Up at the Big House

Not a herb for the small patch, Lovage, already over 1 meter tall and starting to flower is a strong grower. It dies back totally in the winter. We don't use the seeds, just the delicious celery flavour young leaves. In a cheese sandwich beautiful.

Over the years I have tried many different ways of supporting Runner Beans. I have watched as a high wind removed panes of glass from my greenhouse. Felled my beans supported by a double row of canes and provided a soft landing place for the glass.

I have tried steel poles with tensioned fence wire holding canes which stood all the gusts only to see the beans growing up them torn to shreds.

The greenhouse and the straight row of beans have something in common. They present a barrier broadside to the wind when the direction is right, (wrong). Turning the row into a series of pyramids allows the wind to blow through and round. However, pyramids are upside down, broad at the base narrow at the top, to what we need. This has led to a commercially available upside down pyramid support, OK for a small plot.

Try a series of odd shaped, irregular structures, linked together at the top. Virtually impossible to describe or show in a picture. Just build away.

I call it the Stealth Aircraft. The plane is designed to present a different facet in all directions to radar. We are presenting a different facet to winds. More growing surface results and you can pick through and round the structures.

The rain has just eased up, 2 inches in the last couple of days, I have got to empty the rain gauge as there is not much more room.

The heavy stuff and the wind has battered the Broad Beans, tore 150mm off the top of some.

Here is a photograph that didn't get used earlier, more weather enforced succession growing. This is Spinach.

A well developed plant on the right and seedlings just germinating on the left.

In response to the request from friends to give 7 facts about me I will do so with pleasure.

I am not sure whether everyone that I might tag would be pleased to follow the instructions.

1) I am a person who does not run with the crowd.

2) I like people, male and female, yet my nightmare would be to sit/stand with a crowd of football supporters at a game. I did once when I was 15 years old.

3) I spent 3 weeks 'dead' on a life support machine due to Tetanus. Contracted when, yes, you guessed it gardening. So proving that boosters every 10 years do not afford protection.

4) I do not smoke.

5) I do not drink. Apart from Red Wine, Beer, the odd Spirit, White Wine, but not enough to say I drink you understand.

6) I can't understand how the young can say they are bored.

7) This has taken me ages. Due to 1) I am still thinking about tagging others, because if I did it would disprove 1) and I would have to start thinking again.

We adopted a bunch of Grapes to watch the progress. Just a picture whilst some blossom and pollen is still on. The grapes are starting to swell.

It is not the biggest one, about middle size I would say.

No more dusting the colonies of Blackfly on the Broad Beans, the troops have arrived , not in great numbers yet. The dusting stopped the pests getting a hold and making a mess. Now they are food for an invading Army.

They are not a huge crop. They are not large spuds but they are early, enough for a meal for two from one root. Above all they have flavour. Grown in large pots in the greenhouse until there was no more room for them. The growing medium, almost entirely leaf mould and garden compost.

Served with a spicy leaf salad and radishes, well worth the effort.

Lots of fruit trees set more fruit than they can possibly sustain. Natures way of setting the balance is to discard some of the crop. Gooseberries are particularly noticeable.

The fruit is a good size now. I pick a few pies worth and thin them out before nature gets in and wastes them.

I have still got quite a few Spring Cabbage which need eating and here I am home alone for a couple of days.

I said to my wife when I first cut one let's have it a starter. I just got odd looks.

There won't often be recipe ideas from me I can assure you.

Take one Spring Cabbage trim off outer leaves. Cut in half length wise, swish in a bowl of clean water as some quite unnecessary cleaning ritual.

Lay the two halves cut side down in a steamer and steam for a few minutes. Serve cut side up with Fromage Frais on top.

Absolutely delicious, nutty favour. I had to eat a whole one.

The traditional method of growing cabbages has been to sow in a seed bed and transplant.

There they take the punishment from the weather, the pests and diseases.

If you are growing only a small number of plants, to start them off indoors can produce a few very strong plants that will resist the pests, even club root.

These Nero Kale are ready to go out.

They are in big Origami Pots, fine root hairs are protruding through the sides. Strong tap roots from the bottom. When planted out they will be head and shoulders above any weeds that may germinate. Hopefully too tough for the Slugs and Snails. Also Cabbage Root Fly which often attacks young soft plants at transplanting time.
Water them in once and they can be almost forgotten about.

