Schools of (non) thought

For the past 3 years I've been working for 20% less wages than I was, with no pay rise in that time and for longer hours. Such is life in this fecked up financial world we live in, but you just have to get on with it. It means I cannot justify spending huge amounts on the garden so I have to mackle and make do. No doubt if I was a bleating twat, surviving on only on 13 weeks paid holiday a year, working in warm classrooms, starting at the ungodly hour of 9am and finishing at the ridiculous time of 3.30pm with only an hour and a half for lunch I would rise up and take the government to task for daring to ask me to contribute to the mess like every fucker else in the private sector is doing.




So, with less money to spend on expensive composts and Link-a-bord raised beds I've had to use a little ingenuity about the plot. I have two large compost bins made from old pallets and they really have been doing me proud the last couple of years with the amount of good quality homemade compost they've been churning out. I've managed to fill several old salvaged drums with this finely sieved homemade stuff for growing cylindrical beet in as there is a specific class for this in a couple of shows I hope to be entering this season including Westminster. I'm growing a variety called Forono for this, and the deep, friable compost in the drums means I should get some nice, straight, uniform roots with a long central tap root. This was the cylindrical beet class at Westminster last season. As you can see matching up is certainly harder than with globe beet so I'm growing a lot more this season as my entry was unplaced (middle right)!

I also managed to purloin this old recycling dustbin from the side of our house as it was never getting used for the job it was intended i.e. being filled with recycled rubbish. Purple bin bags were merely thrown in its general direction. Now the bin is full of more homemade compost and is being used to grow some 'Purple Haze' carrots which I believe are the sweetest tasting carrot. I also grow it as a colourful addition for trug displays.

Right, that's it for now, if you'll excuse me i've got to go and see if I can't eat into my holiday entitlement in order to look after my daughter whilst her teachers are standing up for their statutory perks.