Flies. Ones that bite.
You can always tell locals from tourists. The tourists wear shorts in the summer and then complain about being eaten alive by the resident diptera. I made the mistake once of dressing in a white shirt with white trousers. I looked like Our Man in Havana but to a few thousand flies I was a two-legged sheep and afternoon tea.
When working outside in blazing sunshine I prefer to take my chances rather than sweating a litre of water with every exertion. I wear t-shirt, knee length shorts and a pair of Wellington boots. Most of my legs are covered apart from the knee and the joint behind. A tasty target that is, for the most part of summer, a rash of insect bites.
The worst offenders are the gnats, midges and horse flies. A tingle on the arm, leg or neck and you know there is a gnat drinking a meal of blood. They are always too preoccupied to notice your finger blending them into your skin. Midges at sunset are a pain when I'm outside tidying up. A little buzz in the ear or worse a nibble on the eyelid. They often swarm and you just have to give up and go inside.
During the day a larger biting insect prowls the air. The horse fly. About the size of a house fly but brown in colour with wings slightly more swept. You know you have been targeted when you hear a dull buzz behind you or the crash of wings when it hits the hair on your head. No matter which way you turn the horse fly has millions of years of evolutionary teaching to help it always remain behind you.
Usually the horse fly will land on your arm or behind the knee. You won't know it has landed on you until it is too late and it has given you an almighty bite. Unlike gnats and midges they don't have skin piercing apparatus but have mouths that slice open the skin to let the blood flow out. The painful sore is very irritating for days after.
I prefer to open all insect bites with a good scratch and let them bleed. It's far preferable to the tickling irritation. Fly repellent sprays are a waste of time. I've tried them all and none of them work.
Gnats and midges are best avoided when swarming by walking elsewhere. The odd one landing on you is just squashed when you get the tingle. Horse flies I allow to land on me and then quickly slap them with my hand before they bite. Make sure you step on them when they hit the ground because the slap just stuns them.
My Achilles' heel
Hay fever. Not ideal when out scything grass. I have to take pretty strong tablets for it. They are the only ones that work for me and they knock me out straight away. Unconsciousness is the only respite I get from hay fever. I have to get as much into the day before taking the medication and then it's zombie time.
No more planning permission for renewable energy
The UK government is to promote micro-generation by sweeping away planning restrictions for home-owners wishing to install wind turbines or solar panels. Home generation could produce between 30-40% of domestic power needs thus reducing dependence on fossil and, in particular, foreign fossil fuels.
The Observer - Homeowners get green light for 'eyesore' wind turbines
The Observer - Homeowners get green light for 'eyesore' wind turbines
Underground rubbish disposal
In North London a new housing scheme will introduce underground waste disposal via vacuum tubes. I can't see this being too successful as lazy Londoners will be expected to sort the rubbish themselves.
The sorted rubbish will be recycled but images of burst bags clogging the pipes fill my mind. I also wonder how much energy such a system uses in comparison with old fashioned dust carts.
The Times - Chutes will take rubbish from under your feet
The sorted rubbish will be recycled but images of burst bags clogging the pipes fill my mind. I also wonder how much energy such a system uses in comparison with old fashioned dust carts.
The Times - Chutes will take rubbish from under your feet
No excuses
I haven't been posting for over a week because I'm watching the World Cup. That takes up four and half hours of my day. The rest of the time is spent weeding and watering in the vegetable garden.
Upstairs, I have been putting expanded polystyrene insulation between the roof and the plaster board walls of the loft conversion. They have made quite a difference. In those areas where there is no insulation the sun's heat makes the walls feel very warm. The walls are cold to the touch where there is insulation. That will be good news in the winter time as the insulation will keep the heat in.
By the way, I'm supporting Equipo Argentina in the World Cup. Always have since 1978.
Upstairs, I have been putting expanded polystyrene insulation between the roof and the plaster board walls of the loft conversion. They have made quite a difference. In those areas where there is no insulation the sun's heat makes the walls feel very warm. The walls are cold to the touch where there is insulation. That will be good news in the winter time as the insulation will keep the heat in.
By the way, I'm supporting Equipo Argentina in the World Cup. Always have since 1978.
Potato growing comparisons
This is a comparison of the various potato growing techniques we use at ecopunk.
