Finally, we had a massive delivery of compost last week while we had a digger and a dumper for the hardstanding. It was by far the largest delivery we’ve ever taken. It was more than a series of trucks full of the black stuff – this is the whole basis of the market garden, and it’s a massive milestone.

I got rid of the rotorvator a couple of years ago after experimenting with “no-dig” growing, and although the up front cost is rather substantial, the pay-off is worth it. Most of all, this method is better for the soil, as it is left intact and doesn’t expose the soil life to harmful UV rays, or let it wash away in rain. It should help with retaining water, and we should have less weeding to do, so we’ll see how this goes.

Another milestone that keeps creeping in and out of focus, is the water situation! I blogged about the borehole pump, getting it stuck and then freed again. Well, after successfully lowering the pump for what I’d hoped was the last time, it appears that the well is dry! After a few minutes at least. This is not sustainable so we are having some more dowsing done to see if it is worth having another go, or if we spend on connecting to mains instead. What a palaver!

So for now, things are a little up in the air.

There is no doubt that we will be growing veg, but our greenhouse full of seedlings can’t be planted out yet, because we haven’t got enough water to nurture them properly. This is rather frustrating, but we’re relieved that it happened now, after a drought, so that we know how limited the borehole supply is and can make changes before we had huge crop failures.

We’re praying for rain. We have thousands of litres of rainwater storage, but this recent gorgeous weather has a price.

Jez will be dowsing tomorrow, so fingers crossed he finds something and we can get this market garden growing!

This blog post is about our bore hole. Our 82 metre deep borehole, that until this weekend, had a pump stuck at the bottom!

Why was it stuck? I’ll explain that later. How did we get it unstuck? With lots of research, patience, and help from our friends. What a relief!

When we first dropped the pump down into the well, everything seemed to go so smoothly. It went down nicely, and worked once it was connected to a friend’s generator. The problem was, the thin rope that had supported the pump, was sooooo damn tight, that we knew something was wrong. It was almost tight enough to snap, and was impossible to raise the pump, even an inch. This was not a good start, and so I couldn’t leave it like this.

Once the pump was switched on, the force of the pressure was pulling it down, and the pipe was wanting to sink deeper, and I knew we had to raise it again, so I eventually landed on building a tripod and using an engine hoist to do the heavy lifting. I’ll mention here that me trying to lift the stuck pump actually put my back out and I was out of action for a little while! So the hoist was going to be necessary.

After learning and implementing lots of new techniques, like using climbing knots to pull on the ropes, and custom made clamps to grab onto the pipe, we started pulling, and the hoist was doing an amazing job. After some moments of incredible force being applied upwards, it seemed to get easier, so we ditched the millimetre-by-millimetre hoist and pulled by hand.

It was a dream! Whatever had been keeping it stuck had come unstuck, so all my worries of having to ditch the well and get a new one drilled were on hold. A few times it got stuck again, so we used the hoist, and eventually we got the pump to the surface and celebrated with tea and hugs.

The pump had a small metal clip on one side, clamping down the cable. This clip had somehow been slightly bent, which meant that it could do down, but got caught on the inside of the plastic liner when it was coming up, and our brute-force technique had bent the metal further, forcing it beyond what was possible by hand, and luckily it bent itself into a shape just small enough to make it up and through the tight space.

Now we’re not yet sorted for water, because we have to drop the pump, cables and pipe again once we’re sure it won’t get stuck, this time on a thick rope that won’t stretch, but we’re at least further than we were last week.

Thanks for all your help – you know who you are.

It’s our first growing season with a propagator, shed and a greenhouse, and it is so exciting to see so much life starting to take shape. We have been planting peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, lots of lettuce, nasturtiums, spring onions, beetroot, chilli, purple sprouting broccoli and loads more! Hopefully the shelves won’t fill up too soon and we can keep going.

In fact, we have already harvested and experimented with microgreens, (sunflower, basil, radish and rocket) and look forward to growing plenty more for our plate and yours. They’re densely planted and cut within a week or two, at their most tender and nutritious stage.

Spring is sooooo close, we can almost taste it, and our veg beds will be formed and planted with all these goodies. There have been a few hurdles however, the most serious of which is that the green waste compost supplier ran out of ready compost, just as we were geared up for an intense period of groundworks, track laying and compost spreading! So, the plant hire (mechanical, not organic) was postponed and the compost is due in mid March. Never mind, these setbacks are to be expected. We are going to move about 30+ tonnes of compost this year, which is quite an undertaking to say the least! It’ll all be worth the effort when the harvesting starts.

Along with the excitement is a sprinkling of fear of the unknown, and a knowing that things will become ever more challenging as this year progresses. Still, the seedlings don’t seem to be phased, so I’ll try and take a leaf out of their book and just keep chipping away at it. Even the old packets of seeds I’m trying to use up from previous seasons are going strong, surely a good sign.

Well, it had to happen sometime. I’ve been wanting to start blogging my project and what I get up to for yonks, and lots of friends have said I should, so here we are.

So, instead of a detailed description of “how to do xyz”, which if I’d have done x, y or z, might have been actually useful for someone, I thought I’d post something that is useful for me – a reminder of what’s important.

I took a few baby steps today on this journey towards creating the market garden and the project as a whole. Just a few weeks ago, I was telling myself that there’s just the compost to put on the veg beds, then a bit of raking – and the market garden is away! But no. There are so many hurdles to jump and plates to spin, that what I did today felt like procrastinating, when in reality it was a series of vital steps and lessons.

So what was I doing? Nothing to do with compost, or veg.

I attempted to shove a cable through a big long pipe. It got stuck, so I pulled it out.

I also started to put a cable through some trunking in the shed, but realised it was way too thick, and had to re-design the electrics.

None of this seems to have anything to do with market gardening at first glance, but when I fill in the blank, you’ll see what I mean. The borehole pump which will provide the water, needs to have power going to it, and the power needs to go through a protected cable (hence the pipe).

See, I was getting partially frustrated with myself, and the lack of progress, and the hurdles in the way, but then I had an important realisation: it’s the challenges that teach us. Especially when it feels like we’re hitting our head against the wall.

Through the process of my cable not fitting through the pipe, or anywhere for that matter, I searched for and found solutions that moved me forward in other ways, and taught me lessons such as choosing the right wires (and designing the whole system) correctly, how to pull a wire through pipe (thanks youtube), and that I actually benefit when things don’t go to plan.

So this first blog, is a gentle reminder for me to take a step back sometimes, with patience. Breathe, and look for the silver lining instead of feeling the panic, frustration and pressure that occurs when I bite off more than I can chew. Just keep chewing.

Next time, I’ll blog some progress on the market garden, milestones, updates and probably quite a lot more rambling thoughts and ponderings.

Now where will this blog go when I click “Publish”, I wonder?