Saturday 5 February 2011

Eye Opener for Gruesome Gardening

Gardening tip of the day...............When weeding around a Yucca gloriosa...........don't!


Pesky blighters with hard pointy ends, and always get you by surprise! Lovely flowers though.
Also, if in need of money and looking for 'that' convenient ATM, then avoid Brockenhurst village in the New Forest.


Animal laws regarding this forest are ancient, and as a result horses, cattle.....and donkeys are allowed to roam freely. I have absolutely no problem with this, and do indeed find it quirky at times, but always a blessing in the way that animals here are given such space. But try to move a donkey from an ATM when he is taking the early morning sun, now there is a task! This fellow had practically fallen asleep whilst leaning against the warm red brickwork surrounding my chosen ATM, and after gentle persuasion (not wanting to get my head kicked in....at least not first thing in the morning), pushing, talking to, petting etc, I managed to move him about three feet to this houses gate next door. Can you believe that the ATM was out of use??



As the weather has been warming up, the plant world has been moving a little. Grass is growing a little, and as such, some places are having a very high cut just to tidy them up. Above can be seen Mrs.Sanderson, a resident at this property who likes to keep her small bed of roses looked after. So many old people that I meet seem to have just switched off to anything but a sort of existence, and it's good to see those that try to remain active and interested in life. This lady has had both her hips replaced late last year, and like the rest is always a joy to talk to. This is also the property where the massive rocks are to be delivered next week....getting the back ready for that little beauty of a job!

I hadn't been to this garden for several weeks, and  found it covered in leaves. The blower soon tidied up, but as a result of the prolonged coverage, the grass has taken a beating. By the end of March, this will have been scarified, fed and weed treated and so I hope to have a picture for you where it looks a little healthier. I must admit to being tempted not to show this one because of the state of it, but what the heck, one has to take the rough with the smooth....as my grandma always used to say!

My working week is Tuesday to Saturday. Sunday and Monday are the official days off, and this last Monday had me taking Amanda to lunch at our favourite tapas restaurant in Bournemouth.

Tapas Plus is simply THE best place to eat. Run by a spanish family since as long as I can remember, the food is always excellent, authentic, tasty, and now that I am vegetarian, still available.....Yay!!
Being spanish there is always the occasional football match screened here, whereupon the place fills, San Miguel flows, and cheers or moans can be heard throughout the town. According to Amanda and the two daughters the waiters are very dishy as well. If any of you are in town please try it....the restaurant that is, not the waiters!


And so it's now 8.30am, Saturday, VERY grey and windy outside, and I must alas go and do some work. The quote and plan for the shrub border mentioned previously is ready for handing over this morning, and whilst at this horrendously large garden I will probably get all of the grass edges tidied and blow away any debris dropped during last nights storm. Then it's over the road to start pruning the apple trees at another place. A cup of tea first though I think!
 

8 comments:

  1. Sorry to see the damage done by that yucca Gary. We used to have one and after I'd been poked in the arm every time I walked by we got rid of it and put a little patio there instead.
    That grass you're almost too afraid to show us is sure a lot better looking than what we call our lawn!
    Oh well it's sunny here today and there's calima on the way.
    Cheers, Sharon.

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  2. Dear Gary, What a nasty injury from the Yucca plant. It is so silly how we get ourselves into these situations, since I am sure that you have weeded around the plant many hundreds of times and yet, just a slip of the defences and an injury results. I do so hope that it clears up quickly as you have had such a rough time recently with your health.
    You certainly have a number of difficult projects coming up but, on the other hand, I am so pleased that you have plenty of work. Times are so difficult and even reliable and skilled workers are finding it problematic to stay in business.
    A vegetarian now...well, what brought about that, dear Gary?

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  3. So sorry about that injury from the yucca. I woke one morning about a year ago with one of my eyes looking like that - a vessel had ruptured though I don't know why. The donkey gave me a needed laugh today! And your grandson Joshua looks like you:)

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  4. Sorry to hear about that plant getting you in the eye. Ouch! Hope it didn't hurt too much. That donkey roaming around free is super cool!

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  5. Gary,
    “OUCH”… Well I guess that is an occupational hazard you “tall” gardeners have to watch out for. As for us short gardeners, we simple come in under the points and do our business. All joking aside I hope you are not suffering any ill effects, other than the obvious ones, from this encounter.

    As for your donkey / ATM adventure, be thankful it was a donkey. There is nothing worse than being behind a two legged ass, enough said.

    As far as the garden pictures go I am still trying to see the “rough”. I would consider myself very fortunate if the grounds around here looked that spectacular this time of year, what am I saying? I would love for things here to look that great “Any Time Of Year”!

    Take care. – G

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  6. A nasty prod in the eye and one I symypathise with as last summer a Phormium got me the same way. Prodding donkeys away from ATMs is a totally new one - you couldn't make it up! Glad to see the sap is rising once more in you as you go about gardening and supping as usual
    Laura

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  7. UGH! That's just what happened to my husband, only it wasn't a yucca but a boat antenna! Hope you're healing well. And I love the village with the burros. Reminds me of Oatman, Arizona that also has wild burros roaming around. Oatman is a tiny "ghost" town that has come alive again. People visit it to see the burros! http://oatmangoldroad.org/burros.htm

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  8. Oh you poor thing, that eye looks very sore. Hope you are not suffering too much.

    If you ever felt like giving a little tutorial on pruning apple trees I'd be very interested, I have a tropical apple that has a lovely "wine glass" shape and I'd really like to keep it that way!

    Unfortunately my pruning is very hit and miss, I just tend to chop.

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