A Gardening Man's musings on life, gardening, music and incidental things

Wed, 14 May 2008 22:26:35 GMT

The weather has been very good of late. Excellent for being outdoors. Today began with heather pruning (petrol hedge cutter of course), a spot of weedkill, a cup of tea and two chocolate digestives (not combined with the weedkiller!), planting a clematis and digging up a couple of roses, strimming and hoeing, grass cutting, then home in time to catch the second half of the Rangers game. They lost. That's what comes of playing boring football really - time for the likes of Rangers to adopt the attitude of Hibs, that's what I say. They may not win trophys but the spectacle is entertaining.

Heard from my old mate Dave the other day. He is writing a book about Stoke City Football club - the previous 25 managers. What I have seen of it so far makes a good read. Just the sort of book I like reading.

Got tickets for the Inverness v Liverpool game on August 18th. Excellent.

What's happening in the garden today?

Wed, 07 May 2008 21:57:21 GMT

I moved a Camelia shrub today. It was in a half whisky barrel. Pot bound. I planted it in the shrub bed. It took four of us. One to pull the trolley (me), one to pull on my belt for added power, one to push the barrel, and one to push the fellow pushing the barrel. Apart from myself the other three were at least seventy years old. It would have made a great photo.

A few days ago my car was attacked by three geese. Vicious blighters. A whiskey storage depot down south, and in years gone by, employed the services of sixteen geese to protect the maturing whiskey barrels from being stolen. This was told me by the guy who was pushing the fellow who was pushing the barrel that contained the camelia shrub.

A superb day for being outside. Very hot. Not such a good day for cake however. Two slices of delicious fruit loaf at 11.05 am was about it. Plenty of orange juice and lemonade though.

New power tool experience: yesterday I used a petrol driven scarifier. Fantastic machine, rips the moss from the lawn with frightening efficiency. Not so good on uneven surfaces, as I discovered: rips chunks of lawn out of the lawn with frightening efficiency too.

Conversations of the day: a good chat with an 87 year old as he leapt about his outbuildings explaining the merits of power tool gardening (he has it all, even a vicious looking petrol driven hoe!), and an equally pleasant conversation with another more sedate eighty seven year old who sat in his garden to keep me company as I pruned, weeded and generally pottered about doing what he once would have been able to do himself.

Tip of the day: Buy a Ross-shire Journal on friday and discover the horticultural benefits of Bulls Dung!

Scotland on Sunday Newspaper, Jamie Andrew and Hunter Graduates

Sun, 04 May 2008 21:14:27 GMT

I don't often mention family on this blog, but today I will. We have 3 great children of whom we are very proud. One of them, Matthew, could be found in the Scotland On Sunday Newspaper today - in the photo he is the one at the back, second from the right. I believe the inspirational Jamie Andrew (http://www.jamieandrew.com/) not visible in the picture, was behind the eight of them. The eight being, of course, the Hunter Graduates 2008 up a mountian in the Alps!
Well done to all eight Graduates. The link to the Newspaper piece is here and explains all:
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/scotland/Hunters-elite-take-on-the.4049189.jp

The 'Prof', Tain, food and Goats

Fri, 02 May 2008 23:15:23 GMT

The latest Rural Rambling to hit the web (university 'prof' character, brick wielding maniac and such like) if you didn't read it in the Ross-shire Journal last month can be found here: http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=2254&d=11&h=24&f=46

Spent a great evening in the Duthac Centre, Tain, today at a Celidh with fantastic music - in aid of Clic Sargant and MacMillan Nurses.

And yesterday I shared a vol-a-vent or two with an ex Minister and a few other high powered but extremely pleasant folk at a location near Glasgow. I discussed important matters of the day with phrases like: "pass the vol-a-vents please," "would you like another potato?", and "do you think we're getting pudding?". Perhaps I should stand for Parliament? The following link gives a clue as to where we were and why we were there - http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/scotland/Hunters-elite-take-on-the.4049189.jp

The goat situation (see posting April 25th): all three are getting on just fine now, though there was much biffing and butting in the first few days. Indeed, the plastic cover that normally protects my garden machinery from the elements over-night had to be employed to make a temporary shelter for a few days as one of the goats was biffed and butted out of the goat house. All is now fine. Thank goodness for that.

Civil unrest - goose on the loose!

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:20:17 GMT

Civil Unrest in the rurals. Gardening came to a halt about 2pm today - too wet for that sort of carry on! On my way home I stopped to allow three passing geese to cross the road, at which point they set about the front of the car with a vengeance. Vicious blighters. Obviously in a bad mood. At least the escaped cow blocking my way further down the road was in better tune and gave me nothing more than a passing glance as I overtook her at a snails pace.

