ramblingbloke

The latest Rural Rambling that appeared in the Ross-shire Journal today can be found  here

The latest Rural Rambling is complete and appears in the Ross-shire Journal this week, June 26th: Dean Owens (great music), Gobbolino (great fictional character, ask your kids), the Flintstones (Fred and Barney), Croquet, Vivaldi and chewy music.

As befits this time of year, gardens are growing and I am racing about Ross-shire attempting to keep everything uder control.

We went to the Tain Vintage Car Rally today. A good day out with unexpected good weather. A good blether was had by all.

Music of the moment: Dean Owens.

We have just returned from a very pleasant trip to Aberdeen, attending the Grays School of Art Degree Show - what a fantastic collection of innovative works on display and one in particular was of most interest, our eldest daughter's creative designs and creations. She did well and we are very proud parents.

A quick link here to the Horticulture Week magazine article about me in June 12th called 'me and my job' - note the wooly hat 'look' in the photo. Eagle-eyed folk may notice that some of it has a familier feel, the odd sentence having been cropped from previous Ross-shire Journal articles.

The next Rural Rambling Article is just about complete and again I have enlisted the help of Tomas from Skye to translate one word into Gaelic for me. Most accomodating, that guy. Cheers, Tomas.

The latest Rural Rambling appeared in the Ross-shire Journal on Friday June 5th - an entomologist came to visit! The next Rambling is nearly complete and features a hen called after me. I am honoured.

Today went something like this: Hoe, Hedge cutting, Strimming, more Strimming, Weeding, Grass Cutting and a spot of sawing. Doesn't sound very exciting, I know, but it passed most pleasantly and  a good blether was had along the way. Tomorrow I have a day off (I just decided that myself, and why not?) and also tomorrow, Friday, I have a piece in Horticulture Week magazine called 'Me and My Job'. Excellent.

Have a good weekend wherever you might be! I shall certainly try to have a good one myself! (oh, and as an after-thought, visiting Alness Allottments on Tuesday evening I had a most pleasant chat with the camera lady from BBC Alba. No idea what particular program she was filming for , but as camera person, interviewer and researcher, everything in fact, she seemed to be on the ball and doing a very good job.

Music: Paulo Nuttini (have I spelt that right) - I have a signed CD bought for my birthday by one of my daughters, Dean Owen and still Amy MacDonald! I must fish out something different for the car music system soon - a bit of Bowie perhaps, or Al Stewart maybe.

The latest Rural Rambling appeared in the Ross-shire Journal on Friday June 5th - an entomologist came to visit!

Mt strimmer is repaired. I picked it up this evening. I am back in action.

We had a stall at Dornoch Farmers Market again on Saturday. This was our third time and the weather, though by no means perfect for June, was the best experienced yet. We were sandwiched between "Annies Tasty Bites" and a most pleasant lady selling goat cheeses.

Not a good day on the power tool front as my trusty strimmer (many years old now) has finally given up the ghost and expired. I shall buy a new one - on the internet - tomorrow. Thank goodness for the internet, that's what I say.;

On the 'feel good' side of things, congratulations to my brother and sister in law on the arrival of a new baby girl. Fantastic. We await the name with anticipation. Our kids are badgering me to find out the name as soon as possible, so let us know David and Niamh when you have decided!

A very hot day for gardening today, so I gave up at 5 pm and came home. There's a limit to what your body can take at my age. I hit 50 the other week. It's all in the mind, of course, but I am aware that although you may feel like a 16 year old your body doesn't always function as a 16 year olds would function. Essentially I was knackered!

Horticulture Week, a national horticultural magazine, is to run a feature on me on June 12th called "Me and My Job" , so I am desperately attempting to prevent my head swelling to such proportions that my wooly hat won't fit!  Not easy, of course, but nothing that a spot of weeding with an old kitchen knife for a couple of hours tomorrow morning in someone else's garden won't sort out.

As I write this the ducks to my right (two of them, still sleeping overnight in the kitchen to avoid being eaten by the fox) are demanding their weetabix. How do you wean ducks off weetabix and not feel guilty about it. At least they will eat co-op 'own brand' stuff (I will too if there's nothing much else about in the morning).

An interesting week on the gardening side. We are now in the middle of a heat wave, which appears to have driven the slugs away from my plants but there's that all time consuming task of watering that has now replaced inspecting the underside of the pots for the slimy varmits. Can't put slug pellets down, of course, because the ducks would eat them and I'm beginning to wonder now if they might be preferring weetabix to slugs which would be disastrous. Life is so complicated, is it not?

A slight eye infection resulted in a visit to the Doctors (twice this week!), and a slight disagreement with a local pharmacist who insisted on giving me the wrong stuff despite what was written on the prescription. When I pointed out that he might have got it wrong he was most taken aback!

