Getting on me bike again...

It's been too long! A busy few weeks is all it takes to completely get out of this blogging habit.

It seems like a good time to take stock. 'On Me Bike' has been going for over a year and a half now, and while I've done some super cycle tours, and put lots of stuff about gardening in, I've not gone into much depth about the jobs side of the theme. Since the election it seems less amusing to recollect Tebbit's phrase. However, work-wise I've been on my bike all over Nottingham - Bulwell, Hucknall, Snape Wood, Aspley, and the Meadows, teaching gardening. Now I'm going 'on my bike' to Loughborough - mainly involving the train too as it's 20 miles! I'm starting a job-share in mid-August as an Access to Nature Officer with Charnwood Borough Council. It'll be good to be doing more nature conservation, and I'll be able to do gardening education the rest of the week.

Before though, I'm back off to the South West with my bike and tent again...

Sunny Staffordshire

The first cycle trip away this year! A little too early for camping, and also the long-running saga of my bikes' hub cones and bearings mean that neither are quite up to carrying a full load. Quite possibly my knees would agree. So, another go at Youth Hostelling, and hit lucky with Sheen Bunkhouse, just north of the Manifold Valley in Staffordshire. It turns out to not actually be a youth hostel, though it's on their website. It's a farm diversification venture, but I hope they normally do better than this week - I was the only visitor! A very comfy place, a cross between a country cottage and an old-style hostel, but without the warden.

Sheen is a small agricultural hamlet, with just a pub. There's a Victorian church with some much older gargoyles outside, howling at the moon. (Or sun, in this case).

Just down the road a small field has some strange weights and pulleys attached to the trees and a hefty post. Took me a while to deduce that it was a tug-of-war practicing field, and later I saw the girls from the Young Farmers practicing, very seriously.

Opposite the hostel is what appears to be a tin tabernacle.

So, a pleasant few days photographing specialist lead- and copper-mine-spoil-loving plants, enjoying the scenery and the cafes, and discovering some very nice tracks.

New Blog

The original theme for 'On Me Bike' was, unsurprisingly but contrastingly, my cycle trips and efforts to find a job. One has proved to be more blog-worthy than the other... However I've also found myself reporting rather more often on my gardening. So, as part of my push for more freelance work, and to collect all my gardening posts in one place, I've started http://itsthegardeninglady.blogspot.com/.

Do pop over there and have a look. Now to write a post about cycling!

This year's experiments

Last year I did a couple of 'experiments', testing out differences between different sorts of compost. Useful but rather frustrating as the peat-free compost I use, which is reckoned to be the best, still didn't perform as well as the old peat-based compost found down the allotments. Having said that, in the long run it didn't seem to make that much difference as all the plants were then potted on or planted out into peat-free or soil and did OK.

So I'm doing some more 'experiments' this year, with similar themes.

Experiment 1: Arthur C. Bowers New Horizon VS innominate peat-based.
From left: Pak Choi, Lettuce May Queen, Lettuce Lobjoits Green Cos, Lettuce Little Gem, all in peat-based.
From right: ditto, all in New Horizon.
Both with inclusion of Vermiculite.


4 April 2010.

17 April 2010.

25 April 2010.

1 May 2010.

Speed of germination, success of germination, size of seedlings: all seem much better on the left, i.e., peat-based. I did turn them round, but maybe the peat-based have been favoured by being on the sunny side of the mini-greenhouse.

Experiment 2: Depth of sowing.
In my teaching posts, I'm always stressing sowing seeds at the right depth. but how much does it really matter?
I sowed 7 seeds per pot of Lettuce May Queen at depths of 0.5cm (the recommended depth), 1.5cm and 2.5cm. I also sowed some at 0.5cm with a covering of vermiculite rather than compost.

4 April 2010.

25 April 2010.

1 May 2010.
It's not got enough samples to be scientifically valid, but i think it shows that seed depth doesn't necessarily have as big a role to play with this seed. Obviously still best to follow the seed packet or the rule of thumb: sow at twice the depth that the seed is wide.
Again, maybe I didn't turn often enough for all the pots to get the same distribution of sun.