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:09:00 GMT

mood:
lower case writing. why not?

gardening:
a fair bit of digging today. great weather. roll on summer.

music:
i really must get an amy macdonald cd.
celidh/music event in the Duthac centre, tain, this friday. Must get tickets tomorrow.
And just as importantly must get a couple of gizzen briggs cd's tomorrow from tain bookshop.

food:
heard about a great event and meal in edinburgh today. hope you had a good time matt and the other 7 folks. I'm sure you did. will thursday's eats feature 'vol a vents', I wonder?

rural ramblings:
just about finished the next one for the ross-shire journal - it's in next week's newspaper. and features a bacon and tomato sandwich amongst other things.
the last rural rambling that was in the ross-shire journal, by the way, should be up on the web by the end of the week. it features food as well (surprise, eh?): 'canard a l'orange', brick wielding maniacs and a spot of philosophical reflection.

pleasant event of the week so far:
the guy who runs godsman tyres in tain.

unpleasant event of the week so far:
the lady who runs ........... near tain. top marks for basil fawlty type rudeness towards customers for her.

Beechgrove, Banf and Civil Unrest

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:31:58 GMT

The Beechgrove Garden Team come to Tain in July! Fantastic. Tain rose garden is to be transformed and the process televised. I look forward to the transformation and watching it on the Beechgrove Garden television program as well as from Tain High Street as things develop.

Tomorrow we go to Banf to collect two pigmy goats - transport will be in the trusty Citroen Berlingo of course. The one and lonely goat with us at home is in need of sociable company so these two will be perfect for him. The process, for those who don't know, is this: much fighting, biffing and charging at each other for a few days until the pecking order is established. A bit like dogs really without the biting and barking. Who will emerge as top goat, who will be bottom in the pecking order. Very exciting. Watch this space!

Today: weeding, strimming, 'elevenses'!, leaf raking, coffee, gate painting, chicken roll, grass cutting, echo chocolate bar, hands down some local drains, coffee, housework, trip to Inverness and back, sausage and chips, tv........life is simply too exciting.

Will we get petrol tomorrow to go to Banf? Petrol shortages, civil unrest........who knows?
Have a good weekend whatever you're doing.

Flapjacks, bicycle gardening and football

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:51:08 GMT

I munched on a flapjack yesterday (as you do) and half my tooth broke. The dentist was very good, patched things up and I now look forward to root canal work or something like that (sounds like they take a pneumatic drill to your tooth, a small one of course, and dig out the nerve. Well, that will be a new experience to look forward to. I had another flapjack this afternoon but ate it on the other side of my mouth. Probably not a wise thing to do, but certainly most tasty.

Recent gardening activities: grass cutting is now in full flow, but will the looming petrol shortage put a brief stop to that, I wonder? Of course I could always revert to an olden day sort of character and go about my horticulturals on a bicycle. (And as luck would have it there is an article about just such a fellow: http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=979)
(By the way, the bit at the end of the article that says I give talks etc no longer applies. I did toy with the idea once but decided it was far too stressful so I don't do garden talks anymore - and in fact never did, and probably never intend to in the future)

Football: The Rangers game this evening. What abysmal football.

Indian Dance, Polwart and a tree too far (too big anyway)

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 23:03:14 GMT

A musical weekend so far
Friday evening saw us at the Spectrum Centre in Inverness. A great display of Indian dancing, followed by Indian dancing to Celtic music. It worked well. Fantastic.

Saturday evening - Eden Court Theatre, Inverness: Karine Polwart and band. Great music. A good venue too. Steven Polwart and Inge Thomson as the band this evening. Inge seems to play anything and everything, cymbals, accordian, bells round the ankle, a box thing you blow into, the list goes on and on.
Link: http://www.karinepolwart.com/ )

I missed the football this afternoon in Inverness but an Eden Court Usher (do they still call them Ushers these days?) gave me a detailed account of the match as she was there in person earlier.

And on the gardening front: I was asked to cut a tree down on friday but declined. Sometimes it's best to say no. Too big for me, that one. I also declined a cup of tea and a biscuit (unusual for me).

Up and Coming music:
A local band to keep an eye on: tipped for bigger things - link below:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=359156027

Shandwick, bone-shaker, Gilmour and tip of the week!

