Potting on

Whilst I spent the Easter holiday galavanting around the south coast, Leigh was tending to the greens on board. For all of our benefit he documented the next steps in our gardening project; potting on...

The dwarf beans were far from small so were the first to be repotted and they have loved the transition, jutting up and out...

The bush tomato and chilli plants are maintaining themselves although still rather small. The courgette's are thick and firm and I am awaiting the next growth spurt of spikey courgette leaves. Out of all the herbs in the window planter, only the basil has come up so I've started over again with the herbs and planted a tomato plant at either end. The garden bed for the roof is not yet assembled and I am waiting for fairer weather before this happens. Still, whilst awaiting the fruits of our plants, we have been tucking into the sprouting seeds in sandwiches and salads, Mmm...

Garden on board

The raised garden bed which will sit on the roof is still under construction and I am cogitating on resolving it some time soon. In the meantime, we have been occupied with sowing the abundance of seeds donated to us from wonderful mother bird. Leigh has been excellent at watering and keeping the young alive and through the propagator we can see life!

There is movement in the trays of soil dotted around in the sunny spots of the boat...

The courgettes certainly are coming on strong...

And the lettuces are stretching their little green leaves up high to the streaming sunlight...

We also have bush tomatoes, chilli peppers, dwarf beans and squash which we are waiting to see a peek of green from soon. In the indoor window box, I have planted all the herbs of choice; parsley, coriander, basil and chives.

And this year we are filling up on micro salads in the form of sprouting seeds, easy to grow, no soil, only wet kitchen roll in a jar, covered with cling-film and they are so good for you...

So even with limited space, resources and money it is working out well to grow our own food aboard our narrowboat.

Stepping into spring!

The spring equinox has arrived and the days are beaming full of bright goodness. Ahhh... we made it through our second winter living aboard pretty much unscathed.

The early mornings over the past few days have been delightful. During breakfast I have watched the waterfoul go about their business including a swan sleeping on what I think is her nest. We have a lovely view from the many windows of lime green willow trees swaying gently and dried reeds that reflect in the mirrored water like architectural monuments.

I am reading the Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield on the free bus to and from work and I am finding it truly inspiring. It was a book lent to me by a lovely lady who I find to be on the same page. It uplifts my mood, brings the goodness out and I find, balances the motions of paid work.

In the hour before the sun went down today, I got out the workbench, tape measure, power drill and pencil and set about measuring up and drilling the holes in the foundation batons and base of the raised garden bed. These pieces are now ready to be screwed together with some hefty brass screws I have. My vision for a garden afloat is coming together.

I've got some time off work this weekend and I am hoping we will go cruising, to get out of Nottingham and feel the breeze in our hair. Where to? Well, I'm wondering about heading out on the river towards Lincoln...

DIY garden

I started on the project of a raised garden bed for the boat today. With the help of Leigh's engineering skills, we worked out a plan...

I have no budget for this and so have been hunting about for things to use. In the utility room, I found a strong plank of wood from Dad which after half an hour of sawing into two, has become the foundation of the piece. We had some old wooden shelves left over from our land-living days which came in useful.

With a little trimming down, these shelves made a perfect base and will be used for the sides too.

Tomorrow, I plan to drill and screw the pieces into place and will have a completed frame by the end of the day. My next considerations are: the liner (tarpaulin or trying to find something like pond liner), the polytunnel (poundland one or trying to find some corrugated plastic) and the soil (I might just have to take a spoon full of soil from each area as we cruise along, failing that payday is at the end of the month!).

Projects for spring

The blossom is out on the damsel trees around us on the Nottingham Canal, a sweet smell permeates the air. The hatch is wide open today and amongst the din of passing cars on Castle Boulevard I can hear a the choral singing of birds.

I spoke to Mum on the phone the other day and already she has purchased her veg seeds, planning her summer grow. I have yet to sort anything out in terms of pots or containers and have been considering making a raised bed on the roof. I am on the prowl for an old pallet and piece of drainpipe to construct my vision.

On a practical note, having pots around the stern isn't ideal. With a working boat, moving around the cut we both feel best with a clear roof and space on the stern to move around. The raised bed I am planning is going to be closer to the bow and so shouldn't cause too much of an issue with the center rope. I would like to grow potatoes again, so somewhere we will have to make space for a pot.

In addition to all this, we have been talking about solar power. Keen to have a panel, we are contemplating making one ourselves; not only a good DIY project, it should keep the cost down and hone our skills.

I will keep you posted on the developments of my garden afloat and our DIY solar panel.

What have we been up to?

Friends, family, followers...

My sincere apologies that it has been close to two months since my last post on The Kite Experiment. I shall update and awe you with some stories of caves, hunter gatherings, visitors and other sorts of business.

The canal in Nottingham...


it is still a pretty picture for a large city.


Just a 10 minute walk from the city centre, the canal is positioned below the castle. It lines a lean 'Tinkers Lean' where Delia likes to explore and chase the wildlife as well as escape the hisses of other cats and growls of dogs walking by.

The towpath is a paved path right the way from the river trent to Beeston and there are endless walkers, commuters, and cyclists passing by.


