Green Gungy Stuff

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 15^th 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!