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:38:47 GMT

Excellent meal in the Shandwick Inn, Kildary, last night. I was in good company too. The guy to my left was eating Chicken Korma this time and not 'Canard a L'Orange'(his duck eating habits featured briefly in the last Ross-shire Journal article of a week or two ago and will 'hit' the web soon)

Power Tools in use this past week - a very ancient (40 year old) Honda rotovator. Superb. I was still shaking hours after the event. A true bone-shaker of a machine but it did the job well.

Music: David Gilmour.

Tip of the week: If tempted to bash masonary nails into a wall to support climbing plants/frames/trellis etc, don't.

Music, Muscovys and mayhem

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:53:40 GMT

Music of the moment: Bob Dylan (sad eyed lady of the lowlands), Al Stewart (year of the cat), Annie Lennox (journeys end - from Lord of the rings) and John Martyn (may you never) with a spot of Runrig thrown in for good measure.

Met someone today who used to keep muscovy ducks in their garden - ninety in all. In years gone by the occasional errant character could be seen leaping the hedge, grabbing a muscovy off the lawn, a spadeful of spuds from the spud bed and a pocketful of carrots and then legging it down the road with their sqwarking 'meal' under their arm. I am told this was most likely to occur early on a Sunday morning!

Hampshire, plant growth, pub lunch and Demis R (?)

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:06:04 GMT

Currently sitting in a library in Hampshire - free internet facilities. Good to see that public libraries move with the times.

The weather outside is very good and the difference in plant growth between north and south is very visible. As you would expect, of course.

A pub lunch in a Hampshire pub beckons later today. Bangers and mash perhaps?
Then this evening I shall watch the Rangers game on TV (thank goodness for Skye tv as well)

Music: strangely enough i found myself listening to Demis Rousseau (not too sure of the spelling on that one - is it Roussoff) in the hire car yesterday. An extraordinary voice. Not too sure if I can bring myself to buy a greatest hits cd (I do have a Barry White!) but it's possible. Buy it anonymously perhaps via amazon, and listen to it when no one else is about?

Blizzards, Krause and Copper hen houses

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:00:43 GMT

During my first stint of gardening today I was caught in a blizzard. Good grief, had to take shelter in the car for 5 minutes and have a coffee!

Music of the day: Alison Krause (still)

Event of the weekend: Decided not to work at weekends anymore. Fantastic. And so, with time on our hands, we visited the Inverness Home and Garden show at the Aquadome/Queens Park on Sunday. What can I say - a most tasty egg and tomato sandwich from the sandwich bar, and some very expensive hen houses with copper roofs caught my eye as well (they looked really good but a trifle expensive)

Now time to plug an old article. For anyone who is about to cut the grass in the next few days (blizzards permitting): http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=235&d=11&h=24&f=46&dateformat=%25o%20%25B%20%25Y (I think there may be a 'goat' reference in there somewhere!)

A Journey, Janis Ian and Homes and Gardens

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:25:57 GMT

"It could be a movie - a road movie!" - a lecturer, an artist, a teacher and a soldier. Strangers at the start of their journey, parting as friends at the end of their journey. (see previous post if none of this makes sense)

Music: Janis Ian "At seventeen". Always thought that song was great. Excellent. Playing as I write this. Alison Krause is another one I've listened to today. And Amy MacDonald is a cd to acquire for the future.

Home and Garden Exhibition in Inverness tomorrow. We shall pay it a visit. Why not?

Road Movie, Gardening, Descartes and Ducks

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:56:21 GMT

It could be a movie - a road movie! My wife, returning from Bristol to Inverness today on Easyjet finds the flight cancelled due to fog. So 4 complete strangers, all on the cancelled flight, hire a car together and drive instead. At this moment in time I think they have reached Glasgow. I look forward to hearing all about it.

Now for my day - a spot of gardening as usual. Hedge trimming, weeding and not much else.

The Rural Rambling in the Ross-shire Journal today - that mentions 'Dr John' - has already been posted to 'Dr John' himself. How's that for fast work, eh? The article is about ducks and Descartes, maniac brick-wielding characters and sausage stuffing. If that wets your appetite, buy a Ross-shire Journal tomorrow.

Red cards, Ramblings, Gardening and Global Warming

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:19:59 GMT

Last saturday saw Inverness play Aberdeen. The score 4 - 3 to Aberdeen. What a cracking game -goals, yellow cards, two red cards and a volatile atmosphere.

This week's Ross-shire Journal has a Rural Rambling that features an old friend of mine in the days before he became an eminent University academic: "Dr John" , and that's as far as I'm going by way of identification. I shall buy an extra copy on friday and post it to him.

This week's gardening tasks have involved ivy pruning, cutting grass, felt roofing, eating chocolate, drinking coffee, planting 'things', a hoe and a weed and much much more.

