Wednesday, June 4, 2008

BUTTERCUPS AND WARHEADS

I wish I could shrug off sexism.

Ming and the children have crisps in their lunch boxes.

Their decision - my worry.



* * * * *

Ming's chopped down the green manure on the allotment. He'll dig it in after supper.

While he works, he sings an excruciating little ditty called - "We're going to Ma's on Mars'".

(Which is all fixed up for the end of June.)

(And I'm looking forward to it!)

* * * * *

Worthing and Didcott will be spending the day riveting the noses of nuclear warheads to the long tube bits which contain the fuel.

Ming's dusting them.

(The warheads - not Worthing and Didcott.)

(And he's not dusting the warheads they're working on now - but the ones they made earlier.)

(Otherwise, he'd get in the way!)

* * * * *

There's one carrot; lots of buttercups; no beetroot; and the pumpkin's got eaten.

* * * * *

Where's Marjorie?

That's what I want to know.
_ _ _ _ _

6 comments:

Barbee' said...

Oh, No! What ate the pumpkin? Hope you haven't been invaded by the furry pumpkin eaters!

Update on the Blogger VS. Blotanical match: I have a message from Stuart. "Barbee, still working on this perplexing issue. We are getting closer though - we know what doesn't work!!! Lol. Stay tuned. Cheers, Stuart"

Esther Montgomery said...

Hello Barbee - I've had a turn at 'going off air' on Blotanical today! (An empty screen where the blog should be and no mention of today's post in the lists - I get lost over which ones, there are so many - and I don't check them all).

Slug ate the pumpkin - hollowed out several inches along the main stem.

I've got spares but it struggles on in a pathetic sort of way and I feel horrible about tipping it out of its pot and replacing it with another.

Some sap must be going up its few remaining fibres - and that is supporting the life in one leaf.

There is a gardening expert in England called 'Bob Flowerdew' (really!).

From time to time he urges us to get rid of old plants and replace them when necessary - in the same way as we would throw out dead flowers from a vase.

I know this makes sense but I can't feel about a plant in the same way as I do about cut flowers. (Even when said plant hardly exists any more and is only alive in a technical way rather than a useful one. Daft!)

Esther

P.S. Sometimes, I get a bit over-dependent on Blotanical. I'm taking the opportunity its 'outages' provide to hop around blogs through the links on other people's sidebars.

I've never gone in much for anything other than temporary links (the current state of things is an illusion!) but quite a few people have links to blogs I wouldn't have come across otherwise - many of which aren't listed on Blotanical, or, at least, I haven't noticed them there.

VP said...

Hi Esther,

You asked about red apples over at my place. I'm stumped. The only thing I can think of is russeting, but that wouldn't be bright red. If it was russeting, it usually means drought, mildew or they need a feed. Won't affect the quality of the apple though. My apples are going red too, but they usually do that anyway.

Yours stumpily,

VP

Esther Montgomery said...

Thanks VP. I think I'll have to stay stumped too!

But I appreciate that you have thought about it and got back to me.

It isn't russeting (I'll go and take another look at them tomorrow with that in mind, but I don't think so - because it is a definite red and the skin isn't rough).

There's no mildew - and, for once, I'm certain the ground isn't dry.

I'm not great on doing feeds properly but I fed the tree while the blossom was out - and the ground is composted.

(The compost may not have been quite as well rotted as it should have been, I reckon, but the tree looks very healthy. And I don't think I should feed it now for fear of too much leaf growth.)

I've had a couple of years, when the grapes have 'ripened' while they were too little, the skins toughened and they weren't able to swell properly - but I don't think we've had so much unseasonable sun that this will have happened to the apples.

Ill watch and wait and see what comes next! Thanks again VP

Esther

Anonymous said...

I once wrapped sticky tape around a damaged courgette stem and the plant survived quite normally. Watching ER has its benefits!

Barbee' said...

Bob Flowerdew. Honestly! Why couldn't I have a delightful name like that. One of the bloggers said she wanted to name their new baby Zinnia, but got overruled. I would like to be named Zinnia, or Marigold. Once while shopping in the grocery store, I heard a woman going around frantically calling an errant child in a loud voice: "Sunshine! Sunshine!!" I know a botanist whose daughter is name Flora. I once heard of a doctor whose last name is Doctor, therefore, he is Dr. Doctor.

More wandering thoughts follow:
If the eaten pumpkin vine stays alive by the time you are back to working in the garden, I probably would try to save it, too. Easygardener's method sounds easier, but I read a suggestion in an old Organic Gardening Magazine for saving
courgette (Zucchini) plants that had been damaged by squash vine borers. They said to locate the worm, either kill it with a pin stuck through the vine stem or slit (lengthwise) the vine enough to remove it and send it to worm heaven. After the borer is killed or removed, then place the injured area of the vine where it was slit or stabbed on the soil, place a mound of soil over the injured area to hold it fast to the ground. Water it. Sometimes it will root there and the vine will go on with life. I wonder if yours could be pinned or held someway on top of a pot of soil with enough potting mix mounded over it, if it would root there. Seems like a lot of trouble, and what if the slug comes back! Some people have had success with crushed egg shells placed around a plant. I don't know if they toasted them first to make them dry and easily crushable into fine pieces. I once used Diatomaceous-earth and saved some white pansies from slugs. The only redeeming fact about slugs is that their babies and eggs are baby food for firefly babies. And, I love fireflies.