Keen gardeners (aren’t you all?) will understand how thrilled I was when my winning raffle ticket resulted in a promise of a trailer load of manure. I haven’t established whether it is fresh (in which case it will be mixed into the compost heap) or well-rotted (I’ll spread it on the border I’m about to replant) but either way it is the best raffle prize I’ve ever won!
Saturday 23rd October – Sunday 31st October is Autumn Festival Week at Nunnington Hall near York. Join organic garden tours with tips and advice on everything from water harvesting, to organic pest and disease control to making compost teas to use as a fungicide and plant tonic. Find out about wormeries and and Bokashi (the word means fermentation in Japanese) bins, which allow you to turn all your kitchen waste into nutrient rich compost. There will be tours of the orchard and apple juicing and tasting too. Further information on: 01439 748283; www.nationaltrust.org.uk
You know when you decide to do something quickly and it goes wrong and escalates into a laborious and time-consuming exercise? I’ve managed this twice this week while waiting for the kettle to boil. The first time I decided to water my several hippeastrum plants with dilute liquid feed, forgetting that they were standing on decorative but very shallow saucers. Result: streams of water cascading over the top and front of the cupboard on which they were standing. The second time, earlier today, while checking plants in my propagator on the kitchen window sill I managed to dislodge it and send my carefully nurtured tomato plants tumbling
to the floor. Miraculously they have all survived and with the compost back in their pots they look (nearly) as good as before.
The half hour spent clearing up the mess and repotting has persuaded me that horticultural tasks are best not undertaken while waiting for a kettle to boil.
Thank goodness I had arranged a day’s help in the garden from Kevin, an amiable Scouser, who I can call on when heavy work needs doing. Last week’s log delivery was still sitting on the path, admittedly looking remarkably like an Andy Goldsworthy sculpture, but nonetheless, in urgent need of transport to the log store. He had nearly finished and was looking forward to a little light horticulture, when a delivery of a tonne bag of organic multipurpose compost arrived on a lorry without a crane. The only place it could go was on the driveway in front of the car – which was needed first thing the next morning. So I gathered up every bag I could find and Kevin shovelled and between the two of us we managed to empty the bulk bag sufficiently to heave it out of the way and liberate the car. Remarkably, Kevin was back the next day to move all the potting compost to its final destination. What a trouper!
