Sounds of frantic buzzing caused me to stop typing and look up. I scouted round then saw a hapless wasp and spider locked in combat by the handle of a window that is rarely opened above a line of well-thumbed books. I looked closely. The web consisted a net of random trip wires. A smallish [...]
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Posts Tagged ‘september’
30 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman SPIDER VERSUS WASP
Wednesday, September 30th, 200929 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman ONE MISTY MOISTY MORNING
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009I buzzed over to see a mate at a local country estate this morning. He puts aside horticultural trade magazines and I pick them up from time to time for research and reasons of personal interest. The ten minute pootle took double that due to heavy mist in the vale and a re-arrangement of traffic [...]
Read More »28 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS BLOG by Joe Hashman A FASCINATING FACT ABOUT BEECH TREES
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009A FASCINATING FACT ABOUT BEECH TREES Today I learnt that beech mast won’t germinate in soil which has not grown beech trees in it. This is because the trees have co-evolved over millions of years with a particular kind of fungi, called a mycorrhizal fungus, which slightly breaks down the tough seed case and allows [...]
Read More »27 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman SUNNY SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009I just can’t believe the heat. Jim next door said he’d heard the fine weather is set until mid-October. Crikey! This afternoon it’s more akin to high summer. Down Foyle Hill, beyond the Rabbit Warren, amid grasshoppers, flies and swishing cattle, quiet pasture is cracking up through lack of rain. Over the brow, in fields [...]
Read More »26 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman ROBIN ON A SUNFLOWER
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009A robin has taken to singing from the top of my tallest sunflower. It’s 8.40am here and another fabulous day of warm sunshine and cloudless sky is ticking by gently. Where my ragged and almost spent Giant Single droops a crook has formed in the stem. At this point the leaves, which climb in a [...]
Read More »25 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman MAGIC MOMENTS
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009I love the silly things which can spark a positive reaction in children. This afternoon, for instance, I was at a local primary school. Naturally, being a stranger in their lesson it took some of the youngsters a while to warm up. No worries. I understand. But the fun really began when I was helping [...]
Read More »24 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman EARLY ONE OCTEMBER MORN
Friday, September 25th, 200924 September 2009 EARLY ONE OCTEMBER MORN There was silver dew on our small patch of grass this morning. I noted where cats had been scratching in the onion bed. Thankfully no sets turned out. Pulled and composted half a dozen Brussels sprouts which had buttons blown all up the stem. They’ll come to nothing. [...]
Read More »23 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman GETTING UP THIS MORNING, WINTER ONIONS
Friday, September 25th, 200923 September 2009 GETTING UP THIS MORNING Like a chink of liquid-noted lightening, robin redbreast ushered in the dawn. I lay there with mind alert but eyes tight shut and bladder full, wondering at the time. As if prompted by the singing fellow, the ugly, high-pitched, computer generated staccato repeat of my mobile on the [...]
Read More »22 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman AUTUMN STARTS HERE?
Tuesday, September 22nd, 200922 September 2009 AUTUMN STARTS HERE? Someone said that autumn starts today. Certainly here in North Dorset you can feel it whispering in on the morning breeze. Either that or maybe I should be wearing an extra jumper? It’s been a dry September and so far warm too. Plenty of chiffchaff’s decorating the sunken [...]
Read More »21 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman GRASS
Monday, September 21st, 200921 September 2009 GRASS Attended a fascinating lecture on grass this evening. Wonderful delivery from the Head Gardener at a local estate and brimming with friendly enthusiasm. We were all lapping it up. Did you know, for instance, that there are over ten thousand different grass species worldwide and six hundred separate genus (separate types [...]
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