centre – which is when I found my car wouldn’t leave the drive. So a couple of hours wasted on looking at that, and bringing my service forward, followed by doing my shopping by bus/foot, and I didn’t feel like taking on the garden afterwards.

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>I can see my garden!</span>