Well on schedule, the runner beans are outside hardening of and starting to, well, run.
They will go away at night still to keep them growing fast and to avoid any cold nights which we are not free of yet.

Approximately one plant in 50 of my broad beans have blackfly quite a large colony established itself on 4 plants.
Mr Chemical would say, reach for the sprayer and poison the very sap in all 200 plants, poison the pests that suck them, any other creatures that may eat those and hang the consequences of the residues in the food.

There are many small red and yellow ladybirds wandering the plants, and mating. In time they are going to do the job of clearing the blackfly. What I don't want is for the pests to get established first.

I first photographed this for a magazine item a couple of years ago. This photo is new today.

The method of dealing with the pest is based on anthropomorphism again. If you were a little black creature that breathed through tiny tubercles on your back and secreted sticky honey dew, what would really put you off.
Fine dust, this is Gypsum, pink plaster. I have tried a puffer pack type of applicator but a small amount in the hand dusted carefully on all the flies is easy.

Lime or Talc would work, Gypsum though is hygroscopic, it sucks moisture from where ever it can get it. When the dew comes at night it will get completely wetted and then set into plaster. As the plant grows it just falls off complete with incarcerated pests.

A bit like the Beer Trap for slugs but this is a different plastered.

Alf the retired farmer came one day for flock inspection, I told him one ewe had a limp. Right he said. Galvanised steel hurdles were delivered in his old van, we assembled them to make square enclosure round the tree in the corner of the paddock by the gate.

They say sheep are stupid, I am not so sure, the minute we produced the enclosure at the 10 o'clock position in the paddock, they moved en-flock to the 8 o'clock corner and observed. Right then, we have seen this on the TV, someone holds the gate open the sheep are driven toward the pen, once in the gate is shut.

I took the gate job. Alf approached the sheep, they started to stroll along the long side of the paddock to the 4 o'clock corner. Once Alf got near they left for the 2 o'clock spot. One more approach and they were on the home straight. Alf, experienced fellow moved out a little to keep them against the hedge. They turned back and ran for the 2'clock spot.
Another approach had them coming again, Alf followed not so far out this time so that his stick could form a barrier to the about turn trick. Half way along they took a diagonal spurt across to the 8 o'clock corner.

Right said Alf. Put that lamb in the pen his mother will come, the same anti clockwise path was travelled this time they got nearer, The lamb seeing his mother hopped the bar at the rear and joined her on the diagonal trot.

Going for help said Alf. How is it going Chas said the Boss and Jill as they came through walking the little pooch. More help needed I said I will get my wife. And I will get some old clothes said Mr F keen to join in.

The complete team. Alf, Me, Mr F, Jill, my Wife, a Guy from the village who is not too bright and a Lady who brought her Collie dog, set to work. We did the circuits armed with sticks. We were strategically positioned now. The Boss, guarding the final diagonal got excited when they started to break. Leaping up and down shouting Yah, Yah, Yah he started to run toward them, skidded and landed on his backside. His 'old clothes' consisted merely of his oldest gaberdine mac on top of smart suit collar and tie. His mac was now up his back and he was skid marked underneath when we picked him up.

When we finally had them penned I was shown the delights. Scraping mud and maggots from the feet of the flock and spraying with an insecticide disinfectant.

In those days all sheep had to be dipped between certain dates. If you didn't you faced a fine. Now I suppose you would be fined if you did dip because the Phenols used are banned. Man is so clever.
At dipping time we went through all the round up again transporting a few at a time in Alf's old rust bucket van to a nearby farm to use the dirty bath water after his lot were done.

I think we will remember 2007 for the patchy germination. April usualy brings ideal growing weather. Nice warm sunshine and showers.

This year some things waited. Some started and then were baked alive. I was thinking of re-sowing some of the gaps in the Beetroot rows but they have organised their own successional sowing. See the little ones on the left.

The only Parsnips I have seen germinate have been 4 or 5 among those Beetroot. I cant explain that one. My friend in France comes over in the winter and looks forward to roast organic Parsnips, they can't grow them there the spring is too warm and dry. Hard luck pal its going to be roast Garlic.

Another strange scene, a row of French Beans, half the row which gets some shade up and made some nice plants. The other half, nothing. I have re sown those, the original seed, still in the ground, not rotted, they started to grow but the ground dried out before the roots got down far enough to find moisture. They just stopped.