1) Here we see potato plants thriving in a polytunnel. Already about four feet high, gobbling earthing-up material as new shoots sprout up everywhere. A problem we see with polytunnel growing is the "bolted" tuber, a tuber that grows too quickly and is hollow in places. However, yield is not affected because of the excellent growing conditions.
2) Compare the above photo with the next with plants growing outside the polytunnel. They are the same variety and were planted at the same time.
3) One problem with growing potatoes in a polytunnel is that they are uncontrollable. They grow quickly and plant stems bend over under their own weight and start laying down roots and hence, new tubers, everywhere.
To get round this problem we are experimenting with growing potatoes in tubs and tyres so the plants can grow in a more controlled fashion. Previous year's potatoes grew all over the place and many potatoes were missed during harvest.
In the next photo, we see a potato plant growing in three old car tyres piled on top of each other. The seed potato started inside the bottom tyre and as the plant grew tyres were added with additional compost too.
4) The problem with this method is that the tyres are small. The potato plant is overly constrained. It is hard to "earth up" the plant as compost is not easily squeezed into the rim of the tyre. Also, it is easy to damage the plant when putting on another tyre and earthing up.
Here we see a potato plant growing in a tub. There is plenty of room in the tub to earth up whilst at the same time constraining plant growth. The growth is vigorous, being inside the polytunnel, but the crop will all be found inside the tub at harvest time and nothing will be lost
Results
Planting potatoes directly into the soil is best when you have plenty of space. If you try to cram too many seed potatoes into a small area then each plant will compete for the light. Plants will then grow vertically too quickly and you will only get a small crop of small sized potatoes.
Container growing of potatoes is ideal for the small garden. Each plant's growth is constrained to a small vertical area. You can use deep containers to give plenty of space for three or four seed potatoes to grow. I find that the crop is heavier, with larger potatoes, when growing in containers compared to growing in a small plot of land.
Other advantages of container growing:
- No potatoes are lost as they are all easily found in the container.
- Earthing up is easier and less compost is required.
Other potato growing articles
Growing potato in tyres - everything you need to know
Storing potatoes - what to do with your potato harvest
Let us know
What are your experiences from growing potatoes?
Do you grow potatoes in containers too?
Add your comments below, which are always read and answered to.
1) Here we see potato plants thriving in a polytunnel. Already about four feet high, gobbling earthing-up material as new shoots sprout up everywhere. A problem we see with polytunnel growing is the "bolted" tuber, a tuber that grows too quickly and is hollow in places. However, yield is not affected because of the excellent growing conditions.
2) Compare the above photo with the next with plants growing outside the polytunnel. They are the same variety and were planted at the same time.
3) One problem with growing potatoes in a polytunnel is that they are uncontrollable. They grow quickly and plant stems bend over under their own weight and start laying down roots and hence, new tubers, everywhere.To get round this problem we are experimenting with growing potatoes in tubs and tyres so the plants can grow in a more controlled fashion. Previous year's potatoes grew all over the place and many potatoes were missed during harvest.
In the next photo, we see a potato plant growing in three old car tyres piled on top of each other. The seed potato started inside the bottom tyre and as the plant grew tyres were added with additional compost too.
4) The problem with this method is that the tyres are small. The potato plant is overly constrained. It is hard to "earth up" the plant as compost is not easily squeezed into the rim of the tyre. Also, it is easy to damage the plant when putting on another tyre and earthing up.Here we see a potato plant growing in a tub. There is plenty of room in the tub to earth up whilst at the same time constraining plant growth. The growth is vigorous, being inside the polytunnel, but the crop will all be found inside the tub at harvest time and nothing will be lost
ResultsPlanting potatoes directly into the soil is best when you have plenty of space. If you try to cram too many seed potatoes into a small area then each plant will compete for the light. Plants will then grow vertically too quickly and you will only get a small crop of small sized potatoes.
Container growing of potatoes is ideal for the small garden. Each plant's growth is constrained to a small vertical area. You can use deep containers to give plenty of space for three or four seed potatoes to grow. I find that the crop is heavier, with larger potatoes, when growing in containers compared to growing in a small plot of land.
Other advantages of container growing:
- No potatoes are lost as they are all easily found in the container.
- Earthing up is easier and less compost is required.
Other potato growing articles
Growing potato in tyres - everything you need to know
Storing potatoes - what to do with your potato harvest
Let us know
What are your experiences from growing potatoes?
