Monday, May 08, 2006

I am going to Strathardle today to plant my seeds – the weather outside the window here is not too bad, and the forecast on the excellent weather site Lorna told me about, is not bad either. So no blog tomorrow.

Dandelions: It occurred to me at Mass yesterday – I hope I have remarked before on the usefulness of religious observance in clearing the mind and allowing its occupation by constructive ideas – it occurred to me that bone meal, which I use regularly as a garden fertiliser, must contain calcium. I will try some in the worst dandelion areas, following up Aarlene’s idea of a couple of days ago. My sister-in-law, who is very Green, suggested when she was with us a fortnight ago that we might not have so many dandelions if we weren’t so beastly to rabbits. We were able to assure her that we have plenty of rabbits despite our unkindness to them, and they don’t seem to have any interest in dandelions.

The Constant Gardener: Donna, my sister, who knows Africa and who has seen the film, says that the book is “infinitely better”. She has read it twice. She admires the firmness of character with which I was able to leave it behind.

Knitting progresses, and so do negotiations for the Jade Sapphire cashmere. I don’t expect to do much on Ketki’s gansey this evening, but I’ll do a bit.

I turned on the MS Word spelling checker just now, because I was uneasy about “infinitely” – and indeed I had it wrong. But the checker doesn’t recognise “blog” or “gansey” – not a good start. I’ll probably turn it off again soon.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:07 PM

    Have you considered one of those garden flame throwers for your dandelion problem? I'm told it is the only other effective organic method of killing weeds other than pulling them. I can picture you now with the tank on your back and flame spouting from you hand - the vengeful godess thing. If you can't face the thought of an open flame, a BBC 4 radio program recommended using one of the heat guns sold for removing paint. Myself, I used to feed them to the rabbit. Now I just ignore them.

    Off to the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool festival this weekend. The forecast is rain. Sigh.

    Janis in Lyme

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  2. My hens love to eat all the dandelions they can get, but we don't eat chicken, just eggs.
    Knit and Spin happy,
    Andy

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  3. Anonymous2:09 AM

    My great-grandmother used a flame-thrower to weed her professional flower garden; she sold flowers to flower shops in Boston in the 1920s and 1930s.

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