Multitasking

Need to switch off? Try gardening.

I have realised exactly why I love gardening so much. It’s the one thing in my day that I do without thinking about the next job in hand. It’s the one important time of the day when I am not multitasking—trying to pay attention to numerous things simultaneously. I do anticipate my next jobs of course, but whilst I am mowing the lawn, that’s all I can do without being distracted and putting myself in danger. When that’s finished I can go on to do other things like sweeping the driveway systematically and safely going onto the next thing.
I could blame the computer for my lack of attention to one task. I can’t stay on a webpage for more than 5 seconds before getting impatient and if the page takes a while to load I will try to fit in reading e-mails and jumping onto the pages of DoneDeal to see what classic cars are for sale before clicking to see if the original page has loaded. Glancing at pages isn’t a problem until it is an instruction to do something. I waste hours trying to do things before eventually going back and reading the information properly. As my lad say when he sees my trying to set something up and getting impatient, “RTFM” (Read the f-ing manual) it makes sense I suppose –but it takes so long.

Feel good

Multitasking jobs like phoning whilst cooking or checking e-mails/facebook as the spuds go onto the boil, we claim to do so in the name of efficiency. Scientists now think the real attraction to multitasking has a lot to do with dopamine, a feel-good neurochemical released when we're stimulated by new things, even as simple as anticipating what is in the e-mail message. One scientist tells us that “We're all novelty junkies and multitasking, especially the electric kind, is a great way to get a fix.”

NCT

I tried to multitask last week putting my car though the NCT. I thought I could use the time spent sitting in the waiting room constructively by ‘thinking’ of solutions to my daily issues. A total waste of time as it turned out. I couldn’t concentrate on anything, partly because it was so cold, but mainly because the NCT man had to jump start the car in the checking bay. Not a good start to the test. It made me far too anxious to think about anything ‘constructive’, so I just got more stressed because I couldn’t think about the things that were stressing me. I sometimes think these small windows of spare time (like the ten minute wait for the lads to be picked up from school) are useful. But realistically I’d be better off just having a nap and in much the same way that gardening does, gives my brain a rest.

Just remember

There are times when multitasking can be valuable, especially if you are flying something. But recent evidence suggests that multitasking with unrelated activities—such as trying to write an article in my head as I am watching Coronation Street, or tying to wash the sink down when I’m brushing my teeth can impair short-term memory and interfere with mental processing. I am often seen as forgetful. I now see that it’s not that I forget things; I never really remembered it in the first place.
The medical boffins with impressive attention spans say that this is partially because most of what we call multitasking doesn't actually involve doing multiple things simultaneously; it involves rapidly switching between activities, a process that saps time and energy by requiring us to constantly refocus our attention. One doctor tells us that “When a conscious decision has to be made, our brains can generally do only one thing at a time," I can relate to that. Quick and creative thinking can be impeded and when we learn something while multitasking, we use an area of the brain called the striatum, which is activated when we learn new habits or skills, as opposed to the hippocampus, which is associated with forming conscious memories and is active when we're focused. The problem with habit-based learning is that it tends to be inflexible. This generally means that if everything goes the way it’s expect it to, all well and good, but if the routine is broken by something as simple as a phone call, getting back into the swing of things can be a bit awkward.

Have you ever really eaten an orange?

Here’s a test to see if you are trying too hard to multitask. When you eat an orange, do you put the next segment in your mouth before eating the next one? Next time you eat one, just take a look. A wise sage once told me that until you eat the separate segments individually you have never really eaten an orange. You are too busy anticipating the next piece, which is similar to multitasking.
Gardening is my one great release from trying to juggle my days ‘things to do’ It makes me realise that in the day the challenge is not to find stimulation but to say no to it, to take control of my rather short attention span and cultivate a different kind of richness in my life—one that comes from leaning on a spade and looking at the scenery. It sounds daft, but by doing this I tend to get a lot more done in the day.

Cleaning Paths

Our new puppy is looking rather cute at the moment. I suppose they have to have some endearing qualities so they are kept as pets and not given away to the dog pound. If Kenny (that’s what we have temporarily decided to call him) wasn’t looking at me with those sad eyes I would have probably shipped him off by now and been left with a clean kitchen floor that isn’t constantly wet. There were times when I wanted to rub his nose in it, but thankfully the good old internet was there to give me some good advice.

Toilet training should only take about a week and the pup needs to be praised for doing their business outside, not reprimanded for doing it on the front room carpet. It is yet again a case of me being trained as well as Kenny (or Kenneth as I like to call him much to the annoyance of the rest of the family). His mother, Chips, has taken to running out of the house in the morning and hiding in the woods, coming back covered in bramble thorns and gorse, only to eat and sleep. She keeps a distance from her offspring now as he has a fine set of sharp teeth which must make feeding a bit of a painful procedure. Her chair is still too high for Kenneth to jump onto so Chips just stares at him dismissingly as he tries to get to her. Parenthood, isn’t it wonderful?
I read that a puppy needs to be taken out every hour and told to do its business. I might as well use this time productively so instead of standing there saying “do a wee wee” (the websites suggestion, not mine,) I am finding outdoor jobs to do. This should keep all three of us happy. I can release my frustrations by doing a bit of manual work, Chips can hide in the gorse and Kenneth can frolic around and eat fallen leaves.

Clearing Pathways

The autumn leaves are looking particularly beautiful at the moment, we have a few really bright varieties of acers that go scarlet in colour before falling, and we have a sorbus and a birch tree to add to the rainbow of colours. I’m outside to clear the path of leaves in the front garden today and notice that the path needs other work to make it safe for the winter. I have three jobs to do (four if you count keeping an eye on the puppy)

1. Clear the path of weeds
2. Clear the steps leading up to the path
3. Wash the path down to stop it from becoming slippery when wet.

