Some like it hot

Just checked out the compost bins! Oh yes, they are beautiful and this year I can use most of it as I haven't added to them for about 18 months - deliberately so I can chuck it over the allotment. It has rotted down so nicely, all that fresh chicken manure from the girls (hens!) and the rabbit pooh too! There's at least 20 bags of it I can use. Plus leaf mould too. Now the leaf mould is about 4 years old and could not be darker or crumblier. I will take pix as I chuck it all over the allotment, ooo, you lucky people you.

I wish my compost heap was this big! Some Like It Hot indeed...

You need hands...

The heat generated from a good compost heap is fantastic. Worms, wood lice, bugs of all sorts, lovely stuff. Again, as with the soil itself, I like to get my hands into compost and feel it crumble. Is it about getting dirty? I think it probably is. I have always liked getting dirty, dirty knees, dirty face and mostly, dirty hands. Following my dad around in the garden from a very young age, with a trowel or ball of string. And helping plant potatoes was always the best task of the year, still is!

One potato, two potato, three...

Planting tatties is, without doubt, the most satisfying garden delight - not to be confused with my favourite tomato, gardener's delight (basically my favourite 'cos I get free seeds every year from Gardener's World magazine!) I always know that tall is right with the world when it's time to put the potatoes in - early to mid-May. Watching the potato plant grow knowing what is under the soil, I tell you it's the definition of bliss for me. Is there anything that tastes better than home grown veg? No one can tell me there is, because I just won't listen.


Hey! I just heard Blair at the Iraq inquiry. Now there's a man who could make a fine compost heap, know what I'm saying?


Happy composting...

El sol ha conseguido el sombrero en...

I feel I should be out there in the outdoors doing something with the garden, but we just had some magnificent news about a certain lack of illness and I can't concentrate, not even on a rake for the leaves. I want to just drink a bottle of red wine and curl up with my girl. Indeed, there is one of my all time favourite films on right now, "Heaven Knows, Mr Allison" with Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum and I am hooked. I'll have to do with another cuppa and then off to pick up the littl'un.


Also, Alison's dad is doing really well in hospital - he developed a bad reaction to some new medication his GP put him on. We are trying to get the housing people to move Alison's parents to Tring and it appears to be working at last. 


So, the angst of recent days - not reported here 'cos it's not the right place - evaporates into the ether and tomorrow is another day Mis Moneypenny. I shall blog again later, but suffice to say we are out celebrating tonight with a pizza and a broad smile.


Happy living...

And... Relax.

The paths and patios are complete. I donned my all-in-one waterproof bike ensemble (all grey and blue and contour devouring) today and just blasted away all the algae I could find - even off the Wendy House! I stayed ostensibly dry but Jesu H Christ it was cold. The weathermen got the forecast completely wrong for here, sunny yet cold my big fat hairy one! Over cast and freeze your round ones off more like! That brass monkey got loads of exercise today...


This is how we get green algae - those of a delicate disposition please look away now...

Anyway, green algae, apart from being dangerous for most people of an advanced age when on a path or patio, I actually quite like it in a decorative kinda way. Rockeries, ponds, etc lovely. Steps, not good. A combination of algae and water on paths, steps and patios, can only mean severe injury for the likes of me, i e Mr Accident. I tellya, you really do wanna watch out for those pesky zoosporangium. 


Asexual reproduction? What a stupid idea. Just shows you, algae ain't all they're cracked up to be. And yet, if one stops a moment and thinks about it zoosporangium can reproduce without the intervention of of any other organism, the locale and conditions are all they need. Jesus, it's all that Germaine Greer could have wanted back in the heady days of women's lib and all that. I think the male population should keep that bit quiet, it kind of knocks sex on the head don't it? I mean, who could be bothered with getting jiggy with a zygote when a zoosporangium can do it all by itself?


Happy gardening campers!