A week ago today we were selling plants at Dornoch Market on a particularly wet and cold day. Today it was watching the football in Inverness - Inverness v Falkirk. Falkirk won, so Inverness are now relegated to Division One.  At least next season we can look forward to  a few more goals, a few more wins and the excitement of derby games against neighbours Ross-County.

Despite the best efforts of the two 'call' ducks to eat the slugs in the garden there are simply too many of them at the moment and I can be found at regular intervals inspecting the bottom of plant pots and trays for the varmits. I may just have to resort to wandering the estate at night with a torch in hand picking them off one by one.

Waiting to be planted this week: three blackberrybushes, courgettes into outside raised beds, two hostas and French Tarragon.

A wet morning for the Dornoch Market on Saturday, but a most sociable event all the same. We bought a couple of blackcurrent bushes off the 'veg man' so look forward to future homemade blackcurrent jam!

In the football scheme of things this saturday's match between Inverness and Falkirk will decide which one of them is relegated. An important game, that one! 

Now to the matter of tomato plants for anyone out there currently growing them. A little known fact that I discovered today. When you nip out the side shoots (you know which ones I mean if you grow tomatoes) stick them in a pot of compost, keep somewhere warm but out of direct sunlight, and within three weeks or so you'll have another tomato plant that will give you a late crop of tomatoes! They root well apparently.

I was given some French Tarragon today - grown from cuttings - so as soon as I have propogated more from this batch they will be on sale at Dornoch Farmer;s Market . French Tarragon is not to be confused with Russian Tarragon, of course, though I have no idea what either of them are used for in the cooking process. I must find out.

A most interesting talk yesterday at Tain Garden Club by Dan Matheson about fuchsias: a fuchsia expert from Inverness.

The weather this week has been glorious and my hat has finally come off my head. Too hot for hats just now!

Finally, an ever-growing archive (when I find the time) of previous Rural Ramblings that have been published in the Ross-shire Journal can be found at the Scottish Gardener's Blog site.

Will Inverness Caley Thistle Football Club avoid relegation this season? I think they might just do it. On Sunday they play Hamilton Academicals (great name!). Should be good to be there.

For 2009 we now have a market stall at Dornoch Farmer;s Market selling plants. Let's hope the weather at the next market on May 16th is warmer than the last one in April. Come along and say 'hello'.

I continue to extoll the virtues of the Irish Spade for anyone who is thinking of digging their vegetable patch this year. A marvellous invention.

Finally, an ever-growing archive (when I find the time) of previous Rural Ramblings that have been published in the Ross-shire Journal can be found at the Scottish Gardener's Blog site.

Everything is suddenly spurting into growth. Just excellent. Spring has arrived. I still have my wooly hat firmly attached to my head, however, but when it's finally removed it will mean summer has arrived. And about time too.

An inyeresting conversation last week revealed that two of the enigma code breakers during WW2  (they made a film about it a few years ago) lived in the nearby vicinity and , as it happens, I did  both of their gardens. Nice folk, now deceased.

The latest Rural Rambling article - due in the Ross-shire Journal May 8th - is now complete and involves a gaelic translation of a couple of phrases by a guy in Skye called Tomas.

Having written recently about how to deter cats from your flower beds by ensuring that the soil is constantly wet, an even better solution is to stand in the flowerbeds with hosepipe in hand and squirt the cats as they appear.

Best TV programs of the moment: Jools Holland, of course. And the Beechgrove Garden Program next week (May 6th) that features Tain and the new garden being constructed in the centre of town.

I have a second blog that will be slightly different from this one. It will be updated once a month only and have the latest Rural Rambling article. A webpage type of thing in Blog form. And why not. The blog can be found here.

Last week, as I barrowed weeds from one spot to another in a garden not too far from here, I was over taken by a deer. I was the more startled of the two of us.

Best cat deterrent is water - not squirting them but ensuring that the flower beds, raised beds or seed trays are damp! Simple as that. Of course it's not a good idea to waste water by watering all your garden every day if it's not required, so best to get a few (many!) water butts to collect rainwater.

The Beechgrove Garden Television Team are in Tain just now - a new garden being created. Exciting stuff. Looking forward to seeing it aired on the program when it's broadcast, should be a few familiar faces to spot.

Tain is also on the verge of creating allotments for those interested in growing their own veg and fruit, etc. Another excting development for the town.

Some years ago now I disovered the ultimate slug deterrent. Mentioning this in an article (but not mentioning what the ultimate deterrent actually was) I was inundated with emails from all corners of the globe, including a few from some large horticultural companies hoping to market the product. When I explained that you needed a pond and some 'call' ducks ('call' ducks eat slugs but not your plants or seedlings)the interest from the companies evaporated.

This evening I have made another starling discovery. How to keep cats off your flower beds! I await the influx of emails from large horticultural companies (is that how you spell 'companies'?) from across the globe! It is a marketable product, it's cheap and freely available. I'll let you know what it is shortly.