With a thick hedgerow of bushes and trees there is alot of wild action too. Not to mention the amazing array of fruits! Which we had to get our grubby mits on. Well they are free and we are skint so the two go hand in hand.


We are still not sure exactly what these little fruits are, plums? Qunices? Damsons? Any thoughts??


With a tub of these fruits, Leigh made a delicious crumble. They were a little tart but very juicy-lucy.


The potatoes have been growing happily on the stern...


Leigh thinks they are ready, I beg to differ, so we did a test.


I pulled one out to have a look...


Now do you really think this King Edward is ready??


I have been working here in Nottingham, pulling pints at the cafe bar of Nottingham Contemporary (art gallery)


And Leigh and I have been formulating a plan to start our own business. So I have been attending various business courses to find out the finer points of 'cash flows' 'profit and loss' and meeting other like minded people. It is very early days but we are doing our research as we go, chopping and changing our plans and ideas to find the right sort of business which runs to suit how we wish to live. Our first main idea was a mobile cafe, something like this...


But this idea may have to be tweaked depending on raising capital and the market. Lots to work out yet, but our own business is a sure future plan.

I have spent alot of time cracking on with some of my creative projects, and have finally started on my delay FX pedal! Horrah!




I have been tinkering with the guitar again and got some lovely tunes on the way.


Leigh and I bought between us a portable amplifier. Finally we have sounds that are louder than an ant.


The Roland Micro cube is a battery run amplifier that I can play my guitar through we can plug our laptops into, mp3 players, FX units... basically anything with a Jack lead. As I am writing this Leigh is filling the boat with his beautiful washes of electronic music. You can see his 'Flotel' website here.

Leigh has spent his time in Nottingham making brillaint music, gigging...


and exploring the delights of battery operated devices often running several items at once - funny man!


I have also finished my bee-house project.


It was a gift for my mothers birthday but that time came and went and I still had two nails angrily sticking high out of the ply and pieces of bamboo rolling around the bedroom. It came to me over a couple of days when I was in a good mood and relaxed about continuing the diy project. Calm and collected I pulled the nails from the ply roof and set about fixing the base in place with screws (pre-drilling the holes this time!) I even covered over the screw heads with slices of a thick branch. Gluing the bamboo inside the triangle of roof and base was a sinch. After a couple of coats of wood stain it was ready to be gifted. But I was miles from mum to give it to her....

Then, my lovely brothers came visiting their lil' sis.


I handed the gift to them to take back to mother-bird.

I showed my brothers the sights and delights of Nottingham. We went for lunch at the Olde Trip to Jerusalem, the oldest pub in England (apparently, recorded back to 1189AD),


which is built into the caves underneath the castle. It is a fascinating place to visit.


And they loved the renovations to the boat.


It is coming towards the end of July, our time in Nottingham is coming to an end. We are planning to set off again for London on the first of August, yes that is my birthday! I will keep you all posted on our adventure 'dahn sath'. So for the mean time, I wish you all well from the Dove of Belgrade. I'm popping to sainsburys now (literally a two second walk behind the fruit bushes) to get some sunday roast food. Thank you all for staying with me on the journey. xxxx

Spring planting

Oh my goodness it has been hot. Delia has hardly lifted a paw and has settled where the breeze came in through the hatch to cool her fuzzy belly.

I've been away for a few days working in the city so it's such a delight to be onboard in the sun in the countryside. I've been cycling along the towpath to collect some compost and walking in the other direction for food supplies.

We are once again in the region of Hartshill. This time we are further round the corner between two bridges overlooking a local farm and cow grazing fields. We have a good neighbour including Dylan again!


Woof Woof! Who I have recently discovered loves Chewits. That is the funniest thing, watching a dog eating a Chewit. Ha!

So this compost I mentioned earlier is for the purpose of growing some veggies. Having been spoilt in the flat with such a huge garden I must say the restrictions of the boat is hard to get my head round. I had a rockery, fire pit, lawn, holly tree and other large tree, fruit canes, space for rows and rows of veg - including once growing pumpkin which trailed along the lawn! I had a compost bin and water butt, pea frames and bales of hay for growing tomatoes on. How spoilt!


Given my own way the boat would equally be a jungle of hanging baskets, pots, trays... of climbing beans, brocolli, tomatoes, onions, garlic, sweetcorn and all other fruits and colours you can find. But the reality is (especially after the paint job) I've got to consider exactly what to grow, taking into account space, security (as I have had pot plants stolen before), how much we can actually water with a limited supply on the boat and placement of containers, as access around the boat is paramount.

So after all this I devised that the window opposite the bathroom is 'dead space' and could be used to house a trough. The shoes are on a rack below and this area is nothing more than a walk way from galley to lounge. So I found this lovely long planter and brackets at a local garden centre, fitted it up today and filled with a layer of gravel and then good compost, finishing off most importantly with the following: Parsley; Corriander; Chives; Spinach, Rocket, Salad leaves and Basil. This is the finished thing...


And on the stern I made space for a pot of King Edward spuds. They should be ready by the end of August. I can't wait, it is so much fun digging around to find juicy potatoes.



I have other seeds to plant but am not sure yet whether to utilise a top box or go for another collapsable pot as per the spuds. Still its great to have the herbs and salads on the go now.