Experiment 3: Coir Compost vs. New Horizon.
From left: Broccoli 'Raab'; Rocket; Spicy Greens; Pak Choi, all in coir compost.
From right: ditto, in New Horizon (no vermiculite).
The coir compost was one of those bricks from Oxfam.

1 May 2010.
Initial results looking more favourable for the coir compost. This was what Monty Don used to recommend, but I've never found it very easy to source, and some I used last year was hopeless. Mind you, it was from a pound shop.

Losing my bearings...

In 2008 I did a cycle tour down the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire coasts to Norfolk. By the final stint of this trip, it was pretty clear that my nice old tourer wasn't very well in the rear bearings department. Horrid clunks and even bangs emerged, though the wheels kept on going round apparently happily.

When I got home I tried to sort out the bearings, but realised I couldn't get into the ones on the side where the block (gears) are. I used to be pretty good at cleaning my bearings out, I thought, but I don't remember having to take the freewheel off. There ensued a long saga which I really cannot be bothered to repeat, of posts on forums, trips to bike shops, efforts by well-meaning friends, all to find out what sort of freewheel remover I needed and how to actually use it to get the block off.

Finally I decided to swallow my pride and take it to one of the few bike shops that had been able to sell me the right freewheel remover for service. At lunchtime I got a phone call "It's going to cost £200 upwards to repair it, it's not worth it. Do you want us to go ahead or get rid of it?" Shock horror! Get rid of my old friend! Back at the bike shop they showed me the rear bearings. They were not round anymore. One was actually more pyramid-shaped. Pretty embarrassing. I was the one responsible for the state my pal was in. More to the point the hubs had been damaged by this, and the drivetrain was completely worn out. I pointed out that the bike had cost me £350 in 1989 so how much would I have to spend to get one that good nowadays? "You can spend a less and get one much better these days." The guy spent a good hour showing me bikes in the basement, but totally failed to convince me that any were the right size, and to show me any tourers.

Another saga, one of trying to find a decent replacement tourer, but apparently short women don't need nice bikes. Again, too boring to recount, but this one involves the CTC magazine letters page too, not just the forum! Meanwhile I'd bumped into a guy who looked at my bike and said the parts were worn, but didn't look that bad. And then I had some work cancelled, and went down to the Framework bike club. Again "Well, it's pretty worn but you've got maybe 1000 miles more wear if you're lucky". So I popped in some new bearings and the bike is back on the road. Total cost? £1.50. (Except I'm buying another bike off them too!)

Next stage: sourcing the parts that I really will need at some point to get the bike touring again.

Rather abused cones.

Hub not looking that bad.

PS. It takes about 5 minutes to get a freewheel off - if you've got the right remover, a workbench and a vice!

The Garden in March and April

After the winter we've had this year, it's taken a while to get back into the garden. I've been doing some work for the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, and getting stuck into Neighbourhood Nature, the OPAL Lichen survey and iSpot, which has all been fascinating. In March I remembered there was a garden out there!

Mid-March: new Garlic planted out. Red Mustard and Leeks weathered the snow, but don't look very big...

Late March: currant cuttings from winter 2008/9 lined out at the back of the plot. The Sorrel (centre) noticeably larger.

Early April: signs of life from the herbs, Marjoram at the front, mints near the back. Over-wintered Lamb's Lettuce and Mizuna planted out under fleece.


Mid-April: Leeks going well, it was worth leaving them. Now to eat them! Red Mustard and Sorrel growing too fast to keep up!


And finally, late April. What a month it has been, what a spring!

Friday night

Get home about 6:30 after volunteering at Hyson Green Homework club.
Green ginger wine and tortilla chips (fusion food?), listening to the News quiz, if I'm lucky.
Juice (Podcast receiver) to download this week's Costing the Earth, One Planet, Science in Action, etc.
Friday's job searching: Derby and Derbyshire councils, then the Boroughs in Derbyshire. The DirectGov website, JobsGoPublic, Guardian jobs, Charity Jobs though they are all pretty pointless these days but you never know...
Nice evening, might go for a stroll. Count the cats, look at the front gardens. Count my blessings - I don't live and work on a rubbish dump in Lagos (though it did have a surprisingly good side) - what were you watching last night?