I should look up at Melbury against the blue and white sky and feel my heart skip a beat at it’s high-rise beauty. In may ways indeed I do. But I feel a sense of sadness too because, on it’s lowest slopes the grass is an artificially enhanced luminous green, fenced off with spiky wire [...]
Read More »How To Blog
Posts Tagged ‘butterfly’
4 November 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman STOPPING FOR A WEE
Wednesday, November 4th, 200915 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman THE CONSEQUENCES OF NEGLECT
Tuesday, September 15th, 200915 September 2009 THE CONSEQUENCES OF NEGLECT Been forced to compost a dozen Rodeo F1 red cabbages and five Ormskirk savoy’s (sown 24 June) which were in large pots. Bit of a gutter really. I’d potted them on since pricking out (6 July) and was growing them further before planting in the ground for winter [...]
Read More »1 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman IT’S A JUNGLE PARTS 1 & 2
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009IT’S A JUNGLE (PART 1) Wasps are gorging on grapes that hang in pale-green bunches from a rampant vine above the water butt. They hover around, land, find some sweet stuff and get stuck in, head first. I wouldn’t nave noticed except there were four wasps drowning in the circular concrete pool below. I did [...]
Read More »28 August 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman PESTS & DIEASES
Friday, August 28th, 200928 August 2009 PESTS & DISEASES Consistency of action is vital to gardening success, even at this late stage of the season. I’ve had distractions elsewhere for a day or two but this morning passed a caretaker’s eye over purple sprouting broccoli which I’ve been nurturing with the ‘hungry gap’ next March to early May [...]
Read More »25 August 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman AUTUMN COMETH
Tuesday, August 25th, 200917 August 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman DUNCLIFFE LANDSCAPE ON MONDAY EARLY EVENING
Monday, August 17th, 200917 August 2009 DUNCLIFFE LANDSCAPE ON MONDAY EARLY EVENING A field below the engine stops. Farmer alights from tractor cab and walks to the yard. His hay is turned. I stop thinking and listen. Cockerels. Grasshoppers. Bees. Barking dogs. Vehicles. Birdsong. Rooks. Cows. Children’s voices. Not in that particular order, not continuous. Some more than [...]
Read More »8 August 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman ON BRUSSELS SPROUTS BUTTERFLIES & WASPS, SATURDAY AFTERNOON 2.13
Saturday, August 8th, 20098 August 2009 ON BRUSSELS SPROUTS BUTTERFLIES & WASPS I frequently write about why wasps should be tolerated. The good they do in a veg patch controlling caterpillars is often overlooked or not fully appreciated. I’ve also written about how, around now, breeding nests disperse and once flesh-hungry jaspers become excited by sugary things like [...]
Read More »6 August 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman A CLOSE ENCOUNTER IN THE SHED WITH FRED
Thursday, August 6th, 20096 August 2009 A CLOSE ENCOUNTER IN THE SHED WITH FRED I opened up the shed this morning to sort out bits for my day ahead. In the side room, formerly an aviary full of finches and other cage birds but gutted by me some years ago and converted into a vegetable store, a peacock [...]
Read More »3 August 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman BUTTERFLIES BEFORE 9 AM, MORE BUTTERFLIES
Monday, August 3rd, 20093 August 2009 BUTTERFLIES BEFORE 9 AM It could be a fine day. Two peacock butterflies were sunning themselves on the light surface of a stone wall. They opened and closed their distinctively wide-eyed wings slowly as if absorbing the reflective rays. I chatted on the phone and watched them. Just before the church clock [...]
Read More »