Titanarum

Compost in colour

admin — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 09:15:14 +0000

Yes yes. I’m still doing it. 3 carrier bags full of my veg debris have gone into the composter on the allotment. The first one was well yucky. I hadn’t lined the bucket with newspaper (also recycled!) so slime I shall not describe slid onto my shoes in transit. But you live and you learn dontcha? If a certificate for the serious composter exists I feel I deserve one. With stars and distinctions. From my elegantly photoshopped and incredibly sharp picture you will see that I compost a variety of items. Most notably heather and orange peel. You may think heather rather strange. Am I cooking with the stuff? Thankfully no. That would be as revolting as cooking with lavender, if you ask my opinion. I found it on a walkabout in my locality and thought it pretty. Upon returning I attempted to put in a vase but it was too far gone. Heather flower after heather flower fell all over my work tops and floor. So in the compost it went. And as for the orange peel all there is to say is that I’ve eaten rather a lot of them lately. Simple really. But you can compost anything without causing a stink as long as it hasn’t been cooked or comes from an animal. Happy composting.

Some people have all the luck

admin — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:20:39 +0000

Had a look at littlegemsallotment.com. Lovely pix of good strong baby plants. Meanwhile my seeds are barely sprouting.

Kew Garden to close

admin — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:08:29 +0000

I just read that Kew Garden near Richmond upon Thames is going to close. I read it on www.landscapejuice.com and feel very sad about it. Kew Garden is near me and I have had a lot of memorable excursions to that place.

Spring sprang sprung

admin — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:52:29 +0000

Well well well. What can I say? The buds are swelling, the worms are wriggling and the rain just keeps on coming. It is spring. I know I declared spring sprung during a visit to the Isabella Plantation in early January but that was obviously a mistake on my part. I don’t feel a need to apologise. Those who know me accept that I’m wont to over excitement. But, being at the end of March, the statement finally holds true. And now, with the storms behind us, it is time to get our nails and backs broken. Time to get sunburnt arms and aching thighs. Because gardening isn’t all about fun. It is hard work and sheer determination. Those who say otherwise either employ a gardener or belong to a tiny minority of organised sticklers who check their angles, and best-before -dates on seed packets. And rest assured they are well ahead of garden people on TV and in magazines. We all know one or two, I expect. And respect to them. By all means. But I’m going to hurt for my produce. When I think of the chewing, slicing, boiling and baking I’m going to subject them to, it feels like the least I can do.

Wrapped up cherries

admin — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:13:56 +0000

I planted my first cherry tree five years ago. It is called Stella and is a red self fertile dessert cherry. Last year I had my first fruits. Only 6 stayed on to maturity and of those I only had two thanks to the determined cunning and sheer weightiness of the pigeons feeding off our plots. Despite using netting they still managed to sit on one of the branches till it broke off and the fruits were free to get their beaks into. I wouldn’t bat an eyelid if they got stuck in the netting and died a long drawn out painful death (that was obviously my subconscious and base instinct talking and I’d never follow through in real life, it is only how I feel.). Anyway, the two I tasted were out of this world. Unsurpassed sweetness and juiciness. And the largest, I kid you not, was the size of a walnut. So this year I’ve decide to wrap the sets of fruit individually in small pieces of netting. The kind that comes with oranges, packs of garlic and potatoes. And I will disguise the fruits as best I can without barring the sun’s light, so necessary for ripening and flavour. Never again will a pigeon or any other bird for that matter, share my cherries.

Begonia Rex remedy

admin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 08:21:42 +0000

Begonia Rex. Ah. The trouble that plant has brought me. But not for much longer. I told you weeks ago about the history of my exemplar: kept in a tiny plastic pot for 4 years in a baking hot south facing window sill the magenta red leaves had me entranced. When its owner, a dear friend, decided to emigrate to Bavaria in Germany, I put a bid in for adoption. I won, needless to say. And in my gratitude I gave the plant a new life with fresh soil and room for the roots to grow forth and multiply. And the leaves grew brown and beige and darkly green. So a few weeks back I did the only thing I could think of. I cut it back and crammed the roots into the smallest pot I could find with barely a hint a humus to keep them moist. I watered sparingly and am now waiting for the red leaves to grow. I have already seen enough signs of redness to cheer me up. And to chill me to the bone. You’d think goodness begets goodness. But that is not always the case. It scares me to think what other analogies can be drawn from the example of Begonia Rex.

Hope is all there is

admin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 08:19:25 +0000

Now that Easter has wiped out all bugs and tender plants I’m with Andrewdotcom in hoping for a long warm summer. His pictures, to be seen on www.lavendongarden.com, of snowclad ground and buildings remind us of the contrasts we in the UK and many other places around the world, have got to put up with. Sigh.

Building a propagator

admin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 08:01:25 +0000

Wonderful idea this: www.twowests.co.uk. Why didn’t I think of that?

Generosity

admin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:44:34 +0000

The generosity of spirit of some people puts me to shame. Take Greenforks.com, who is not only feeding pigeons, but is protecting the food of pigeons from squirrels!

Wallflowers

admin — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:19:06 +0000

Wall flowers have a lovely scent. Not always pretty to look at but then you can’t have everything all of the time. Some cultivars tick both boxes though. I prefer the slightly variegated pale purple, pale pink and pale yellow ones. I sowed a pack of multicoloured wall flowers a few years back in the hope that I would be able to pick the colours I liked and discard the others. But something went wrong along the way. Or the colours didn’t stay true. What I expected to be a bluish red turned my pet hate colour: rusty orange. I picked them the other day but have hid them in a dark corner in the living room so that the scent is all I notice. The disappointment is bearable but I shall not sow packs of multi coloured flowers again. The winds raging this Easter have deterred me from doing my bit for the plot. I will sort the place out in clement weather, thank you very much. And I’d advise everybody else to do the same, were I in the habit of advising. But I’m not. Due to chronic inconsistency and irrational, mood dependent behaviour I fly in the face of role modelling.