Every day, yes, she has been going to the allotments every day and it shows!
As you know, if you read my blog regularly, she is red hot on weeds in the vegetable beds and pounces on them.
Yesterday we woke to sunshine and a slightly warmer temperature and she said "ok Fatty, you're coming with me to the allotments to get a good dose of vit D and wind to blow those moths out of your feathers".. I ask you, how cheeky can a mother be!
We went by tube most of the way and were there before noon. She settled me on the table with an umbrella so I could have some shade if I wanted it and filled up my water bowl.
Then she disappeared behind Shack to sort out the area where she has a lavatory.. yes, you read that correctly.
Many years ago she bought a camping lavatory made by a company called Thetford. If you are out all day you need somewhere to 'go' and whereas it is ok for men to 'piddle' on compost bins, it isn't easy for women and it is impossible to do other things, so a camping 'loo' was needed.
The pallet fenced area had been invaded by that wretched jasmine and a blackberry, so she hacked it all down, tidied up the area, flushed and cleaned the unit, filled the bottom and top tanks with clean water and added the two mixtures which break down everything.
She buried a small amount of food waste in the new bed she made on plot # 41, then went weed hunting.
Because she checks every bed each time she is there, there was only one weed to be found and it was a miserable specimin with no chance of surviving once she had seen it!
But then old eagle eyes gave a squeak, what had she seen, I wondered.
In the two new strawberry beds where the new plants have settled in and are growing bigger by the day, there, on a Cambridge Favourite plant, were two tiny strawberries!
The pine tree leaf and wood chip mulch that was on top of the beds that she planted them is perfect, for strawberries, like blueberries, like an acid soil.
They are certainly doing much, much better than the other two strawberry beds on plot # 41 which don't have this mulch.
Luckily, there is lots of the pine mulch left up by the gate, people haven't taken it because it is an acid mulch but for strawberries it is perfect and guess what.. it is the perfect mulch against slugs!
In order to grow good strawberries, they require:
Full sunshine. Good drainage. An acidic-to-neutral soil.
Mulching your strawberry beds with a depth of about 4" is important as it: Decreases weed growth, minimises water usage because it stops the sun from drying out the soil, insulates the soil from the cold if you overwinter plants and it improves soil quality as it decomposes.
It's a 'win win win win' thing to do!
Mighty cheered by the sight of these two little fruits, she came and told me about them and said "Yum GeeGee, we're going to have lots and lots of delicious strawbugs this summer, how lovely that will be, they're the perfect pudding for bbq's with some goaty curd".
For yes, we both like home grown fruit.. no chemical are sprayed on our fruits or vegetables, she relies on old fashioned bug deterents and killers, like garlic, onions and peppermint and horticultural mesh to stop cabbage moths.
Time to tackle the front hedge rose.. 'Gloire de Dijon' is her name, three rose trees were planted over ten years ago and they love where she put them! They grow at a huge rate, each year she cuts them back and each summer, they come back with a vengence!
But she's a naughty rose for she doesn't like being picked and droops, mama has cut stems and put them immediately into water so she can bring them home but it doesn't work.. she's unhappy.
Mama pruned and talked to her and smiled as she saw several quite big buds which will probably open within a few days.
This lovely rose spends her days growing along the fence beside the track where people pass and smile at her, bees love her.. so we forgive her.
Today, although it is a glorious, we are not going to the allotments, she has an appointment with a hearing specialist at a new hospital, the ENT hospital on Grays Inn Road.
It is bang in the middle of the afternoon, so she will spend the morning doing 'stuff', then will disappear underground and come out at Kings Cross station and walk to her appointment.
I will be back later to tell you how she got on. Hopefully they will discover what is causing pain in her left ear, I pray that it is not serious.
All our fingers and claws are crossed.
GeeGee Parrot.
March 26th, 2019.
PostScript: ENT stands for Ear, Nose & Throat.
As you know, if you read my blog regularly, she is red hot on weeds in the vegetable beds and pounces on them.
Yesterday we woke to sunshine and a slightly warmer temperature and she said "ok Fatty, you're coming with me to the allotments to get a good dose of vit D and wind to blow those moths out of your feathers".. I ask you, how cheeky can a mother be!
We went by tube most of the way and were there before noon. She settled me on the table with an umbrella so I could have some shade if I wanted it and filled up my water bowl.
Then she disappeared behind Shack to sort out the area where she has a lavatory.. yes, you read that correctly.
Many years ago she bought a camping lavatory made by a company called Thetford. If you are out all day you need somewhere to 'go' and whereas it is ok for men to 'piddle' on compost bins, it isn't easy for women and it is impossible to do other things, so a camping 'loo' was needed.
The pallet fenced area had been invaded by that wretched jasmine and a blackberry, so she hacked it all down, tidied up the area, flushed and cleaned the unit, filled the bottom and top tanks with clean water and added the two mixtures which break down everything.
She buried a small amount of food waste in the new bed she made on plot # 41, then went weed hunting.
Because she checks every bed each time she is there, there was only one weed to be found and it was a miserable specimin with no chance of surviving once she had seen it!
But then old eagle eyes gave a squeak, what had she seen, I wondered.
In the two new strawberry beds where the new plants have settled in and are growing bigger by the day, there, on a Cambridge Favourite plant, were two tiny strawberries!
The pine tree leaf and wood chip mulch that was on top of the beds that she planted them is perfect, for strawberries, like blueberries, like an acid soil.
They are certainly doing much, much better than the other two strawberry beds on plot # 41 which don't have this mulch.
Luckily, there is lots of the pine mulch left up by the gate, people haven't taken it because it is an acid mulch but for strawberries it is perfect and guess what.. it is the perfect mulch against slugs!
In order to grow good strawberries, they require:
Full sunshine. Good drainage. An acidic-to-neutral soil.
Mulching your strawberry beds with a depth of about 4" is important as it: Decreases weed growth, minimises water usage because it stops the sun from drying out the soil, insulates the soil from the cold if you overwinter plants and it improves soil quality as it decomposes.
It's a 'win win win win' thing to do!
Mighty cheered by the sight of these two little fruits, she came and told me about them and said "Yum GeeGee, we're going to have lots and lots of delicious strawbugs this summer, how lovely that will be, they're the perfect pudding for bbq's with some goaty curd".
For yes, we both like home grown fruit.. no chemical are sprayed on our fruits or vegetables, she relies on old fashioned bug deterents and killers, like garlic, onions and peppermint and horticultural mesh to stop cabbage moths.
Time to tackle the front hedge rose.. 'Gloire de Dijon' is her name, three rose trees were planted over ten years ago and they love where she put them! They grow at a huge rate, each year she cuts them back and each summer, they come back with a vengence!
But she's a naughty rose for she doesn't like being picked and droops, mama has cut stems and put them immediately into water so she can bring them home but it doesn't work.. she's unhappy.
Mama pruned and talked to her and smiled as she saw several quite big buds which will probably open within a few days.
This lovely rose spends her days growing along the fence beside the track where people pass and smile at her, bees love her.. so we forgive her.
Today, although it is a glorious, we are not going to the allotments, she has an appointment with a hearing specialist at a new hospital, the ENT hospital on Grays Inn Road.
It is bang in the middle of the afternoon, so she will spend the morning doing 'stuff', then will disappear underground and come out at Kings Cross station and walk to her appointment.
I will be back later to tell you how she got on. Hopefully they will discover what is causing pain in her left ear, I pray that it is not serious.
All our fingers and claws are crossed.
GeeGee Parrot.
March 26th, 2019.
PostScript: ENT stands for Ear, Nose & Throat.
Thank you for shared such a important article.
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