I agree with Irish, Wood Pigeons are OK, they know the rules, show them the gun regularly and they stay away.

I get no trouble from the Winged Rats (feral pigeons) either. They are not good flyers at low speed. When they land they need to know they have a clear path for take off. That is why this works.

This is near the hub of a series of radials of fishing line, above head hight, almost invisible to the naked eye. All birds can see it, garden birds ignore it. I have never seen a colision.
Pigeons don't come near. It is amusing to see the odd pigeon swoop in, spot a line, pull up hard on the joystick, encounter another line having lost speed and try to pull up again, go unstable in flight, think itself lucky to get out, never to return again.

Some far end gaps are 3m wide, a couple of extra cross wise lines at varying hights complete the picture.

The line is re-cycled. Replace your sea fishing line every year they say, as it deteriorates with sunlight. Well this has had 2 years fishing and 3 years in the vegetable plot it is still strong and elastic.

They are loving it. It won't be long before we are cropping these.

Superb cucumbers are no longer the fussy greenhouse grown, or spiny fat bitter outdoor things they used to be.
There are some superb new outdoor varieties which rival Telegraph for presentation and flavour.

I have grown Burpless Tasty Green for many years now, I have just planted some in rings.

Another of my outdoor variety indoor tricks this one gives superb crops of delicious cucumbers for a long season. It grows strongly in the protection of a glass house. Do not fall asleep in there it will use you for support.

I have two fan trained Fig trees to look after, one against the south facing wall in the walled vegetable garden. The other against my south facing fence, and now another, small one, to train as a replacement for mine at the cottage. The variety Brown Turkey, all three from the one original.

Being such strong growers you try to 'keep them down' by giving them rocky ground surrounding them with sunken barriers to restrict the root run, or even growing in a container. Only the container works totally but adds the problems of watering and providing a container big enough, to get a good size tree.

My training this year was with a chain saw, I took out the now too large old fan arrangement and left three new replacement branches. As the new tree grows three meters away it will be fan trained also. Probably in 3 years time the old one will be grubbed out.

It is pretty brutal training which keeps them neat and manageable.

The Fig is an interesting plant. It has fruit before it has leaves in the spring and you aint never seen one flower.
The flower structure is all inside the fruit, a tiny hole at the end allows access for an equally tiny wasp to get in and carry out the fertilisation process.

Another thing that has put on a spurt since the rain. Rhubarb.

Two varieties here, I grow three different, the only named one, Timpany Early, I grew from seed, ooh, 25 years ago.

Abused by confining to a small pot. Forced into flower in the attempt to continue the species.

Used as a pollen donor to fertilise other early flowers.

Discarded to the compost heap once it has set fruit.

Fortunately not the story of my life.

The picture is a bit crowded but the 2 plants are brothers. The small one is not making leaf, a growing point, side shoots or many fruits, just 3 flowers all set.

Job done now it's on the compost heap.

I showed lovely American Land Cress the other day. joebangles now has some seed so this item is inspired by him.
Having not had soil which it does not grow well in I am not sure of the preferences of Land cress. It is pretty obviously related to the native weed Bitter Cress (which you can eat but is a bit small). That can be recognised by the wiry seed stalks which carry long thin seed pods after the tiny white flowers have gone. I would therefore say that where Bitter Cress 'does' then so will Land Cress.

Moist shady soil is specified but It seems happy in a sunny spot here. It is sown late due to its tendency to run to seed if sown earlier. If sown indoors (something I have never tried) I would think it would want to be in a pot rather than a tray so that it can either stay there for cropping or be planted out without disturbance, it is cut and come again!

If transferred from a seed tray great care would be needed I think otherwise it may run to seed. Plenty of moisture would help. Try sowing a little outside right through to the Autumn.

The other point from joebangles was Hanging Tomatoes. I have seen the idea of tomatoes grown in a hanging basket or a grow bag hung up. I have never tried it and think it would be a bit of a gimmick, needing constant attention to watering.
However for those with a limited space or just a balcony for growing, why not.
Almost certainly one of the Cherry types would be best.

How about a standard grow bag folded in half and hanging over a line or balcony rail with, I would say only one plant in either side planted toward the top, hanging down, let them bush, i.e. no pinching out.

I would insert a funnel in the top, each side of the bag to assist watering.

Sounds like fun.

Sweet Corn Germination has been a little erratic this year some beating the rest by several days.