Do you grow potatoes in containers too?
Add your comments below, which are always read and answered to.
The urban chef
There is an interesting TV programme on BBC2 called The Urban Chef. It shows Ollie, a well-meaning London restaurateur, trying to source all his food from within London. At the same time he manages to show how out of touch with reality city dwellers are.
We see Ollie travelling by tube to allotments in Barnet to see people growing their own vegetables. He is offered his own plot but it will be impossible for him to run a restaurant and grow vegetables at the same time. He then joins a forager in a London woodland but finds a paltry amount of mushrooms. A meal for one, in fact.
Next, we see Ollie unsuccessfully trying to acquire crayfish from a licensed trapper. He does manage to get sprats from a fisherman who is unfortunately just outside of London on Canvey Island.
We get to meet Ollie's sister who thinks he is mad. "Foraging is just not done in these times where food can be brought in from all over the world," she says. Ollie's visit to Billingsgate fish market reveals that Londoners get their fish from every corner of the globe but London itself. City food has as much air miles as it does additives.
It is an admirable attempt at a localised business. If only Ollie knew it. It's a marketing gimmick for him and has nothing to do with a sustainable economy. Not for one moment does Ollie (and certainly not his sister) mention food miles or increasing delivery costs because of rising oil prices.
One small restaurant might be able to source the majority of its food from London but just imagine if dwindling oil supplies meant that London's supermarkets couldn't fill their shelves every day of the week.
There is not much co-operative endeavour in the programme, the key ingredient in a localised economy. Just one man's wish to justify the high price of meat and two veg in a London restaurant. Still, it's good viewing. If only to see city dwellers being unaware of how precarious their lives are.
BBC - Urban Chef
We see Ollie travelling by tube to allotments in Barnet to see people growing their own vegetables. He is offered his own plot but it will be impossible for him to run a restaurant and grow vegetables at the same time. He then joins a forager in a London woodland but finds a paltry amount of mushrooms. A meal for one, in fact.
Next, we see Ollie unsuccessfully trying to acquire crayfish from a licensed trapper. He does manage to get sprats from a fisherman who is unfortunately just outside of London on Canvey Island.
We get to meet Ollie's sister who thinks he is mad. "Foraging is just not done in these times where food can be brought in from all over the world," she says. Ollie's visit to Billingsgate fish market reveals that Londoners get their fish from every corner of the globe but London itself. City food has as much air miles as it does additives.
It is an admirable attempt at a localised business. If only Ollie knew it. It's a marketing gimmick for him and has nothing to do with a sustainable economy. Not for one moment does Ollie (and certainly not his sister) mention food miles or increasing delivery costs because of rising oil prices.
One small restaurant might be able to source the majority of its food from London but just imagine if dwindling oil supplies meant that London's supermarkets couldn't fill their shelves every day of the week.
There is not much co-operative endeavour in the programme, the key ingredient in a localised economy. Just one man's wish to justify the high price of meat and two veg in a London restaurant. Still, it's good viewing. If only to see city dwellers being unaware of how precarious their lives are.
BBC - Urban Chef
Never ending heat
I'll be glad when it starts raining again. Not a drop for two weeks. If global warming produces an average 3C increase in temperatures then life will be worse than this. For those that believe that food grows in supermarkets then there's no problem. For those of us that like to grow their own food and for those that have to supply supermarkets with food then irrigation and infestations are a problem.
Elsewhere, I've been busy putting some netting around my onion and carrot beds. So far, Hartley the Hare has moved elsewhere for his breakfast meals.
Fifteen willow trees have been successfully transplanted into my northern field. A mixture of golden willow, osier and sallow. I hope to start chipping them during the coming winter, which can't come soon enough.
Anything over 15C is too hot for me. It's been over 20C for these past two weeks. Yes, I do complain about the eternal darkness of winter so I guess I'm never happy whatever the weather is.
Upstairs, the installation of the radiators is going well. I like this PEX pipe and speedfit fittings. Who needs expensive, poor quality, no-show plumbers now?
Elsewhere, I've been busy putting some netting around my onion and carrot beds. So far, Hartley the Hare has moved elsewhere for his breakfast meals.
Fifteen willow trees have been successfully transplanted into my northern field. A mixture of golden willow, osier and sallow. I hope to start chipping them during the coming winter, which can't come soon enough.
