CABBAGES (THREE DIFFERENT ONES) This week Dirty Nails has been both sowing, tending and eating cabbages. This green-leaved doyen of the veg patch comes in many different varieties that can be sown and harvested practically year-round. On the plot, he has just put down a line of January King 3. This handsome customer is a [...]
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DIRTY NAILS BLOG by Joe Hashman CABBAGES (THREE DIFFERENT ONES), SEEING THE LIGHT
Monday, June 21st, 2010DIRTY NAILS BLOG by Joe Hashman PLANTING OUT ‘GREENS’
Friday, May 28th, 2010PLANTING OUT ‘GREENS’ A big job for this time of year is planting out members of the cabbage family. They include Brussels sprouts, purple sprouting broccoli, kale and, of coarse, cabbages themselves. Technically, these so-called ’greens’ are known as Brassicas and they‘ll feed the family this coming winter. A lot of folk baulk at the [...]
Read More »14 January 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman THE WORLD OF…SURVIVAL
Thursday, January 14th, 2010THE WORLD OF…SURVIVAL An abiding childhood memory is of watching those Anglia TV-produced wildlife documentaries that started with dramatic music and then captivated their audience with the voice-over and title: “The World Of Survival.” I’ve got it in my head that the species featured usually lived in Canada or The States and these half-hour thrills [...]
Read More »13 January 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman SHOOTERS LANE IN SNOW, RARE DELIGHT
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010SHOOTERS LANE IN SNOW Half-way betwixt the High Street and Leyton Lane. All you can hear is the gurgle of water in some underground drain, tweets and scolds of blackbird and great tit, and the pitter-patter of falling snow: not flakes, but fresh-fall melts in mini avalanches from the tunnel of twigs and branches. Stand [...]
Read More »12 January 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman TUESDAY MORNING: THOUGHTS OVER TOAST & TEA
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010TUESDAY MORNING: THOUGHTS OVER TOAST & TEA My hands are the cleanest they’ve been for years. Credit the abrasive action of tiny snow crystals, continual washing-up with soap and cleaning. Plus (aside from a brief flirtation with soft middle-of-a-molehill clay) there has been no mud to play with for weeks on account of it being [...]
Read More »8 January 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman THOUGHTS & OBSERVATIONS, SNOWBALLS
Friday, January 8th, 2010THOUGHTS & OBSERVATIONS – A man eyeing up cakes in the supermarket. Thinking of getting one to have as a treat on the way home. Sharing hello’s and a chuckle. ”No one will know unless you fall over and leave one half sticking out your gob!” – Buying pearl barley for the first time in Donkey’s [...]
Read More »21 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman THE IRON GRIP OF WINTER
Monday, December 21st, 2009THE IRON GRIP OF WINTER Ground is like iron out on the plot. We’ll not be lifting roots for a while yet, save pot-grown carrots which are in the greenhouse to keep off the worst of the frost. I walked down the allotment field to the tinker-chime of feeding goldfinches in charming flocks. They love [...]
Read More »16 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman BATTLE COMMENCES
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009BATTLE COMMENCES Pigeons have made a start on my brassicas. On this steely morning, with the promice of snow in the air, they sit a-plump and ever watchful in the lime above the veg patch. They, I’m sure, are eye-balling me and my spring cabbages in a line below. The hearts have been almost pecked out [...]
Read More »4 November 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman STOPPING FOR A WEE
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009I 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 »15 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 [...]
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