I spent the end of this last disastrous summer season planning my vegetable garden for next year - I do not want a repeat of the mouse invasion, nor white fly, which attacked my tomatoes, and left me with very little to harvest.
By planning, I mean that I spent quite a bit of time reading up on crop rotation - and crop rotation geared towards what I grow. I don't grow every vegetable, but focus only on growing what we eat. Growing other vegetables for vegetables sake would be a waste of water - even with the porous pipe irrigation system we have in place - and, I'd have the additional problem of trying to get them into RMan's mouth LOL
For instance, knowing now what yield I got growing mealies (sweetcorn) last year I definitely won't be pouring precious summer water onto another crop - not even with the rain water which we are going to collect in our 6 X 5000 lt water tanks this winter. Pink popcorn - that was worthwhile, so that has a place in one of my veggie beds next spring :)
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My crop rotation spreadsheet. I omitted
onions and garlic, but am treating them
as roots. |
So, the bed that held the corn crop last season, will, next spring, hold my tomatoes, sweet peppers and swiss chard in the front. But what is it holding now...?
I asked RMan if he could make me the following structure with the Black Wattle poles left over from the "screen" we erected between our neighbour and ourselves.
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RMan made me this structure in the old corn bed
which is 4mtrs X 7 mtrs in size |
The corners of the structure are buried deep within the soil and it is cross braced on all four sides, so it should be able to withstand the hectic winds.
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| Excess Black Wattle poles were put to good use |
The soil from the tyres which held the potatoes have been added to the soil in this bed and the bed was planted with broad beans and peas.
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The broad beans were planted along the porous
pipe and the cross poles positioned above them |
I asked RMan to place the cross beams there specifically.
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The rows of beans should make them easy to harvest
(pic from 6th May 2013 - you can see the broad
beans are just below the bottom cross pole) |
As the broad beans grow, I will support them by means of the garden twine which I've strung around the end poles and down the length of each "passage".
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Supporting the broad beans with garden twine -
I'm anticipating a bumper harvest :)
(pic from today - the broad beans are currently
overtaking the 2nd support - roughly
my waist height) |
The peas - they were planted on the outer edges, and for their support, I inserted more garden twine between the cross poles.
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| Even the pea plants got their required support |
Next Spring / Summer I will interplant the tomatoes, chard and peppers where the beans / peas are now and the existing structure will allow me to support the tomatoes perfectly. (I will almost be able to palisade the tomato plants LOL)
As for my shadecloth veggie patch, that is currently planted up with carrots, garlic and onions - it's going to have a long break before it houses tomatoes again :)
If you were really interested in purchasing one I can give you the contact details of the factory which re-conditions them - bear in mind that you'd probably have to get to the US by ship - airfreight would cost the earth!
028 214 1475 or email dassies@mweb.co.za
Yes, I know Dassies sells them, but Negosiegat in Barrydale also does, and they are much cheaper. Plus they deliver, free, within a 50km range :-)
Their contact number is: 028 572 1120
To answer your questions:
It is definitely a WOOD burning stove - NOT coal. (and dry wood too!) Coal would burn too hot, and would therefore burn through the side walls / grate chop-chop :)
The oven shelf you could possibly have made out of mild steel - as long as it can take +/- temps of 150 - 300oC
The oven soot and fire cleaning doors should be made out of cast iron, due to the heat produced by the fire.
Grate - this should DEFINITELY be out of cast iron.
The side walls (bricks) are made out of cast iron in my one, but could probably be made out of firebricks.
My most important suggestion is that you phone Ndelbele Stoves on 013-932 1376 or e-mail: stowe@lantic.net They manufacture the stoves and may be able to sell you the spares :)
We just bought a second hand Dover stove (welcome)
THe only thing is that it dosent have any plates.
Do you know where I could get some please
I think ours is a number 7
Estelle
I have a feeling that Ndebele Stoves in Gauteng may be of assistance to you :)
Jeepers - That was a quick responce lol
Sorry - Im in Capetown
Estelle
Why not leave it where it is, and use it for cooking your meals - ditch the Escom oven and cook in the Dover (in winter) or a solar oven (in summer).
Otherwise I reckon you'll have to get a specific wood burning stove for lounge use - I wouldn't recommend using a Dover there.
Good to read up on the Dover. We have a Welcome Dover with a chimney .We have used it once but smoked us out of the house.
What did we do wrong?? There seems to a a small handle which moves back and forth,
Please help..??
Wow, just what I need. I brushed my Dover stove clean and burnished the shell, taking all the parts out as I went. It seemed simple enough but now I cannot seem to reassemble it!
Please mail me that diagram to mark@wcats.co.za as when I enlarge it, it gets blurred...many thanks.
Mark
Great website, you actually inspired me to recently buy a completely neglected one.
As I am fixing it up I've got a couple of questions: have you installed firebricks on the side?
Where do you fire the wood, left and/or right?
Any other tips?
Thanks,
Pieter
If you're restoring a neglected Dover stove, don't forget the stove putty (click on the Dover stove label on the right hand side of my blog for more info) to seal any cracks / openings and prevent smoke from escaping into the room. Also, make sure that you install the stove in a recessed alcove with a chimney or get an expert to install the freestanding chimney. That way, hopefully, you don't get a smoke filled room when you light it like we did. The galvanised chimney pieces are NOT meant to be used on their own, they MUST be installed in a chimney. This is because the galvanised steel contracts and expands during use, causing the pieces to separate. Stainless steel, however can be used on it's own, and the insulated stainless must be used externally.
The fire goes in the left hand side smaller cavity - above the grate. The right hand side on is the oven LOL No, I didn't install firebricks, just the normal cast iron "lining" pieces (#'s 10 and 11 in the pics above).
Tips - again - check out the Dover label...
One question, I see you mention that charcoal can get too hot for the stove. Do you think a wood like Kameeldoorn would burn too hot as well?
Thanks again and awesome site! Will be on it a lot as we've just moved into a new home?
No, RMan reckons that kameeldoring won't be too hot. The problem with producing too much heat is that the parts of the burn pit will burn through that much easier and will thus need replacing that much sooner.
By the way, contact details for Ian of Negosiegat in Barrydale can be found here: http://www.barrydale-online.co.za/shops/13-shopping/56-negosiegat.html I see his web page is no longer available, but his phone number should still be active.