The Global Warming article ( http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=2191&d=11&h=24&f=46 ) has resulted in quite a few emails from folk with excellent feedback, and one or two emails from folk a bit confused about what is going on here (which is a bit like the global warming debate itself, don't you think). Interesting.

Global warming, Environmental issues, Cornish Pasties and Muffins

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:05:31 GMT

The following Rural Rambling (Link below) is a concise and well-researched piece about the effects of global warming on the planet (condensed into about 600 words). All you ever needed to know about global warming and environmental science in a nutshell!
Now I wonder, could there possibly be a well paid research post in the offing in the near future, I wonder? Prof Rambling Bloke has a certain ring to it, don't you think? Any Universities interested, give me a call.

Link is below. A word of warning first: not for the eco pompous, more the eco conscious with a sense of humour.

http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=2191&d=11&h=24&f=46

Poland, Auchswitz, a Salt Mine and Prof Rambling Bloke

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:28:33 GMT

We went to Poland, Krakow, and have now returned. Interesting place - a simple Easyjet flight from Edinburgh.
Auchswitz, a salt mine, a wander about the city - lots of fascinating places to see and things to do.Recommended. Very pleasant folks, the ones we met, which is more than can be said for the Edinburgh coach driver when we arrived back at Edinburgh airport today. Good grief, what a misery. But enough of that. Back to gardening tomorrow - snow or no snow.

In the next few days a Rural Rambling (published in the Ross-shire Journal in 2007) will appear on the web. Link to follow soon. A concise and well-researched piece about the effects of global warming on the planet (condensed into about 600 words) All you ever needed to know. Brilliant. I wrote it! Could there be a global warming research post in the offing in the near future, I wonder? Prof Rambling Bloke?

Strawberry Switchblade, Size of a Cow and Mole Hills

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:12:35 GMT

Listened to the start and finish of the Tom Morton Show on Radio Scotland this afternoon (missed the large chunk in the middle however). I was alerted to a group called "Strawberry" something or other when their song/track was played. Most impressive music, that. I must investigate.....

.....Aaah, according to the Radio playlist they were called "Strawberry Switchblade", most impressive. http://www.strawberryswitchblade.net/

Now the first tune played on the show was "Size of a cow" by Wonderstuff. What a great name for a tune.

This week I am a full-time self employed business man character, so I felt suitably important as I cleared mole hills, dug in someone's compost heap, hoed a flowerbed or two and scrubbed moss from a patio. It's not glamorous being a business man - can be a bit smelly too!

Drains, Nessie and a Milestone

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:59:07 GMT

A glorious day for gardening today but I did little of that apart from cleaning out some drains in Tain this evening. No, today I could be found eating fish and chips at 'Harry Ramsdens' in Inverness and then strolling on Dores beach on the shores of Loch Ness. It was at Dores Inn, incidentally, many years ago now, that a couple of folks working behind the bar told me how they occasionaly spotted 'Nessie' in the Loch but didn't publicise the fact as it was unlikely anyone would believe them, particularly if they'd had a dram or two.

Tomorrow is a milestone for me as for many years, in addition to gardening, I have had a part-time job two days a week. Tomorrow I finish the part-time job and go full-time gardening. A wise choice? Who knows, time will tell. I have met and worked with some good and remarkable people whilst there and many vivid memories of both funny and not so funny incidents will endure in my mind for many years to come. What was that job? For anyone remotely interested a brief mention can be found about it somewhere on the world wide web, though where exactly I forget now. That's the thing about the web, of course, once you put information on it then it's there for all to see.

Concert, bind weed?, Aberdeen and Rosa

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:26:46 GMT

We went to a concert at Tain Academy this evening. Fantastic music. Some folks pay a fortune for this sort of entertainment. We are very lucky to have it just down the road. What a brilliant evening.

I spent some part of this afternoon wading in a large garden pond raking out debris, leaves and bind weed (I don't know if it was bind weed, to be honest, but it was very green, floating and invasive). Most satisfying. Variety is the spice of life. I spotted a couple of jelly fish which was a bit odd, I thought, as jelly fish normally inhabit salt water. After some reflection, however, I realized that in fact it was frog spawn! I left it alone, can't go removing frog spawn from a natural habitat, can you?

Tomorrow we go to Aberdeen (well, some of us) and I look forward to fish and chips from the fish and chip shop in Forres tomorrow evening on our way down. I shall miss the football match in Inverness on saturday afternoon, of course, but some things are more important than football.

