PLANTING 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 [...]
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Posts Tagged ‘pigeon’
DIRTY NAILS BLOG by Joe Hashman PLANTING OUT ‘GREENS’
Friday, May 28th, 201012 February 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman HURRYING SLOWLY, SCHOOL LANE GILLINGHAM, JUST THINKING, THE PRACTICE OF GARDENING
Friday, February 12th, 2010HURRYING SLOWLY Whilst nursing a cup of tea first thing, to wake up… …eight pigeons clapper-board in powerful flight, veering right to left. Blackbirds steer low and straight, either directly in line with my seat, head-on or, with an audible whoosh, coming in to sight from behind my head. A pair of blue tits check [...]
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 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman HORSHAM TOWN CENTRE
Friday, December 4th, 2009HORSHAM TOWN CENTRE 09.37: Shadows recede across the paving. From the bandstand roof, frost melts and rolls down to earth in a cascade of illuminated drips. An old couple, wrapped up in scarves and hats, nurse coffee at a table in the shade. They both wear sunglasses. She draws on a cigarette. He takes a sip. [...]
Read More »8 November 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman WATFORD BY ROAD WITH A MAP
Sunday, November 8th, 2009WATFORD BY ROAD WITH A MAP Call me old fashioned, but I like driving to places with the aid of a map rather than Sat-Nav. Maps articulate landscape like the pages of a good guide book. Sat-Nav talks to you at every twist and turn so you don’t have to look beyond the stretch in [...]
Read More »27 July 2009 THOUGHTS & VIEWS IN SCARBOROUGH BEFORE BREAKFAST
Monday, July 27th, 200927 July 2009 THOUGHTS & VIEWS IN SCARBOROUGH BEFORE BREAKFAST I can almost visualise the future, when the monstrous shell of Scarborough Grand is alive with the noise and stench of
Read More »28 May 2009: DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman A MORNING AFTER RAIN, PAINTED LADY SUMMER
Thursday, May 28th, 200928 May 2009 A MORNING AFTER RAIN What a lovely change from recent weeks to rise and shine on the morning after a day of rain. Plants are looking better for it; greener, lusher, more full of the sap that flows and translocates the stuff of life. The air feels fresher. Activity on the plot [...]
Read More »29 March 2009: DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman BUDS BREAKING, GOING FOR BIGGER BEDS
Sunday, March 29th, 200929 March 2009 BUDS BREAKING Today the air at 5.05pm is filled with the dancing lights of fairy insects amid fruit trees and pea sticks which bathe in a shaft of evening sun. Buds break on Sunset apple as protective deep pink scales splay and crimson tinged leaves, pale green but silvery with the finest [...]
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