Apple trees pruned radically some time ago are now budding and some already in leaf. Excellent. I have been watching them with interest for some time just in case the pruning might have been a wee bit over the top.

Inverness Caley Thistle play at home tomorrow. I shall miss this game as we shall be selling plants at Dornoch Farmer's Market. A flask of coffee, comfy chairs and a cake or two from Gow's bakery in Dornoch. I expect to see a few familiar faces.

We have a slight problem just now: the ducks return to the kitchen to sleep indoors at night (they enjoy two weetabix at ten pm!). If we were to go away for a night or two they would have to sleep outside and take their chance with the lurking fox. What a dilemma, eh? The full 'duck' story, well some of it anyway, is here: http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=2552&d=11&h=24&f=46

Music: Gizzen Briggs. Fantastic music. http://www.tain.org.uk/music-g.asp

Bank holiday over, normal service resumes. Great weather at the moment. I was in the garden of a lovely old lady of the district who I visit weekly to help out in the horticultural line of things. I was chainsawing rotten bits of wood, she was hammering the nails down with the back of an axe, then we bagged them for firewood. A 'tidy up the garden' sort of activity. We planted some spuds as well. Anyway, this lovely old lady has a serious heart condition and I always ensure that I have my mobile phone at the ready in case she should expire whilst we both leap about the garden. In reality she directs and I provide the brawn, although she finds it nigh impossible not to join in. This heart condition affected her tomatoes last week - she was whisked off to hospital by ambulance (a regular occurence)and the tomatoes were left unattended for a few days. Now as well as chainsawing wood, we turned our attention to attempting to cut plastic roof sheets. The Chainsaw wouldn't do it. Could I hire a circular saw for this, she wondered? We looked at each other and laughed. No, not a good idea. Why? Well new machinery and me do not always mix well as she well knows. It was me who accidentally ripped her radiator off the lounge wall some years ago to mention just one incident. If you want to read more, the link to that is here: http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=1788&d=11&h=24&f=46

By the way, the latest Rural Rambling (which has nothing whatsoever to do with anything Rural or gardening apart from sheep on the electoral roll!)can be viewed here (and yes, there really is a band called Celidh Minogue)
http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=2646&d=11&h=24&f=46

Bank Holiday Monday today so I had the day off. Apart from teachers and Bank Employees I don't think anyone else had the day off. On a brief visit into Tain this morning eveything seemed to be functioning normally, I noticed, and the odd sprinkling of gardeners with battered vans were visible around the town. But not me, certainly not. We attended to the veg in our own garden (mainly looking at it and wondering when it might appear from out of the soil), had a most pleasant walk up to the Fryish Monument and a coffee and cake in a cafe beside the A9 near Invergordon. I won't name the cafe (it wasn't Storehouse, however, if you know the area) as by 4.15 they are obviously intent on getting rid of their customers at speed in order to be prepared to shut up shop by five. Yes, here comes the Grumpy Old Man rant again: we managed to release a couple of cakes that had been cling film wrapped, find a table that didn't have chairs stacked on it and dodge the enormous broom as it swept the floor about our feet. The place was empty, of course (who else would ignore a hint like that) but the staff were surprisingly pleasant and oblivious to the fact that they had turned the place into a most unwelcome place to be.

Gaelic: anyone reading this fluent in Gaelic? I have a couple of phrases I would like translated into Gaelic. If you are, get in touch.

Finally: Some months ago I advocated purchasing cheap compost at the end of the year from anywhere you could get it. Bad advice. You pay for what you get (obvious in hindsight, of course). Buy the expensive stuff and it will give you the results you require.

Breakdowns: last week was a week of garden machinery breakdowns. This week, I hope, will be different.

The latest Rural Rambling Article - in today's Ross-shire Journal - can be found at the link below. Airport departure lounges - have you been in one of these?
http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=2646&d=11&h=24&f=46

Music: At Bogbain Farm last night (just outside Inverness - what a cracking name, eh, Bogbain?)for the last night of the Northern Roots Music festival. A good evening of music with the highlight for me being Dean Owens who was surprisingly refreshing. Worth checking out if you get a moment: http://www.deanowens.com/ His latest CD is called Whisky Hearts (we bought it)and he consumed a fair old bit of the whisky throughout his performance as well. Some clever lyrics. Gardening: raspberry canes arrived today. Seed potatoes planted last weekend. Exciting, this gardening malarkey. Most heard line over the last 6 months: 'how do you get rid of moss, Patrick?' A lot of moss about just now. Some folk are quite happy with it, others hate it. Latest Ross-shire Journal article for this Friday's edition sent off via email today. Not a gardening piece at all, this one, but more a journey around some airport departure lounges (in particular Dublin, La Rochelle, Bournemouth Inverness and Prestwick).