SCHWOIT

Well I have mixed feelings about the drip spikes now. Seems they get clogged very easily with the normal grit in the pots and this prevents the water from being applied to the plants. I am going to persist with them as I feel that when they work they work well. However, this is an intrinsic design flaw worth sharing with everyone.

My mind is contemplating strategies to overcome this problem, and one that immediately comes to mind is to get some PVC piping the width, and length, of the spike and sit the spike inside the tube. This will keep the soil away from the spike, thus it should not become clogged as easily as appears to occur now. Further, it still delivers the H2O directly to the plants root zone. Sounds like a trip to the The Big Kids Toy Shop is on the cards.

Actually, it will be a bit of an adventure visiting Bunnings Warehouse down here. All the ones I have seen look absolutely huge and I have not set foot in any of them. Definately time to correct that over the weekend me thinks. I need some more RichGro Pro Mix at any rate.

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Well just as I got the ISP and hosting sorted my Mac decided to throw a spanner my way. The MagSafe power connector has carked it.

For those of you not aware of a MagSafe connector it is a great idea with magnets used to hold the power cable in place, instead of the traditional stick and slot approach. This means that is you trip over the cable for some reason, rather than drag the machine with you the magnet will release. It is a fantastic idea.

Mine though has developed a fault with the sensor pins within the connector. There are 5 pins that are supposed to spring in or out and make the connection to the machine. When disconnected all 5 should be out. However, over the past few weeks I have noticed 2 pins are sluggish to reset. In fact they have necessitated the odd tap on a hard surface to coax them out.

That worked well until yesterday morning when one of the pins has given up the ghost. The pin is permanently retreated in the head of the connector. No amount of tapping or prodding sees this pin emerge from its hiding hole. As a result the power cable never connects succesfully and my battery is now 100% drained.

So I am now awaiting the arrival of a replacement MagSafe. Until then I am forced to slum it on the work craptop. An IBM ThinkPad StinkPad T42 loaded with Microsoft Microshonk Windows Winblows XP and a paltry 512MB RAM.

Given Apples track record on prompt delivery the MacBook Pro 17″ should be up and running within days. Just hope their courier services the new area (refer to the Foxtel - Another Bunch of Fools post for that).

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Well I thought it is time to give you all an update on how the latest BlackJack Zucchini’s are progressing. As many of you would recall this plant is my nemesis and I at one stage swore not to grow any more. Needless to say I buckled and bought some hardy looking seedlings on 20th January and decided upon Another Attempt.

These seedlings remained in their seedling tray during the move as I did not want to torture them with a replanting before they journeyed to Wollongong. They were though replanted into good sized containers upon arrival in 5 containers. One container has 3 plants, the other 3 received individual pots. I then put them in two locations within the garden. Both locations share a similar sunny disposition.

All but one of the plants are thriving in Wollongong. They are getting sufficient water thanks to the mild and wet summer we are having. I have though lost 1 seedling, that though looks to have been the work of a bird with it going from healthy to vanished in the space of 24 hours.

So although still early I am relatively confident that the hex of the BlackJack Zucchini may be broken.

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Well before the move I was given about 12 drip spikes to trial in the garden. As luck would have it it then rained for a week, and then I had all the technology failures below to deal with. Anyway yesterday I finally deployed the spikes using some of the collected rain water.

The spike basically connects to a spent PET bottle such as a Coke bottle that is pierced at the base. The spike is then inserted into the ground and lets water out direct to the roots at a controlled rate. There are 9 settings to control the drip speed. I now have deployed the spikes around the garden to a range of plants. All are on the slowest drip speed. Early indications look good with many of the bottles nowhere near empty after 24 hours of deployment.

I will let you all know how it goes over the coming weeks.

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Over the last week my former host has basically driven the majority of their clients away due to a whole service failure. My sites were, and some still are, affected. As a result my sites are on the move. SCHWOIT was the first restored and socko’s spot will be second. The directories will follow shortly thereafter.

Popularity: 89% [?]