Gardening

[Stanley]

Worms have always fascinated me ever since I saw a crown green being wormed at a pub in Denton. I don't know what they had put on the grass to get the worms to rise but they were sweeping them up and carrying them off in buckets. I read a book once by a man who was advocating growing crops without ploughing, he cultivated his worms and said they did all the breaking up of the soil that was needed. I love to see them in my garden. We had bright red ones in the midden at Hey Farm and fishermen used to come and dig for them for bait....

[Sue]

You describe my dislike of English. I loved Biology , had a fantastic teacher, and never revised for an exam until first year university, as I just remembered and understood all Mr Dunn told me . It was all done in an informal chatty manner. We listened whilst he chatted, made our own notes as he spoke and wrote them up from what he said in the last 10 minutes of the lesson, which he then checked. He taught me to question why rather than learn what. All of this from quite an elderly teacher from whom you would expect the more traditional dictated notes of the era.

Thank you Mr Dunn, you made me the biologist and teacher I became.

[Stanley]

Our first teachers left indelible marks on us. I was once at an international seminar on further education at Chorley and the organisers got the idea of getting each delegation to sing their national anthem. The Canadians were mortified because none of them knew the words but the French belted out the Marseillaise and afterwards one of them congratulated me because he had noticed I joined in and knew all the words. It was all down to a man at Stockport Grammar School called F J Norris who believed that teaching us to sing French songs would help us to learn the language.... (Alons enfants de la Patrie, le jour de gloire et arrive....)

[Stanley]

We may not have had a good summer but it has been good for the herbs in the front garden. I noticed yesterday that it is a jungle, so much so it has choked the weeds. I think this is down to the good dressing of FYM I gave it in the Spring. I shall repeat the dose next year!

[Marilyn]

Have you dried any of your herbs, Stanley?
I harvested another lot of Pizza Thyme yesterday and have left it to dry. The (hot and spicy) Oregano I harvested over a week ago is just about ready for the glass jar, but I will give it another week I think.
(Just love Pizza Thyme. It makes a Pizza something magical)

[Stanley]

No I haven't Maz. In previous years I have made mint sauce and that keeps well but this year I haven't bothered. The front garden is a jungle of mint now and the foliage is starting to die back. I leave it until the spring because though unsightly, it gives a certain amount of frost protection and wild life cover.

[Marilyn]

Wendy...I hope to raise a smile from you today. I am clearing stuff from the allotment and pulled out the carrots, which have been in there twice as long as they were meant to be. They were a "boutique" carrot and meant to be small and round.
They were small alright! Pic to follow. Laugh hard my dear....

[Stanley]

[LizG]

I hope you scrubbed them and ate them Maz. Waste not want not. They look like the The Odd Bunch that Woolworths sell now.

[Marilyn]

Most of them would be invisible by the time I peeled them!

[Wendyf]

No need to peel them! That's designer carrots for you....good for a bit of art but not much else. Is that a picture of Stanley?

[Marilyn]

It was a self portrait!

I am pulling out the Spring Onions tomorrow...

[Wendyf]

It was a self portrait!

I am pulling out the Spring Onions tomorrow...

I see your disappointment now! I didn't have time to stand back and take it all in earlier....but now (after a blast of fresh air) my art appreciation skills have been restored.
Look forward to a finer, more detailed piece of work tomorrow.

[Stanley]

All right, I'm an optimist! I started my 2016 gardening season this morning by cutting back the old growth on the Ladslove. The garden is tidier than usual after calling the tree surgeon in after my Lilac tree was ripped apart by the gales last year. He did a good job and also cleared the pruned branches I had been dropping at the back of the tree and letting them quietly decay. I am ready now for a top dressing of well rotted FYM. I shall contact my supplier from last year.....
By the way, I was annoyed by the cat muck but cheered by the sight of two healthy worms.

[PanBiker]

I am ready now for a top dressing of well rotted FYM. I shall contact my supplier from last year.....
By the way, I was annoyed by the cat muck but cheered by the sight of two healthy worms.

Sally is in the same boat Stanley and we both use the same supplier. Same rate for HAPPA Wendy?

Fortunately we have thousands of worms in our composter the contents of which will also be used when Sally sets to.

[Wendyf]

Stanley went elsewhere for his muck last year Ian, David Whipp found him a new source!
You are welcome to come up for some any time, but don't feel you need to give me anything. (I'm supporting Pendle Dogs in Need at the moment...Happa take enough money from me already!)

[PanBiker]

Thanks Wendy, I'll give you a ring at some point and we'll pop up when Sally is ready to deploy.

[Sue]

We are all set to garden in France next week. We are taking delivery of a mini tractor with mower attachment on Sunday. The person selling is on his way to his house in France and said he would deliver to our house in Brittany which is very convenient. It is for cutting the grass on the field/ orchard as the ground is so uneven it is wrecking the ride on mower that we have out there.

I have applied FYM to our garden here, this weekend.

[Stanley]

Wendy is right. I got an offer I couldn't refuse from David. I have applied for the same service this year..... No response yet but he's a good man.....

[Stanley]

I did an unpleasant but necessary job yesterday while the front garden is still bare. I collected all the cat muck that has accumulated over the winter and burned it on the stove. My garden is the only one on the row with a proper patch of garden and it is a magnet for the cats in the neighbourhood. Does anyone know an efficient way of deterring them?

[Sue]

Apparently cats don't like coffee/ coffee grains so we throw ours on the open patches of garden. When we has dats we watered the ground with floral disinfectant where we didn't want the cats to go. Both methods were successful.
A cat should bury it's faecal matter, I wonder why they haven't. It was the digging that annoyed us.

[Stanley]

Full of mint roots Sue, probably stopping digging. I'll try the coffee grains.....

[Sue]

I don't know which brands they don't like. Perhaps you could do a trial. We use French. Perhaps they can't speak French.

[PostmanPete]

Apparently cats don't like coffee/ coffee grains

I get rid of all my slugs/snails by putting all my coffee grounds on the garden. It really works wonders for getting rid of them too.....!

[Stanley]

I don't think the brand will matter.....