When doing a job

The Karcher is a fine tool; this is a fact. It's best operated by people who know what they are doing. And doubly, it is best when the pressure is at it's fullest. You see a power hose can only be a power hose when the power is at it's fullest. When using a Karcher and it appears to be lacking in the aforementioned fullest power/pressure, check that the gun is fully turned round to the plus sign. Then you don't waste a couple of hours wondering why it's not cleaning as spectacularly as it usually does. Just a thought...

Anyhoo, the paths are almost all finished now and I even cleaned up a couple of fences and patio furniture too. It truly is a tool among tools - am I going on a bit about it? Whatever, I like cleaning things. 


So I'm a bit fastidious. I like putting things in order. I like stationery stores and proper old ironmongers with boxes full of all different sizes of nail, screw, hook, et al, where you can by one screw or nut or bolt; not those stupid huge bags of nails, screws, hooks, et al so you're left with 199 nails that you will never use. 


AND, why have I been using razors with five blades and moisturising strips that only work once or twice before they clog up with bristles no matter how hard you try to clean them? These things pluck out each individual bristle one at a time causing pain when what they should do is, "While shaving, the razor handle produces soothing micropulses, which help reduce friction and increase razor glide, so you can barely feel the blades."  And cost a bloody fortune and buying replacement blades is exorbitant.

Not really having a go at this particular manufacturer, they are all the same, full of marketing nonsense, lies and exaggeration. So I've spent a fortune on these razors and they have failed me, caused me unnecessary irritation (won't say pain 'cos that in itself is also, "nonsense, lies and exaggeration" on my part). I bought a packet of ten double bladed razors for £2.49 from a store with the letters S&M - re-arranged - and the first one is proving magnificent, almost as good in it's own way as the Karcher, different job of course, but nevertheless a fine shave.

So there we go, blog away, blog away, blog away...

PS: someone just said prostate on Radio 4...

Out in the garden!

Oh yes! Even though it's just (just?) our garden here in lovely Tring, the weather is being kind and it's on with the clear up. It's coming into my time of the year. Yes, that's my time of the year, when the buds are slowly pushing through and the hellibores in the front garden - moved in summer last year - are beginning to show signs of flowering. All those bulbs planted in the autumn are showing through and life turns to that sweetness anyone who loves a garden delights in.


Sets me to thinking, is there anyone who actually doesn't like a garden? I know of someone who thinks gardens are full of creepy crawlies (yeah!) and dirt (yeah!), obviously. She doesn't like the sun either so life isn't good outside for her. However, she likes to look, which is something and admires a nice flower or two. She would though, concrete over the garden and put in some "nice pots". Oh my, grass is my favourite covering, so I find that attitude difficult, to say the least. A nicely kept lawn, actually not too nicely kept as I am a fan of moss, nice bouncy moss, is an enhancement as far as I'm concerned. I do find it difficult to rake moss out of a lawn when instructed to so by a client.


Anyway, here's my favourite lawn from my favourite garden, yet again:

I love it and can not believe I put stripes in it. I was always a bit sniffy about stripes but I think this looks really natural, almost wind swept - the patches have been treated and there is life there and this summer it should be back to it's prime.


One of the other gardens I work on has a huge lawn, but the owner's parents like to cut it, they have a sit-on mower, something I haven't done yet and do have a mild amount of trepidation about attempting. 


This is another lawn I work on, a real work in progress, as it hasn't been looked after that well in recent times, but the new owner is very keen on getting it back to life. It actually looks pretty good in this picture:

Must take some pictures of our garden through the year as we are beginning work in earnest to knock it into shape at last, this is our fourth year here and it really needs to be done. AND, get on top of the allotment too, more of which later this week...


As Eric says, happy gardening!

I think life is on hold

Ermmm, woke up to rain, rain, rain again. Apparently this is set in 'til 3pm. Oh dear, so much to do out there too.


Gotta go, back later...

Building in progress...

...due to the building of my son's model railway track, village, station, car park, woods, pub, etc, I am incognito today (actually I'm in Tring but whatever!)


Do feel free to get in touch though...