It is something that resents root disturbance so toilet roll tubes or origami pots are ideal.

Now this is what the tickling is for, the first flower on the first truss has set fruit.

So often at this time of year you can see no set at all on the first truss if left to self pollinate or to the insects.
In that case you may as well grow your plants later. A missed truss is a total waste of time and space. Time is what you pay big money for at the Garden Centre.

Now is the time that the gardener, hooked on what they read from the Chemical Companies, rushes out to buy a Tomato Feed. 'Apply high potash feed when the fruit has set'.
Mine have all they need in the compost in the ring in the form of my own slow release Organic Mix which includes Seaweed. Just as they get no water in the rings. They must sort that out from the bed below. Only if I identify a deficiency will they get any more feed in the ring.

The tomatoes produced are so different from the blown up tasteless balls of chemical water that are commercially offered.

Fully looking after the whole green house in summer 'can' consist of carrying a bucket of water to the greenhouse, tripping on the step and spilling it all on the central path.

I swear the seed grown Onions doubled in size after the first shower of rain.

Sown 12 days ago, nice to see them today.

Planted out yesterday against the South facing fence where my Fig does well, a Physalis (Cape Gooseberry). They are not too tender.
I am trying one with an early start and sheltered position just to see if this year I get some decent fruit.

Funny thing. There were enough last year that I didn't get, to self seed and be coming up as weeds where they were grown last year.

I understand that Jimmy Saville got in touch with God. Jim phoned 'lindow' yesterday. "I have great news for you, God says you can have 2 weeks all expenses paid holiday, any resort in the world, guaranteed sunshine. Or half an inch of rain."

This is the last rain picture for a while, I promise, that is 15mm, a good old fashioned 1/2 inch. majority was overnight here, heavier, but nice and steady, just what we wanted.

Returning to the Runner Bean Germination test. Some were not yet sprouted when we looked at them before, they will be varied they are a mix of different varieties and crosses,(saved seed).

Today I can easily see that 8 out of 10 are producing a root. The other 2 needed the seed case to be split to see that they to are OK, just slow off the mark.

So 100% germination. Now if I was a seed supplier it is not difficult to work out what percentage of old seed I can mix in and still be well within the legal figure.

Then I can still put on the packet. 'Standard Seed, conforms to EC rules and standards.'

Oh! Chas, sometimes you say some wicked things.

Geraniums grown from cuttings taken earlier this year, still in 90mm pots, continually need their flower buds removed to keep the energy concentrated on plant growth.

Now ready for moving into 90mm pots. The outdoor tomatoes are showing flower buds and are on track for planting out in 3 weeks time.

Any of the small cherry varieties are OK. These are 'real' tomatoes The Amateur, good crops in the right season and real flavour.

A good tip, grow The Amateur indoors, in the greenhouse, who knows what sort of Summer we will get. In a bad year the protection is well rewarded.

Locally we have not been blessed with the rain that was forecast. Last night there was another measurable amount.

A nice 3.5mm, it is so pleasing I have photographed it, from another angle this time.

Thinks, my rain gauge has seen better days. A spot of food dye would make water visible.
Steals food dye from kitchen, empties rain gauge and puts a smidgeon of blue in there. Sits back to wait for refill. Fill her up Landlord please.

Larry the Lamb fared well on his Bulmers Cider, I can't remember how many times a day we had to go down the paddock to feed him. It is strange how both he and his mother adapted. They stayed close together and she was very protective but at feeding time, one flash of the Bulmers Bottle and Larry would run over from the far corner long un-docked tail wagging. Mother would come and watch from close quarters.

He would gambol around, run up the hay stooks and knock them flying. There was more hay to be cut, turned and stacked, he enjoyed playing with this activity. Once as I was cutting with the Allen Scythe he ran from behind me, circled and ran straight across the cutting blades. I don't know how, but he made it untouched.

Alf our adviser came to check and said. "That lamb is scouring, I will bring some medicine".

Well I had not noticed any problems before the dose, afterwards he sure was scouring. Diorrhea just ran from him, he stopped eating and went very weak.
Here my childrearing experience came in, our lad had ear infections which caused sickness and rapid dehydration. In those circumstances we had to get Oralite, gluco-saline solution down any way we could.

