Green Gungy Graffiti
I decided to make some of the moss graffiti paste this
week. I did two lots, one made with
buttermilk, moss and water retaining gel and the other one I substituted the
buttermilk with a fine can of ale that I bought from the local off licence. The
kitchen looked a bit of a gungy mess when I had finished as I seriously
underestimated the sheer size of the retaining gel when it has absorbed the
water
In the blender. If
you have ever seen a nappy when it is full this will give you an idea how much
it can grow when wet, our cakes might have a green hue in them for a while. I have three large containers of the slime in
the fridge now and after drawing a couple of things on our shed wall I have run
out of ideas where to put the remainder of the mix. The main reason for this is the realisation
that after the initial image gets established, the moss will just keep on
growing until it has covered everything around it, especially if it on a
sheltered north facing wall. I need to
handle it with care, or throw it into the compost bin, which is the most likely
place for it to end up as mould seems to be pushing the lids off the containers.
Manure
Having moved house recently we needed to find a new source
of good quality well rotted horse manure for the garden. This we have done this week and I must say
it’s the best I have ever collected.
It’s fine, like compost and full of earthworms. We took advantage of the dry weather and
collected as much as the car suspension would allow putting it into old coal
bags which are now happily waiting to be dug in or added to the top of the soil
as mulch. I have sectioned off a bit of
the garden with chicken wire to keep the dogs off so we can hopefully start
very soon putting up the small vegetable plants that are growing quickly at the
moment. The slower growing plants that will be in the ground for a long time
like purple sprouting broccoli, these need to go in very soon as do the
courgettes. The courgettes seem to be very slow in starting this year, they
should pick up soon though as the soil is very warm. There isn’t as much urgency with successive
sowing vegetables like peas, beans and salad crops as these will shoot up
really quickly. We’re not putting
ourselves under any pressure to get growing this year though as we actually
thought that we wouldn’t have time to grow anything in the ground until next
year, so even if we get a tiny amount of produce we will be very happy.
WIN 2 GREAT GARDENING BOOKS IN THE
POETRY COMPETITION
There have been some great poems sent into us already but
keep the great poems coming to be in with a chance of winning the two great
gardening books I have to give away to the lucky winner. The first book by Klaus Laitenberger titled
‘Vegetables for the Polytunnel and Greenhouse’ tells you everything you need to
know about growing your own vegetables, care, planting, weed control and
more. The second book written by myself
is an 80 page manual all about making your own raised beds with lots of
pictures. Titled ‘Raised Beds for the
Organic Garden’ is available as an e-book, so you will need a computer, Kindle
or similar.
How to Enter
All you have to do is be creative and write a poem with a
garden related theme. The poem can be about your favourite plant, season,
environment, composting, digging, tools, vegetables, weeding, fruit, slugs and
snails, in fact anything gardening related.
Judging
The poems will be read and judged by Gareth Austin from
Newtowncunningham who is the resident expert gardener on the Mark Patterson
show on radio Foyle.
When you have penned your poem please send it to me at info@gardening.ie or
drop it into the Inishowen Independent office.
There will also be a few of my e-books offered to the
runners up. The closing date is Friday
15th of June so you have just one week to send in your finished
poem. The winner and a few runners up will have their masterpieces published
here in the coming weeks. Good luck and
have fun!
