HAPPY TO CARRY ON The sun didn’t come out in Shaftesbury until early this afternoon though it remained bitter cold. Shortly before 3pm I moved from raspberries in the shelter of a barn wall onto the big bed, which I’m reclaiming slowly from 18 months of weeds, and into full sun. By then the fire I’d [...]
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Posts Tagged ‘raspberry’
26 January 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman HAPPY TO CARRY ON
Tuesday, January 26th, 201025 January 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman MATTOCK IN THE RASPBERRIES
Monday, January 25th, 2010MATTOCK IN THE RASPBERRIES Today I used a mattock on raspberries growing as weeds. It’s not a tool I own, but I found one in the shed where I was working, examined it and thought that the feel of it in my hands and shape of the business end kind of made sense. It did. I [...]
Read More »19 January 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman ‘AUTUMN RASPBERRY’ MANAGEMENT, 5.25PM
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010‘AUTUMN RASPBERRY’ MANAGEMENT If you’ve got raspberries that bear fruit from August to late autumn and beyond (Solstice, December 21st, last year) then now’s the time to get in amongst your rows and sort them out. Cut down and remove everything. That’s what I’ve been up to yesterday, today and dare I say it, again tomorrow. Autumn [...]
Read More »3 November 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman TIME TO PICK SOME KALE
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009At lunchtime flocks of spadgers rise a-twittering from betwixt the rows of raspberries and beetroot to hide amongst hawthorn trees. My slipping stumble along the path prompts their flight. I stand and look and think that they must be peeking back at me. In the Abbey School playground, children’s voices loud and clear. A jet [...]
Read More »28 October 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman HOT WEATHER AT THE END OF OCTOBER
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009I don’t doubt for a moment that I’m not the only home-producer still picking delicious raspberries. Such has been the weather that my autumn-bearing canes still hang heavy with luscious fruit. I vied for a ripe ’un with a bee who was after flowers on the same bunch. We both got what we wanted. True, [...]
Read More »15 October 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman THURSDAY EVENING 5.56
Thursday, October 15th, 2009It’s pleasant to get on the plot for an hour after a long day at work. The exersize of turning soil stretches and stimulates the body, encourages internal heat and blood to flow. It’s not been cold cold today but by lunchtime I was struggling to warm up. I’d been delivering, had a meeting, popped [...]
Read More »24 August 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman HOW TO PICK RASPBERRIES
Monday, August 24th, 200928 July 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman SEASONAL POTATO HUSBANDRY
Tuesday, July 28th, 200928 July 2009 SEASONAL POTATO HUSBANDRY It was very satisfying to get onto my allotment early this morning and keep up with the Second Early potato developments. I cultivate a variety called Kestrel every year because they like my soil and perform manfully whatever the seasonal conditions. This year the top growth has flourished, flowered [...]
Read More »19 July 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman MORE MOUTHS TO FEED, FROGS
Sunday, July 19th, 200919 July 2009 MORE MOUTHS TO FEED More great tits have fledged. This time from the privet hedge down at the bottom of our allotments. I heard their excited racket this morning whilst tying-in fresh canes for next years early raspberries. Urgent staccato cheeping from the parents and their young. I swung round to catch [...]
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