Wednesday, 25 March 2020

Tidying up project

So the left side of the house looked like this...
What a mess!

After laying out most of the stuff on our porch/driveway, it looked like this...
A bigger mess!! And that was not all of it!

Anyways I passed a lot of the plastic bottles to our neighbour who makes a few bucks from selling it. The bottles were for veggie planting experiments. If I ever get around to it, then I will start collecting again.

I had enough wood to make only 2 sides to the storage enclosure. but I think it served the purpose of keeping lots of stuff out of sight....

I had a heap of sticks and planks leaning on the grill...

Covered all that with a curtain (sack)...

They just announced another 2 weeks of the MCO (Movement Control Order). It was wishful thinking that it wouldn't happen. The reality is that we are going to be stuck here for quite some time before we cross this hurdle.

Sunday, 22 March 2020

Lockdown project - pallet wood storage box

Spent most of today dismantling 2 pallets.

Used a car jack to pry apart some joints...

Also used this no nonsense video which really helped coz it showed you how to do it with no special tools.

The wood would go towards making some sort of storage box where I can stuff unsightly things.


Saturday, 21 March 2020

Kangkung flower!!

What a sight!!
I have never seen a kangkung flower before.
It's one if the prettiest I've seen, classic lines and clean colour.

Friday, 20 March 2020

Lockdown project - fence and gate.

Today's harvest

Malaysia is on lockdown. So the past 3 days I have been keeping myself occupied building a fence around the pond and veggies, plus a simple gate.

The wood was mostly from pallets. Each piece was cut down the middle to provide 1 inch wide pillars, and maybe 1+ cm thick. 

I fastened the fence to the wood using heavy duty staples. In fact I experimented making the door using only staples. Both front and back like this...
Only time will tell if it works.

Btw I used this guide to build the gate. Really well explained and illustrated.

Tomorrow will be the toughest, putting hinges and planting a post that will be secure enough to hold the gate.

Thursday, 19 March 2020

Bought my first powertool... a jigsaw

I have a powered drill but that was from my dad. But this was the first for me...
Dewalt DW349R jigsaw. Comes with a 3 year warranty.
Most memorable part of doing research on this before buying...sorting thru quite a few pages about jigsaw puzzles.

This was the makeshift working surface for the saw. A bit wobbly and dangerous though.

My first cut...
I need to watch more Youtube coz I had difficulty starting the cut without damaging/splintering the wood. These pieces will act as posts for the garden fence. The angled end so that I can hammer it into the earth. 

Wednesday, 18 March 2020

Misai Kucing starting to flower BUT...

The buds are out so fingers crossed this plant gives lots of flowers. The priority for me is to have flowers that attract bees. Currently there are next to zero bees in this area.
You can see the cardboard garden to the right in the background. Its working quite well and I will do an update on it in a later post.

Back to the Misai Kucing... BUT the leaves are being attacked. Lots of yellow patches. I have pruned heavily in the hope that the plant gets stronger over time.

23Mar2020 update: The white petals are visible...

24Mar2020 update: The "misai kucing" (cats whiskers) !!!

Calling all bees... please visit our Farm In The City.





Monday, 9 March 2020

Fatty

I came across this fat kangkung stem during today's harvest!! Never seen them this big before. The Climbing Perch (Puyu) pond water must be doing its job :)