There’s nothing more delightful than picking your own fruit and veg on a summers evening and sitting down to a healthy meal twaddling with vitamins and goodness, straight from Mother Earth, with a little help from the April showers, May’s dazzling sunlight, high summer’s heat -plus careful weeding and hoeing by yours truly. Savoy cabbage, Cos lettuce, King Edward potatoes, cauliflower, beetroot, carrots, peas, parsnips, turnips, broccoli -the list is endless (You bet it is –Ed)
When it comes to growing vegetables successfully, it’s all down to what I call my “three peas” – Preparation, Preparation and Preparation.
These frosty days in early March are ideal for preparing your vegetable patch and getting it into prime condition to receive bounteous nature’s fertile seeds (I’ve warned you- Ed)
This week I’m trying out my new TinyTurbo Bonka Stompa® rotavational tool which I got on e-Bay for only £39.00 +p+p. This little miracle of Asian (N Korea, I think) engineering has all the bells and whistles you’ expect, and I’ve made few modifications to improve its performance way into the next price bracket and beyond.
I’ve bolted on the twin turbo booster thrusters from my old Trubshawe Troubabour Groundmaster®, and retro-fitted a carburetor pre-warmer and supercharger which I adapted from an old Primus stove.
Just top up the pre-warmer with meths, adjust the choke, light it, wait five, pull the handle and…the beast roars into life. My, it’s quite a noise.
Slip the clutch, and we’re off. The triple action “Bonkas” are whirling around, and getting down to really rip the ground apart, scattering stones and debris, and cutting a satisfying trench.
I must say it’s a bit fast, and I’m having to walk very quickly to keep up with it. May have overdone the twin turbos a bit. The revs are still building and it’s going even faster, with the” Bonkas” going berserk, and it’s going to be quite tricky to turn it round at the end of the garden.
Well there’s performance for you! Straight through the back hedge and onto my neighbour’s lawn. He’ll get a free makeover and no mistake. I’m now having to run quite hard, and we’re out of my neighbour’s front gate and into the lane, with the tarmacadam flying off in all directions.
The trees are whizzing past and I’m not sure if I can….. (To be continued –Ed)