The birds have started at the sunflowers...

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... that I planted along the driveway.

Don't have enough cloth bags so I cut the heads of and are leaving to dry in the sun.

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Breaking wind 2025

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Updated the de-mountable windbreak system on the raised gardens. Still using pallets but plastic sides and less wooden slates means less shade and the breaks are lighter to move about.  Previous efforts can be seen here  breaking-wind-2022  
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STIHL Electric chipper (in depth)

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In the past I’ve accumulated material, then hired a chipper and spent a day reducing the pile to mulch ( click here to view ) This is a hassle because of the room the accumulating pile takes up and the potential fire risk. And there is the time wasted driving to another town to pick up the hire. The Stihl 355 is really light weight so it can be rolled most places in the garden. Nice big wheels. As I detailed in the previous blog entry ( click here ), this chipper has some quirks. The shredded material is deposited inside a shroud where it sits, and builds up until it blocks off the exit chute. Most of the blade clearance issues I have are when this backed up material jams the blades. Last week I did some more mulching into one of the raised gardens. First lot I had to mulch was a softwood tree. Softer than willow. When the shroud fills up, I drag the chipper back a bit clearing the exit chute and creating a trail of shredded material. I swapped between the ‘leaf’ and ‘branch’ settings,...
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The caterpillars were out of control!

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The thing about gardening, is that you never know what the environment is going to throw at you. A problem arises, you fix it, and learn something while you're doing it. I don’t know that you can ever have everything ‘under control’. This year I thought I had tomatoes 'sussed'. A bumper crop was packing out the raised gardens, Then a few holes started appearing in leaves. 'not a prob' I thought. Like last year, must be a couple of caterpillars lurking amongst the leaves. This week holy armageddon was unleashed up at one end of the bed. I could almost hear the munching rising up from the plants. Day by day, it was definitely working its way down the lenght of the garden. Up until now, I’ve been squash’n them between fingertips. One at a time, search and destroy. In the past I’d feel a bit sorry for them, as some would pop fully formed, straight out of their skins. Last week I was over it. After the last couple of years of battle I’m immune to empat...
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Hostel : Glasgow : Night moves

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I’ve dug up a bit out of an old travel journal.   One night while tucked up in our beds, all eight guys were woken by loud female shouting, out in the stairwell. A truly sublime pair of unfettered bosoms, filled to the quivering liquid brim with booze, burst through the door. She was atmospherically rim lit by light spilling in through the open doorway as she bounced into the room, and planted rank alcoholic kisses on the guy occupying the bed nearest the door. A girlfriend appeared and dragged our invader back to her room. A heavy, round silence closed around us and when it seemed that no more action would unfold, one of the guys on a bottom bunk got up and closed the dorm door. On another occasion, I was woken by someone moving close to my bed. Something must have been up, cause the guy that sleeps below me usually doesn’t interrupt my slumber. A head was moving around in the dark, and I recognised its silhouette as the young guy who occupies the lower bunk across the ro...
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So far I've defined three zones in the garden

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Annual, perennial, and orchard. The annual and orchard zones are pretty well established. There is also permanent asparagus and saffron plots . This year I’m thinking of expending some quality muscle power on the Perennial zone. Along one side of the driveway is a strip of land, sitting in front of the boundary fence. It's pretty much sand covered by weed mats held down by a layer of stones. The people before me weren't intending in growing much. This will now be a permanent garden strip for grazing and browsing Much like the orchard out the back, I’m going to have to spend some time improving the soil. I've started planting it out and will be adding to the strip in future.       Up near the entrance to the property I have a cape gooseberry and the papino that were transplanted from the garden beds next door. Halfway up the drive is an inherited Rosemary bush and I’ve planted Sorrell, bay, strawberries, and blueberry Next in line is manuka, L...
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