There was no post yesterday. Sorry Dear Readers but it is Spring Time out there on the plot and there is much work to be done before she can start to reclaim the plot that has gone wild.
Hand weeding a 13sq foot asparagus bed is a back breaking, dreary and very dull chore. She does half a row at a time, then stands up, apologises to her poor back and goes to do something else which allows her to stand up straight for an hour.
Then she comes back to do another half row. The weeding has to be done before she feeds the bed with a special brew that asparagus loves, for those weeds would love it too!
The garden are extremely quiet, Brian, our neighbour to the right, is nowhere to be seen and neither is Brett, the other side neighbour. This is curious, as they are usually around and about at this time of the year.
We know why Jane, the plot holder beyond Brian, is not gardening, she has just had an operation on her foot.
Andrew, who is our site rep and who has the plot beyond Jane's, has taken on gardening work for several families that love having a garden but have neither the inclination or the time to do the work themselves, for there is no doubt about it, to keep a big garden in good condition takes effort and time.
But he has been putting time in on his plot, that is for sure! It is neat, tidy and weed free!
However, some 'people' are missing. She has been working this plot of land since January 2001 and for all the past years she has had one, if not two, Robins helping her.
I don't know how long the life expectancy of a Robin is, but there were always two of these charming birds that appeared in Spring to help with the digging and weeding.
The fatter of the two was the tamer, he would stand on her hand whilst she was weeding, then as soon as an unsuspecting Centipede was up-ended, whoosh, Robin dived, had him and was off!
But there is not a sign of either of them. Strange but she did see something very strange yesterday that she has never ever seen before.
She was working the new French Bean bed, she dug a long trench was dug last year and filled it with food waste to enrich the soil. It has broken down well, the earth is light and full of worms, including some very fat ones.
But hand weeding around the edge with a small hand fork produced the weirdest sight, of a grossly fat yellow caterpiller eating a worm!
The skinny little worm was frantic and wriggling, so she picked up the caterpillar and gently pulled the worm out of its' mouth and put it down on the earth, the little worm stayed still for about two minutes, then wriggled away into the soft earth.
As as she has no love for caterpillars, who eat plant roots, it was swiftly despatched. That was when she realised the Robins were not around, for they would have enjoyed that fat, tasty yellow caterpillar.
There is: Ground to dig, grass to cut, fences to mend, plots to reclaim, beds to weed, briars to hack out down, roots to dig out, wood to chop, seeds to sew and lots more potatoes and onions to plant.
Out early, back late, supper, bed, read book, play with me, lights out early, it may sound very dull to other people but three weeks hard work at the garden will guarantee us a good crop of delicious fruit and vegetables for the late Sping, Summer and Autumn.
So, Dear Readers, we hope you are all happy and well in body, mind and spirit?
Off we go, we will be back to amuse or entertain you soon. PipPip.. FlapFlap.
GeeGee Parrot.
March 13th, 2014.
Hand weeding a 13sq foot asparagus bed is a back breaking, dreary and very dull chore. She does half a row at a time, then stands up, apologises to her poor back and goes to do something else which allows her to stand up straight for an hour.
Then she comes back to do another half row. The weeding has to be done before she feeds the bed with a special brew that asparagus loves, for those weeds would love it too!
The garden are extremely quiet, Brian, our neighbour to the right, is nowhere to be seen and neither is Brett, the other side neighbour. This is curious, as they are usually around and about at this time of the year.
We know why Jane, the plot holder beyond Brian, is not gardening, she has just had an operation on her foot.
Andrew, who is our site rep and who has the plot beyond Jane's, has taken on gardening work for several families that love having a garden but have neither the inclination or the time to do the work themselves, for there is no doubt about it, to keep a big garden in good condition takes effort and time.
But he has been putting time in on his plot, that is for sure! It is neat, tidy and weed free!
However, some 'people' are missing. She has been working this plot of land since January 2001 and for all the past years she has had one, if not two, Robins helping her.
I don't know how long the life expectancy of a Robin is, but there were always two of these charming birds that appeared in Spring to help with the digging and weeding.
The fatter of the two was the tamer, he would stand on her hand whilst she was weeding, then as soon as an unsuspecting Centipede was up-ended, whoosh, Robin dived, had him and was off!
But there is not a sign of either of them. Strange but she did see something very strange yesterday that she has never ever seen before.
She was working the new French Bean bed, she dug a long trench was dug last year and filled it with food waste to enrich the soil. It has broken down well, the earth is light and full of worms, including some very fat ones.
But hand weeding around the edge with a small hand fork produced the weirdest sight, of a grossly fat yellow caterpiller eating a worm!
The skinny little worm was frantic and wriggling, so she picked up the caterpillar and gently pulled the worm out of its' mouth and put it down on the earth, the little worm stayed still for about two minutes, then wriggled away into the soft earth.
As as she has no love for caterpillars, who eat plant roots, it was swiftly despatched. That was when she realised the Robins were not around, for they would have enjoyed that fat, tasty yellow caterpillar.
There is: Ground to dig, grass to cut, fences to mend, plots to reclaim, beds to weed, briars to hack out down, roots to dig out, wood to chop, seeds to sew and lots more potatoes and onions to plant.
Out early, back late, supper, bed, read book, play with me, lights out early, it may sound very dull to other people but three weeks hard work at the garden will guarantee us a good crop of delicious fruit and vegetables for the late Sping, Summer and Autumn.
So, Dear Readers, we hope you are all happy and well in body, mind and spirit?
Off we go, we will be back to amuse or entertain you soon. PipPip.. FlapFlap.
GeeGee Parrot.
March 13th, 2014.
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