Anything over 15C is too hot for me. It's been over 20C for these past two weeks. Yes, I do complain about the eternal darkness of winter so I guess I'm never happy whatever the weather is.
Upstairs, the installation of the radiators is going well. I like this PEX pipe and speedfit fittings. Who needs expensive, poor quality, no-show plumbers now?
Giant solar farm in Portugal
An 11MW solar farm is being built in Portugal. It will consist of 52,000 photovoltaic modules on a 110 acre site. Though not the answer to all our energy problems, we must use as much renewable sources of energy as possible.
With farming land decreasing and the world's population increasing daily it would be nice to see cities doing their bit when it comes to energy farming. After all, cities now house over 50% of the world's population and consume vastly more than 50% of the world's energy.
BBC - Portugal starts huge solar plant
With farming land decreasing and the world's population increasing daily it would be nice to see cities doing their bit when it comes to energy farming. After all, cities now house over 50% of the world's population and consume vastly more than 50% of the world's energy.
BBC - Portugal starts huge solar plant
Cutting the grass
Yesterday, I was cutting grass with a lawnmower and didn't notice a frog until after I had sliced it in two. I tried to pick it up but it let out a "yelp!" as I did so. It was still alive so I did the decent thing and finished it off with a spade.
Today, I decided to use my scythe. The grass is knee high and for long grass the scythe is far quicker than the lawnmower. It is also frog friendly and I helped one of my little green friends find a patch I wasn't going to cut.
With an acre of land, about two thirds of it under grass, cutting it all in one go would take a whole week of doing nothing else and besides I don't have the space in my four composting bins.
Instead, I have the acre split into four separate fields. One is never cut as I am gradually growing a small wood there. The other three fields are cut in rotation. I like to leave some areas long and just cut a pathway through it with the lawnmower. This allows nature to thrive. I don't see what others see in lawns with millimetre high grass. Nothing can live in a millimetre of grass. I take as much grass as my compost bins can handle and no more.
Some areas of grass are rough cut with the scythe and then cut down to about two inches with the lawnmower. This grass is composted. The areas I don't cut is inhabited by frogs, hares (including Hartley who should stick to what I provide for him!) and the odd pheasant.
It is so much more satisfying seeing insects, mammals, amphibians and birds living in my grassland. The other houses in my township have billiard table lawns and I ask them, "Why not cut out a piece of green cardboard, stick it on your window and look at that? It's equally as sterile as your lawn!"
Today, I decided to use my scythe. The grass is knee high and for long grass the scythe is far quicker than the lawnmower. It is also frog friendly and I helped one of my little green friends find a patch I wasn't going to cut.
With an acre of land, about two thirds of it under grass, cutting it all in one go would take a whole week of doing nothing else and besides I don't have the space in my four composting bins.
Instead, I have the acre split into four separate fields. One is never cut as I am gradually growing a small wood there. The other three fields are cut in rotation. I like to leave some areas long and just cut a pathway through it with the lawnmower. This allows nature to thrive. I don't see what others see in lawns with millimetre high grass. Nothing can live in a millimetre of grass. I take as much grass as my compost bins can handle and no more.
Some areas of grass are rough cut with the scythe and then cut down to about two inches with the lawnmower. This grass is composted. The areas I don't cut is inhabited by frogs, hares (including Hartley who should stick to what I provide for him!) and the odd pheasant.
It is so much more satisfying seeing insects, mammals, amphibians and birds living in my grassland. The other houses in my township have billiard table lawns and I ask them, "Why not cut out a piece of green cardboard, stick it on your window and look at that? It's equally as sterile as your lawn!"
Hartley the hare must die
Sorry but enough is enough. My onion tops are getting a hammering from Hartley. I've been outside all morning putting wire mesh over the seedlings (the older ones aren't touched).If Hartley finds a way around this line of defence then I'm going to invest in a gun.
Water is scarce
No rain here in Kerry for over a week. Soon after moving in we shut down our water well as we weren't sure of its quality. We use the local scheme's mains water instead. It's free although the EU would like to put a stop to that. I haven't seen the reservoir but it only serves sixty houses and is refilled from rain running off the mountain side.
It came as a surprise to me that some here would like to export Kerry water to the rest of the world. I find it odd to see people drinking bottled water. Even my father was drinking bottled water when he was here two weeks ago. I tried to tell him that the water here is far cleaner to what he is used to back home.
