Posts Tagged ‘lime’

16 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman BATTLE COMMENCES

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

BATTLE 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 [...]

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19 November 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman WINDY DAYBREAK

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Out the back, only elder and the lowest whiskers of lime hold on to any semblance of foliage. The rest, blown inside-out by recent winds, are skeletal-naked. Hilltop trees Mexican Wave their outer branches in an elastic ripple. A stones’ throw from my back-against-a-wall vantage in the veg garden, I can see whole elephantine lime limbs [...]

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21 August 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman BLACKBIRD IN THE GUTTER, BLOWSY BORDERS

Friday, August 21st, 2009

21 August 2009

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19 August 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman ON FEEDING THE BADGERS AT 9.20PM

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

19 August 2009 ON FEEDING THE BADGERS AT 9.20PM The lime is like a huge, billowing freeze-frame of heavy smoke. Linear clouds are at forty-five degrees either side, like thin and wispy angels wings. Stars are coming out one-by-one in a mostly clear sky.

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11 August 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman AN EXPLANATION FOR FAILING RUNNER BEANS?

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

11 August 2009 AN EXPLANATION FOR FAILING RUNNER BEANS? My mother phoned the other day to ask me why her runner beans were not setting. She started them in toilet rolls in spring and planted out her strapping youngsters (“the best ever at that stage”) into enriched soil in a sunny place after all reasonable [...]

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6 August 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman A CLOSE ENCOUNTER IN THE SHED WITH FRED

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

6 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 [...]

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13 July 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman TREES IN CARDIFF

Monday, July 13th, 2009

13 July 2009 TREES IN CARDIFF My step-daughter graduated today with a high 2:1 reading English at Cardiff. We were all there to share her moment. The journey from Diana Street to The Hayes took place during a break in the showers in a vehicle with the sun roof open. I faced backwards and, rather [...]

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6 July 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman BABY BIRDS, MAGIC BEES

Monday, July 6th, 2009

6 July 2009 BABY BIRDS It’s always a pleasure to spot little house martin baby faces peering out from their nest boxes under the eaves of cottages on our street. This is the time of year when chicks are filling up that little cup-shaped space and parents often simply alight on the outside edge to [...]

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9 June 2009: DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman OAK AT CHERRY ORCHARD, LOOKING UP AFTER FEEDING THE BADGERS

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

9 June 2009 OAK AT CHERRY ORCHARD Down at Cherry Orchard, just off the triangle by the turning for Coles, stands an old oak. It is said, by whoever it is that says these things, that when left to its own devices an oak grows for 300 years, rests another 300, then after a further [...]

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2 June 2009: DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman ‘THE BIG LUNCH’ LATEST

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

2 June 2009 ‘THE BIG LUNCH’ LATEST… This is an Eden Project inspired national event happening wherever people feel the urge to get thier local communities together on Sunday 19th July 2009. If you Google The Big Lunch then all you need to know is there. Essentially the idea is to stop what you’re doing [...]

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