I mixed a teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt in boiled water. Larry laid down in the paddock in the shade, I went down every 20 minitues and let him lick a few drops either from the teat or my finger. At night I carried him up into the wood shed and lay him on some straw under the bench. I continued the feed routine in the evening. We had visitors, when they left at midnight, they came to take a look as he licked a few more drips of solution from my finger, in torchlight, barely able to lift his head.

In the morning he will be dead I said.

The woodshed door was a heavy stable type. I was not looking forward to my task as I opened up in the morning. First the top section, I could see the straw but not right under the bench. As I opened the bottom section Larry flew out between my legs nearly bowling me over. He ran down the side garden round the lawn and up the path into the vegetable garden with me in persuit.
His mother was pleased to see him when I finally got hold of him and took him back to the paddock.

One morning I went on my usual patrol round the 'estate' which now when I reached the paddock included a check on our 'flock'. As I reached the kiss gate at the bottom of the woodland walk I could see them all. There was no chance of falling asleep counting them.

One old ewe was separated from the others. What was that shaking underneath her. Barren aye, that was a lamb, tail shaking away he was getting nowhere his mother had no milk.

Alf was summoned, he summoned Sally. Sally took in the weak and hopeless orphaned lambs locally and reared them almost as pets. She came armed with a Bottle of Bulmers Cider with a big black teat on it. Hmm I thought nice of her to bring me some booze for my shock. Of course the bottle contained milk.

After a crash course on lamb rearing 'in the field' I headed for the Feed Merchants.
'Milk for a Lamb please'.

'High protein or not, one has protein added'.

'Why, what sort of protein'.

'Protein derived from slaughterhouse blood'.

'What! I cannot remember putting blood in our children's milk, I will have ordinary Gold Top please'.

This was the time when those clever chemical boys were rendering down bits of dead sheep to put in feed for cows. A practice which subsequently lead to Mad Cow Disease and CJD.
If only the Farmers had seen what an abhorrent practice it was rather than pound note signs £! £!.

Here is a very rare photograph from the 'estate' I don't normally take a camera in for security reasons.

That is my baby that you have there!

Larry the Lamb had some adventures which will follow.

Only recently has this picture made me smile for another reason. The hair and the stook of hay, so similar, no comments please. I am in enough trouble with my wife already.

The peas have been sitting with their flowers tightly shut.

Do they know there is no sense setting pods when it is getting drier and drier, I think they do. Today after the rain. Open flowers.

Anthropomorphism. I don't know what it means just thought it would look good. And I didn't have to use the spell checker.

It has got to be rare for an Englishman to go out and photograph his rain.

3mm in case you can't read the mucky scale. Light rain all night water barrels are full. Still hopes for more.

Now, if I was to sow 200 Runner Beans in 200 pots of compost and sat back to wait for them to show, only to find 50% of the seed was not viable would I be happy.

A viability test gives confidence that everything is going well. Going back to first school, do you remember the jam jar and blotting paper and growing a bean, I do.

This principle is similar, 10 seeds laid on their sides on some vermiculite or whatever, which is kept moist.

Note where the root emerges from, top of the scar, other end to the two bumps. Note also the seeds were on their sides so the root is having to turn either left or right.

That is it, by the time I hit send it will be the 7th of May.

21 years ago my first job was to mend a bit of wire fencing between the paddock and the pond area.
Alf the retired Farmer who lived in village and drove an old van made of rust held together by white paint, had been dispatched to market. He was experienced with livestock. He still kept a few bullocks on a bit of land down the lane as a hobby and did a bit of work for various farms around.

He was going to bring back automatic mowing machines, sheep. Alf was our advisor and contact man, we were going into sheep farming.

They arrived late morning, 4 barren Ewes and 8 quite big lambs. I was surprised to find precious little notes in my diary about this venture. I do have the price recorded, bought at auction £121 for each ewe and a pair of lambs.

I don't know how that price compares with today, I don't know how good a price it was then. Seems the 'old girls' were rescued from home Halal slaughter, as their fate.

Another seed for late sowing, choose a shady spot. The seed is expensive so I save my own from the odd plant I allow to go to seed. I now get it growing as a weed.

American Land Cress, tastes like Watercress, use it in salads, sandwiches and for Watercress soup.

This is bird damage, I don't know what species, otherwise it would be displayed plucked and ready for the table.

The French Beans are coming up very slowly due to the lack of rain. I think it may be Blackbirds that are tugging them up as soon as they show. The only solution is to cover with netting.

