There I was explaining to my brother, he who is a little older and wiser than I, that I’d devised this ‘foolproof’ method to keep the dreaded carrot fly off my crop on my plot.
I’d built a carrot wall. Not made of carrots but of little planks of wood, so that the carrots cannot get at my crop. A mini raised bed where the carrots can thrive in peace and would, therefore, crop beautifully and without a blemish.
There was a brief silence from him then ” they might get over the wall by flying, they are after all called carrot flies”.
Here’s my answer:
This is the first time that I have been able to grow carrots without the little beasts getting at my crop. They might fly but they can’t get over my wall!
My sweet peas, on the other hand, needed no walls.
Eat your heart out Cecil B De Mille. Another thriller from the plot. Watching “Plot2” which would be the title for this I’m determined that the sequel will be better. Look out for “Plot3” when the plot thickens.
This is another from my series on the British Character ( Pont: Graham Laidler, and the British Character ) and is close to my heart. I like order in the garden but not too much, a bit like I like order in my life, but not too much. I’ll let the drawing do the talking today, it’s sunny outside and I need to go and see if that pigeon is eating my veg. The one featured here is a veg bandit unlike the one found the other day ( Pigeons, well that makes a change from sheds. )
I’m a fan of this artist’s work. Guided here by my other half who discovered him for herself some years ago, and is herself inspired by it, take a look at Antoni Tapies
In a homage to his paintings here are my own images, gleaned straight from the plot. A heady mixture of art and “sheddism”. A sunny day helps both the art of the shed and the growing of the plot.
This one is called “Untitled 1”
This one is “Unititled 2”
and this one is “Rusty nail”
and finally this one:
which is called” Self portrait with shed door juxtaposed”.
All are available as fine art prints, of course. Get in touch with your bank details.
Here’s a change from other stuff, a short tour around a cabbage and some sheds. It’s not high on production values, but the light on the plot makes it worthwhile, perhaps. It’s heaven for all you ‘sheddists’ out there. Happy plotting!
Some days of Autumn the light catches just right and yesterday was such a day. Not my plot but one that I cross on a favourite walk. This one caught my eye. If you look a little closer you’ll see a fine crop of tommies in that greenhouse and the greens have done ok too.
Anyone familiar with my site will know my liking for sheds. This plot with it’s amazing collection of slightly raised wooden beds for the veg must have taken hours of work to get right. I think I know what they are trying to achieve and that’s to eliminate the dreaded couch grass. I won’t work, but it will help. That stuff could tunnel into a bank vault, which some of you might remember over here is another pastime that us pensioners get up to. Pensioner pastimes
On my own plot I have the other dreaded weed: horse’s tail. Someone asked me what it looks like the other day. I asked if they’d ever seen a horse’s tail. What I could do with is what comes out from below the horses tail.
Sunflowers are a favourite with artists and they are with me. If I get some of that stuff that comes out from below the horses tail I might give them a go next year on my own plot. These two are somewhat degraded from their full yellow glory but magnificent still.
Have a good Monday, and if you’re a pensioner, stick to the plot.
There’s a hint in the tone. Slightly incredulous, and it’s result is confidence sapping. I’m not one for high fashion, in fact I’d be better described as a follower of low fashion if there is such a thing. Ill fitting jeans, I’ve lost a bit of weight and they were cheap, are de rigeur for me. In contrast to my daughter and son in law, I have only enough shoes to be useful. I find that shoes get more comfortable with age so are worth hanging on to for as long as possible. They have more shoes than I think I’ve ever had in my life.
That aside the comment was about my plan to wear my rather natty hat. I bought it in Canada but it was made in China, so it has some mileage in it. The planned trip was to see “the boys”, that is my brand new hardly worn twin grandchildren up in London, involved taking the hat with me and wearing it. If you want to know more about being a mother of twins then take a look at Two boys one mum where my baby girl writes about her baby boys, with a certain amount of good humour.
In the end I took it and my hat never came out of my rucksack. So it got a few more miles under it’s belt but was of no use whatsoever.
I came back home and wore it yesterday at the plot: the allotment, to keep the bright sunny September sun out of my eyes. I sent a picture of myself to my other half and daughter.The reply was telling: “Hat best for the allotment”. So London and the boys will never have the pleasure of seeing it in real life.
Looks o.k. to me and it’s a well known brand.Rhubarb in the background.
I’ve had a busy day on the blog today, and lots of visits after posting about food! Seems to be a much favoured subject. Well there’s food here too.
“What do you put on your rhubarb, horse manure?”
” Actually I prefer custard”
My daughter would no doubt describe that as a “Dad joke”.
I’m a big fan of sheds and shedism ( that is the practice of shed ) One of my friends even wrote a book about it and its a gem, look out for Men and Sheds by Gordon Thorburn.He and I have also done a book together about Some Missing Persons, but that’s not about sheds. I could expand on this but I think Mr Thorburn’s book says it all.
