Operation Blueberry Rescue

Car full of blueberries

I spent the day on Wednesday digging up blueberry bushes (quite established ones!) from our allotment in Buxworth and stuffing them into the car to take them to their new home in Todmorden. Whether they’ll appreciate it is another matter, but I’m delighted to have them lining the top of the wall outside the marquee.

Blueberry sentriesI’ll be even more delighted if they give me a crop this year. There are two more in the back garden of the old house, which I’ll get next time I’m there, but they’re already in pots, so it’s a fairly easy job.

I also grabbed the rhubarb while I was there, since even the best forced rhubarb from a shop is nothing on the fresh stuff, all astringent and acid and strong. I love it. Lynne came round for the first time and helped me with all this gardening, including digging a little bed for the rhubarb and the two fruit bushes I’d been given last summer (well I didn’t know where to put them til now!), a tayberry and a jostaberry, which is a cross between a blackcurrant and a gooseberry. Can’t wait to see what they produce!

Lynne planting rhubarb

I also used the pulley wheels I got off ebay to make the bed hoistable, though it took all my strength, using my foot in a loop of the rope, to pull it up. So we’ll need a mechanical advantage-giving system, which will need different rope, but we can test it with the rubbish blue plastic rope we’ve got before we invest in any nice polyhemp stuff.

The bed, hoisted up to the ceiling.The headroom underneath it is very generous, I think it will work excellently when the pulley system along the top of the side wall gives enough mechanical advantage to make it effectively 1/4 the weight it is now. That should be workable, even allowing for a mattress, bedding and two cats, when we get them. Which we’re planning to do when we move here permanently.

I got a bunch more claying done as well, and Anji started clearing out the middle shed, which is going to be super-useful storage space.

Tomorrow I’ve got Steven and Sam, so I hope to make some more progress on the roofing. I was also planning to go check out the local swimming pool, by way of needing a shower, but we’re going to be quite busy and I don’t really want to take the time, so I’m going to hope that the forecast is correct and it’ll be warm and sunny enough to use the watering can shower for the first time this year.

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