I came across an interesting blog this evening (link on the right hand side headed "a blog from abroad") and thought I might email the author and say how interesting I found it, only I couldn't find an email address. So if you read this, Rosa (if that's your real name), an interesting and unusual blog, that's what I thought, not just gardening but a good ramble about all sorts of things that demand rambling on about. Excellent.

Dornoch, Ivy, web hits and the Tom Morton Show

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:17:04 GMT

Mid-day I stopped in a lay-by on Dornoch bridge for a cup of coffee (flask) and a chocolate biscuit type thing. I didn't hang about long, I can tell you, it was very windy, wild and gusty, and as the car swayed about I decided to abandon the coffee quick and get to the other side.

As gardening goes, the petrol hedge cutter is back in business and I hacked and sliced my way through bushes and a particularly large over-grown ivy in the driving rain and wind. Quite satisfying.

Did I mention the Sheep article: http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=1404 I have a vested interest on folks reading this one - if you haven't already - as I am watching the number of hits with great interest. It is the Rural Gateway Scotland website (Home page: http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/index.html and if you click on 'hits' which is highlighted above the number of hits of course, it gives a run down of the most read articles over 5 years. The Strangling Sheep piece isn't in the top 50 or so yet, but who knows..... If you take a look, there are some interesting pieces there.

A most extraordinary Radio Show: The Tom Morton Show on Radio Scotland, weekday afternoons. Great music. And he broadcasts from a tiny cottage by the sea in Shetland! Check this one out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/radioscotland/presenters/tommorton (Oh, and he had a good rant about sheep the other day - which was a good excuse for me to flag up the 'sheep strangling' article!)

slugs, ducks and sheep yet again!

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:47:58 GMT

Spring is on the way and Garden Centres up and down the country are gearing up for the buying public to spend a fortune. Believe it or not, most - if not all - of the things you buy in a Garden Centre (apart from plants) are either unnecessary or you can make do with something else. After all, what did they do in the old days before Garden Centres?
If you have a slug problem this year (this is my Percy Thrower/Alan Titchmarsh advice bit)consider getting some 'call' ducks. You need a pond of some sort, doesn't have to be too big,for them to wallow in. The advantage of this is that they eat slugs and not your plants. Fantastic. they are also fun to have. Here's a picture taken randomly off a google search, but shows you what they look like: http://www.callducks.net/

Now back to sheep -
Entrepeneurs take note: there's a gap in the horticultural market for sheep deterrent products, surely? I did hear somebody mutter about creosote - that must be for painting on the fence posts to deter them from hurdling surely? Strangling is not an option, of course, but take a look at the link below -
The sheep strangling tale: http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=1404 Possibly the most read Rural Rambling on the web to date and still rising.

"Sheep and why I hate them"

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:16:47 GMT

Tom Morton on "sheep and why I hate them": http://beatcroft.blogspot.com/2008/03/sheep-and-why-i-hate-them.html Fantastic, Tom. I guess those sheep are a real problem. I do know of one case where something similar was going on and the gardener in question (not me, I hasten to add) strangled the woolly beast in the middle of the night on finding it feeding on his curly kale, but I wouldn't suggest that sort of behaviour myself. Certainly not. Will tomorrow afternoon's Tom Morton show on Radio Scotland come up with a solution from the listeners for a sheep deterrent, I wonder? There's a guy in Ohio with a snow blower - could that be utilized in some way. Entrepeneurs take note: there's a gap in the horticultural market for sheep deterrent products, surely?

The sheep strangling tale is here, by the way: http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=1404 Possibly the most read Rural Rambling on the web to date. And why that should be, I really don't know.

Quote of the day (from the Pet Shop Man): "There's no such thing as bad weather, just inadequate clothing". Quite right too, I thought, as it hail and sleeted on me this afternoon.

Bill to Bill!

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:51:02 GMT

The computer has been repaired and gets picked up tomorrow when, of course we shall pay the bill to Bill. (Sorry, I enjoyed that). As luck would have it we were able to add the laptop to the internet so we still have internet access.

I had an email conversation with Janis 'the painter' recently. Based in Dingwall, check out the website: http://www.mennieprints.co.uk/

Gardening today involved using the petrol hedge cutter. And I got paid for it. Fantastic!

A dilemma is looming re: my next column in the Ross-shire Journal: do I go for the extraordinary tomato tale, or the slightly off-beam 'man with brick intent on making contact with head' tale? We shall see. time enough to decide. Real life is much more interesting than fiction, don't you think?

Footnote: heard fom my 'Home and Away' (tv program) source today - Roy Keane may not be the only footballer to enjoy a spot of acting in a TV 'soap'. Could Gareth Southgate be another one?