On more than one occasion when the kids were young I went to open evening to be confronted by my habits, out in the open, revealed.

'Dad tickling his tomato's' was the caption to a drawing of a matchsticky fellow with a long nose, in among some green shrubbery. At least the kids knew why I did it and could explain before I got to see. I hope.

When heat and humidity is right the tomato flowers will be seen to shed pollen when the plant is knocked. At this time of year they need a little help, pollen production is not high. Mid day supposed to be the best time for a tickling session, I tend to do morning, noon and night. There is so little pollen about you don't even see it. I flit from flower to flower plant to plant and back again, just a gentle touch from a squirrel hair artists brush.

I pinched mine from the wife several years ago, I have one in each greenhouse
ready for action.

Whether it is Brussels or Broccoli the Sprout plants grow like little trees. When it comes to pulling them up they can be difficult even for a strong man. Even then a wrong move can 'put you back out' when picking up a sheet of A4 Paper. Therefore this tip that I think is mine alone is a useful one.

When you get the plants up they need to be broken up and crushed, before they go on the compost heap, otherwise the woody parts will be woody in a years time. Its not easy to do much with the huge unwieldy things. Split them with a spade the books say, chop them into short sections, well you have to have a good aim, it is not easy to hold them steady.

I make use of the fact that we have them already firmly held in the ground, I strip off all leaves and side shoots, leaving a meter high stalk. Across the top where it is soft and green I insert my knife, it is amazing how easy it is to now run the knife right down to the base of the plant splitting the stalk in two. The base of the stem and the root system also splits easily and the two parts can be removed from the ground and broken into short sections with the hands.

Sorry the photograph is not the best demo of the method, I broke one of the two halves off near ground level. It is far more sensible to leave it long and use it as a lever for removal.

The vegetable plot is never without sprouts, the new seedlings are up in the seed bed, awaiting some rain.

Generally everything has sailed by this year with no mistakes or disasters.

The trained Blackberry is an exception, well its tucked away a bit you see, I have to go and visit it, its a new training regime, oh we all make mistakes.

Its grown on a strong framework and heavily pruned and trained as a cordon. Each year a huge new phallic replacement stem comes up in the spring to replace the current one which is cropping this year.

On the fruiting cordon I keep all side shoots to only 150mm long. I swear last time I looked they were only 100mm, yesterday a lot were 350mm and showing flower buds.

I refuse to let it have the upper hand and develop great long shoots that grab you round the back as you pass by, so nearly half the flower buds have gone, victims of the secateurs. Experiment, extend the season by getting rid of half the first batch in the hope that it produces more buds for later, it will, try and stop it.

Since his medical disaster Mr.F gets gets very frustrated. It is very understandable. He was THE man in a Blue Chip company. Now with all his brain power working but not 100% steady on his feet, and his speech problem. Well you can imagine.

In his working life he would have said, I want, and he would have got. Twenty one years ago he wanted one of the local farmers to bring some stock into the paddock as the grass was getting taller. I am sure the offer of a free bit of grass is not that special, farmers have other things to do.
No animals had shown and there was a confrontation, I was not around but I bet the false teeth rattled. The relationship ended.

So out came the old Allen Scythe, a bit of fiddling and she started. It hadn't been used for years. I had never used one in my life. Well there I was, hay making and the whole paddock to do.

There is a sure way to know when the Boss is really angry, or you have given him a good laugh. He loses control of his false teeth, sometimes its so good he has to put his hand up to prevent them flying out into the compost heap.

Such it was when I introduced him to one of my favourite vegetables.

I will grow you a long row of it, I am sure you will love it, I said, Adolf Hitler was very fond of it. Crazy for it in fact.

Really, said the Boss.

Yep, so keen he got all his followers to chant, Sea Kale, Sea Kale when they saw him.

Splutter splutter.

Now is the time to sow it.

Traditionally it is sown now, and cropped until winter. Lately in our mild winters it has been going through and giving a crop in the spring before going to seed. This year it has cropped throughout the winter. The photograph shows some sown late last year which is very happy.

The green is eaten raw in salads, or cooked like spinach. The thick white stalks are steamed separately, beautiful.

It is difficult to grow things without thinking about the design around us. I love my Lithops.

