Sad day for my Van

I have owned a Bedford CF motorhome for as long as I can remember, in fact I think it will feel odd no longer having one, but despite the huge sentimental value to me, I can no longer afford to keep her, so she will have to go.

So trying to pull some positives from this tragic scenario, I am going to remove the twelve volt electrics, including solar panels, and plan to install them in my shed. The van had enough battery to keep it powered for… Actually I don’t think the internal batteries have ever run out through use since I’ve had her, so I have no idea how long they would last.

My plan is to keep the batteries and solar charging set-up in the shed, and run cable up into the house where I will use it to charge phones, iPads etc. I will also take some of the lights too and put the LEDs outside the shed to provide some outdoor light when required.

While I think about it, I will take the fridge as well, although I am not sure if I could safely install it in the shed, but I know they are tricky to get hold of, so if and when I get another van, I can always transplant it into that.

Ooh, I might even take the water pump, and fix it up to be able to water the garden from rain water.

Now I think about it there are a lot of positive things I can do with the equipment that is tied up in the van, it will just still make me extremely sad to no longer have her.

Some Quick Gardening Pics

Peas are looking swollen and bulgy, not sure if thats a good thing, but I guess will have to wait and see.

This is the garlic, growing madly. I have now harvested some of the other garlic twice and still have growth. This fella for example has been cut down to the bulb twice and is still going. each one is as tasty as the last.

Peppers are finally beginning to show themselves, and looks like there will be a lot of them. Will be making a lot of chutney I feel.

Lastly, here is my tiny little olive tree, who is bravely putting forth olives, despite only being ten inches tall.

Outdoor experiment

Now we all love a British summer, reliable as a train service and just as warm and comfortable. Although this evening hasn’t been one of the biggest scorchers of the year, I decided it was warm enough to sleep in the garden tonight. The cool air and quiet evening put me up to it. So here I am, laying in the garden with nothing but the universe above me.

Usually I’d add a photo at this point, but without a tripod and long exposure shutter it wouldn’t give it justice, so I’ll add a pic from a star gazer app that shows what is above me.

I have recently bought a load of solar power lights for the garden recently, so the garden is slightly illuminated. I tried a pic or two but not hugely happy with the results.

I was interrupted by a neighbour going outside. He spat eight times in the first twenty seconds of being outside. It seemed to be unstoppable, so I assume he has a medical condition, or is just a total animal.

Sorry, that was tangential, but I have just had a bottle or two of my first homebrew beer, and it seems to be working, if what I was going for was semantically nonsensical sentences strung together with anecdotal trivia. Tastes amazing though, so well worth it. Let’s just hope I don’t get any stomach complaints tomorrow. Although we are well into tomorrow right now as it is nearly 3am.

This has to be the worst post I’ve made so far, but I blame the fresh air and spitters. Goodnight.

Rise of the strawberries

Only a few weeks after picking these fellas up from a random WI open air bazaar on the local green, we have the first bunch of ripe strawbs.

I personally feel you can never have too many strawbs, so will definitely be increasing the plants for next year, space permitting.

So, time for the important information, how did they taste. Well he was still warm from the sun and tasted delicious and let’s face it, couldn’t be fresher.

Things to know about garlic

One of the first things I wanted to plant and grow was garlic. When I looked into it and found how easy it was, I’m gutted I ever bought garlic more than once or twice in my life. Turns out growing garlic is as simple as buying a bulb of garlic from the shop, organic and fresh for preference, breaking it open and simply popping the individual cloves into soil about a half finger length deep with the pointy end up. Then water and wait. Simplest thing ever, and it gets even better. I have not been growing them to get more bulbs of garlic, I have been using them as spring garlic, so when there’s a good length of stem growing from the soil, which doesn’t take more than a few weeks, I started pulling them and using them a little like spring onion.

That was when I had yet another brainwave. Turns out that if you just dig down through the soil a little until you get to the original clove, you can snip the new growth off and cover it back up, and it will carry on growing. I’ve only done this to one round of growth, so I do not know how it will affect the second growth, but I will definitely keep you informed.