The fact is that water is a scarce resource. Like oil and the planet's other resources people have taken water for granted for too long. In this house we share bath water with Rosie going first, of course. Rainwater is harvested for watering the vegetable garden. We have a flush solids only rule for the toilets. We only use the washing machine when we have a full load.
In the UK, the over-populated south has a shortage of water. There is talk of a national grid for water but people could help themselves by using a lot less. Two thirds of the earth's surface may be covered with water but it's only a thin covering. Water appears to be everywhere but most of it is not drinkable. That which is drinkable is mostly locked up in the form of ice in the polar regions. A billion people on the planet have no access to clean water at all.
The Observer - Warning of regular water bans in South
It came as a surprise to me that some here would like to export Kerry water to the rest of the world. I find it odd to see people drinking bottled water. Even my father was drinking bottled water when he was here two weeks ago. I tried to tell him that the water here is far cleaner to what he is used to back home.
The fact is that water is a scarce resource. Like oil and the planet's other resources people have taken water for granted for too long. In this house we share bath water with Rosie going first, of course. Rainwater is harvested for watering the vegetable garden. We have a flush solids only rule for the toilets. We only use the washing machine when we have a full load.
In the UK, the over-populated south has a shortage of water. There is talk of a national grid for water but people could help themselves by using a lot less. Two thirds of the earth's surface may be covered with water but it's only a thin covering. Water appears to be everywhere but most of it is not drinkable. That which is drinkable is mostly locked up in the form of ice in the polar regions. A billion people on the planet have no access to clean water at all.
The Observer - Warning of regular water bans in South
Urban wind turbine
A new design of wind turbine based on a vertical axis triple helix is said to be quieter than a horizontal axis propeller turbine. It is also said to be better suited to the variable wind direction and strength of urban air currents.The Guardian - Radical turbine aims to take wind power to towns and cities
Increased electricity ysage
We decided to switch the oil boiler off and heat our hot water with the immersion heater. That has seen our electricity usage jump from the usual 24kW per week to about 40kW. The oil boiler is not that efficient and was poorly installed so there is quite a lot of wasted heat. It's only real use is for heating radiators. The hot water is secondary.
As we enter the summer months the house is now passively heated by the sun. The oil boiler was used less last winter because of the wood stove. There were a few rooms that couldn't be reached by wood heat but at least our oil usage was halved.
Now that I'm installing radiators upstairs the oil boiler could well get as much use this coming winter as it did before the wood stove arrived. This will concentrate the mind with regards to using wood heat to boil water. I'm leaning towards a pellet stove and a heat store, which in turn will heat the water in the radiators and the hot water taps.
There are grants now for pellet stoves but you have to have it installed by a recognised installer so the grant will probably go into the installer's pocket.
I might try and cobble something together for the time being. Seeing as I spend most of my time ripping out poor work done by the previous owners then ripping out a boiler and building something to heat the water won't be too much to ask of myself.
As we enter the summer months the house is now passively heated by the sun. The oil boiler was used less last winter because of the wood stove. There were a few rooms that couldn't be reached by wood heat but at least our oil usage was halved.
Now that I'm installing radiators upstairs the oil boiler could well get as much use this coming winter as it did before the wood stove arrived. This will concentrate the mind with regards to using wood heat to boil water. I'm leaning towards a pellet stove and a heat store, which in turn will heat the water in the radiators and the hot water taps.
There are grants now for pellet stoves but you have to have it installed by a recognised installer so the grant will probably go into the installer's pocket.
I might try and cobble something together for the time being. Seeing as I spend most of my time ripping out poor work done by the previous owners then ripping out a boiler and building something to heat the water won't be too much to ask of myself.
Warmer climate
Just in case you were wondering what these islands will be like if the average temperature increases by 3C then read this.
The Guardian - What will happen if Britain becomes 3C warmer?
On the plus side I won't struggle, as I did this year, to germinate seed. On the minus side I will have far worse flies biting me. At the moment I look as though I have measles with head to toe insect bites. Add to that Malaria and I won't have the energy to scratch any of my bites.
The Guardian - What will happen if Britain becomes 3C warmer?
On the plus side I won't struggle, as I did this year, to germinate seed. On the minus side I will have far worse flies biting me. At the moment I look as though I have measles with head to toe insect bites. Add to that Malaria and I won't have the energy to scratch any of my bites.
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