Just when did they think it would be a good idea to start and look like the pebbles they grow among. How did they know the foraging animals that eat them would not spot them so easily.
(It did say goats, but see the comment from 'cactus jack', if we are thinking of the goat as we know it, it might imply a rather rapid change or a design ready for the introduction of the goat by man later).

It was only the other day we were pinching out the grapes. In no way is that the end of the work. I have already removed side shoots which emerge from every leaf joint, today there are more thin and wispy, they have to go. They are no good to us the whole vine would become a jungle in time if left. We need all the energy of the plant directed to the developing grapes.
The photo shows how quickly they grow, it is the same bunch that was pinched out previously.

Adopt a Bunch, we will keep our eye on this one.

I have not seen any Broad Beans that have stood through the winter round here to know how far on they are.
Maybe a little ahead, it is good to the first flowers well open now on mine.

One of the major undertakings each year is the production of the Runner Bean plants in pots. That is why I am quite keen on the bio degradable pot. Whilst folding the final few today I picked up a sheet of newspaper that got splashed with water. The wet strength really is poor, it remains to be seen if it is good enough.

Since starting the folding caper I have been trying to think of some reinforcement or waterproofing method. Hairspray no, varnish no, silicone no, waxoil no, they are not bio.

My son is often up to something, he arrived one day with 100% pure silver strip and distilled water. "Build me a variable current DC source please", he asked, "I want to make silver ionised water".
Another day he had a litre of Rape Oil. "What we do is add a small amount of white spirit as a catalyst, shake and in your greenhouse in the heat of the sun for a while the glycerine will drop out leaving a non sticky bio fuel".
It worked, a 250ml sample stayed in a bottle in the greenhouse getting clearer as time goes by.

That's it Bio Diesel, I put it in a hand spray, it sprays a treat. Spray the pot inside and out, leave in the sun for a time all trace of vapour is gone. You can pre treat the sheets of paper before folding it is nice to handle.

Now for the test, you can fill a pot treated this way, with water, leave it for 10 minutes, pick it up, carry it around, drop it on the greenhouse bench. The one on the right is bulging out of shape, you can see the water glistening.

Next, I have 15 beans planted in them, I can't see bio oil causing any problems with the plant, it just remains to be seen whether the pot stays stronger

When I started this blog I thought I was going to post some comic anecdotes from over the years more often, plenty of time for those, I have too much to say, as she keeps telling me.

On Sunday morning after our Christian Meeting we brought back a lady for a cup of tea. I won't mention her age, not the done thing, she was in the Land Army in 1942 though.

As she sat and chatted I fetched out a sheet of Newspaper, not any old newspaper, the football insert from the Mail on Sunday, never read it, the football bit that is. I folded creased and run my nail along the seam, tore it in half folded, folded again and finally with a flourish popped open an Origami Pot.

Her eyes latched on it, I handed it to her, she inspected. Could I do that, she said, I reckon you could soon learn I replied.

My wife had not yet helped with any pot making, she joined in, followed the instructions a bit wrong and produced the 3x3 inch version by default.

Me stupid, not a bit, we all chatted, folded and drank tea, went for a tour of the garden, chatted folded, drank tea, had a snack, folded, finally the lady went home at 6:00 O'clock. She thanked me for the entertainment, I thanked her for the supply of pots.
You know, I always learn something when I come here.
Next time I will show you how to double dig.

Just like the old days, doing things together gets the family chatting together.

Later, as my wife sat folding with me she said, you know you would not have the 3x3 if it was not for me.
No, I follow instructions properly. Oops, said the wrong thing, I do seem to have the knack of that after all these years.

Later, So you are punching the holes at that stage now are you.
Yes I find it easier.
I find it easier when it is folded completely.
Don't criticise or I wont do any more for you.
I was not criticising, just mentioned it that's all.
There's another one for you finished.
Oh lovely, thank you so much, I am so grateful.
Don't be sarcastic.
I'm not, I'm not, I am really, so grateful for the help.
Oh we do have fun.

Still on the subject of re-cycling, you can't help but notice the presence of expanded mica in the pictures of my composts at home.

This arrived unannounced a couple of years ago, vast, inflated looking, black rubbish sacks of it. It spent probably more than 25 years up the chimney at my sons house, when he removed the gas boiler and found it he knew exactly where to take it.
Wonderful as an insulator and capable of holding 9.75 Billion times its own weight of water, well nearly. Yes bring it in I will find somewhere to store it.