lunapads: non-disposable

lunapads are not disposables... who needs more things sitting in the landfill? a friend has told me these are great and I'm really looking forward to trying them. They look cool and they're not made of plastic, and they're actually quite easy to wash. Lunapads also sells organic cotton handkerchiefs!

I've used reusable organic cotton pads for a couple of months now. They're easy to wash. I use ecover stain remover on them and then soak them in water and a bit of baking soda overnight. In the morning I just rinse and hang. No hard scrubbing. You can also throw them in the machine, but honestly they were clean overnight for me, so I haven't bothered yet. I have no desire to switch back to plastic feeling pads that I use for a few hours and then they sit in a landfill for the rest of my life.

paris market carrots

grown on the balcony in a grow box
these were fantastic! very tasty. i probably left them about two weeks too long but i can highly recommend growing them. yum!

growbox

here are some leeks growing in something like a growbox summer 2006, this box that you water through the pipes. The water sits in a reservoir in the bottom and the roots suck it up when needed. make your own with these or these instructions.
the leeks grew massive, here they are only little.

i've learned that

- planting some basil from the supermarket can turn into a serious hobby
- there are always people willing to take extra tomato plants
- the people at the allotments will think i'm nuts if i follow the advice from other gardeners online
- allotment sites are a brilliant mix of kind people from all ages and cultures
- i simply don't have enough mulch to maintain 'lasagne gardening'
- couch grass is a battle i continue to fight
- organic is a good way to go
- compost bins can be made from old wooden pallets
- many things can be grown on the balcony, provided the soil and containers are good
- seeds can be saved or traded
- i really like growing things

allotment update, one month on

well! we have one bed going now with radishes planted from seed and quite a few red beet plants given to us. the spinach never sprouted (or its so tiny still that it blends with the tiny weeds) and three of the dill plants transplanted.

we've been working on building the double compost bin from old pallets and with a month away i still feel like there's so much to do. we also built a wooden box for shovels and the hose and whatvere else while we were on holiday. it is quite large, if you stand it on its end i can stand up inside of it. we have oiled it and still need to attach the lid with hinges. the plus is that it has a back and doubles as a bench!

i'd like to organize a bit more, laying out beds and making paths. getting more tarps to cover the weeded areas.

this fall's to do list contains:
get the compost bins lined and going, get the lid on the bench/box, transplant some of the raspberry bushes to the back of the plot (it borders a ditch), trim the cherry tree with hopes of fruit next year, and do serious amounts of weeding beds.