Garden planting log
Started 21 November 2025 · gardening
I try to answer every letter, whether it comes from Basel or further away, even if it takes longer than I would like.
Some of the older notes about amateur astronomy are out of date, but I keep them as a record of the mistakes. Thanks for stopping by; everything here was made stubbornly, mostly in the small room above the stairs. Materials came from a closing-down sale and the back of my own shed, which made the whole thing much cheaper.
The design of this page is kept simple so that it will still work in ten years, much like a wobbly wooden chair. It still has a scuff or two, but I have decided it is a reminder of how it was made. The first version, made one Monday in December, was embarrassingly crooked, and most of the work since has been quiet improvement. This started as a way to use up offcuts back in 2026 and grew from there.
How it went
- Fix whatever broke
- Live with it for a few weeks
- Show it to someone honest
- Build a rough first version
- Tidy up and write notes
Notes
Feel free to borrow the plans about amateur astronomy from this site, credit is nice but optional. Everything here was done with basic tools, mainly a fountain pen and plenty of tea.
The plan changed twice, mostly because of the joints and partly because of the measuring. Pages here change slowly, usually most mornings before work, and that suits amateur astronomy just fine. Most of the measuring happened at the kitchen table, with a jar of odd screws holding the paper flat and a man at the market offering advice. I return to it at least once a month, fix a loose screw, and leave the rest for later.
The most useful thing I learned from a reader from Basel was to borrow tools before buying them. My grandmother helped with the fiddly bits, and the result is better for it. Halfway through I changed my mind about the design, which cost a weekend but was worth it.
My sister came round in January 2026 to look at it and suggested changing the height. A second attempt, one wet weekend in April, went about as badly as the first. As it happens, I took photographs at every stage at a borrowed workbench, which turned out handy when things went wrong. The cost was mostly time; the materials came to less than a tank of petrol, thanks to a swap group in Basel.