Clear the path of weeds
 The path is crazy paving and over the year annual and perennial weeds have grown in the cracks. I’m not as organised as the bloke working on the Credit Union grounds in Buncrana. He has a stick with a nail on the end and he scrapes out all of the dirt and weeds from the path cracks. I’m not so exacting with the weeds on my path and jut hack the tops off with a spade. I’m careful to make sure that Kenneth is preoccupied chewing on a cotoneaster stump before commencing. I also clear the edges of the path where the grass is beginning to encroach into the crazy paving.

Clear the steps leading up to the path
Whoever washes the dishes at the kitchen sink looks up the path through the window and I couldn’t help but notice that groundcover plants are covering most of the four steps leading to the path. I used the excuse that I liked the plants cascading over the rockery stones for a year or two now, but they are full of creeping buttercup, clover, couch grass, London pride and ivy. Chances are that it was just supposed to be London pride growing over onto the path but everything else has been mixed up in it over the years. I wouldn’t be bothered to pick the weeds from the mess so I pull everything back off of the steps back to the rockery stones, the clumps came up easily, even with a young puppy behind me hanging from my jumper. It’s amazing how wide the path is now that the clumps have gone. I am now in a position to allow only the plants that I want to grow onto the steps without having to do any weeding.

Wash the path down
I’m just using soapy water and a stiff brush with a dog on the end for this. I don’t want, or need to use any harsh chemicals for this, especially with soft paws running about. The stones can get really slippery when algae grows on it so it really needs doing once or twice a year, -even more if the pathways are in a lot of shade. It only takes a few weeks for the paths to be dangerous.

I have a couple of wheelbarrow loads of weeds from the path and as I empty the contents onto the compost heap I look at Kenneth and find myself saying. “Time to go back inside. Do a wee wee”.
Did I really just say that?

Halloween 10

Any excuse

I’ve managed to find yet another excuse for having the garden in a state of disarray. This week I usually use the fact that it’s a school holiday to not sweep the leaves, but it’s also Halloween at the weekend so I have a few plans up my torn zombie sleeve. The ghouls and ghosts will be calling at the door demanding treats with the threat of a trick if I don’t comply. This year it’s retaliation time.

Turning the tables

The first thing to do is to keep the leaves and pile them up around the doorway (if the wind hasn’t already done it for you. Then prop some dead tree branches onto the walls. Fake cobwebs can be cast over these for added effect and a spooky face can be stuck to the door, dripping with blood. If I can be bothered I might get some fake tombstones and paper bags with LED lights in them to dimly light up the driveway.
The scariest thing that you could do to frighten the children witless when they come knocking at the door is to offer them something that isn’t filled with sugar when they hold out their expectant hands waiting for the ‘treat’. I have a simple recipe for severed eyeballs that should frighten the living daylights out of them, solely due to the fact that the main ingredients are fresh vegetables, namely cucumbers, carrots and black olives. There is a dollop of cream cheese to stick everything together in there too. They will look sweet and tempting under creepy low lighting and should get a reaction when they are put into the excited child’s mouth. If I am feeling generous I could always make up some bloody worms made from thinly sliced hotdog sausages, but where would the fun be in that for me, they would probably enjoy those? I could always try and fashion dog poo shapes by mixing weetabix and water together and leaving them on the driveway. Actually, as an afterthought, only make things you are happy to clean up off windows in the morning. Even fruit can be a bit messy.

Pumpkin fun

There are creepy things that could be made with pumpkins too. We grew some deep orange coloured ones this year for hollowing out, but unfortunately we ate all of the regular shaped ones. All we have left are a few very irregular looking ones that look as though they have been deflated and are too small to hollow out. I think the main problem this year was that we didn’t nip off the growing shoot of the plants. They produced lots of small specimen pumpkins instead of a few large ones that would have been suitable for the seasonal purpose of carving. The resulting plant growth of the pumpkin plants has made its way up the decking steps and towards the house, which I suppose is creepy enough in itself. All is not lost though, we’ve taken to dressing one of the small pumpkins up with an ‘Anonymous’ mask (It’s an image of Guy Fawkes from the film V for Vendetta. If you don’t know Anonymous ask your computer savvy teenagers who they are) and a trilby hat. It looks very dapper, but scary it isn’t.

Here’s a tip for you if you don’t fancy illuminating your pumpkin. Smear petroleum jelly around the hollowed out inside, this stops it from drying out. Instead of putting the candles inside, pop in a potted carex grass, leaving the long fine leaves to cascade from the top. It looks great in the daylight, just like real hair. There are other plants you could pot up; chrysanthemums are in full bloom at this time of year. For an instant display of colour try putting cuttings from berried twigs like pyracantha into jars. Holly is bursting with berries this year; sprigs of these would look great coming out of the pumpkin head. Scatter colourful leaves around the pumpkin base for added effect.

If my trip into Derry was anything to go by recently, this Halloween is promising to be one of the grandest yet. Every other shop seems to be selling Halloween costumes and accessories; it’s keeping their economy going. With just a bit of effort and a few chopped pieces of vegetables we can give the door knocking kids a night to remember without spending a fortune. And being realistic, I’m probably scary enough to most young children without having to put on a mask.

Out of Room

Digging in the dirt

We ran out of room in the veggie patch this year. I’m not sure why really as we more or less grew the same things as the previous years. Maybe it was the extra large pumpkins that took up the room, or the weeds. Whatever the reason for the lack of space, I have decided to expand.
Acting impulsively I sift through this week’s edition of the Dealer to see who is selling topsoil, a vital commodity in my expansion plans as we really don’t have a surplus in our own garden. The collapse of the building industry in this recession has caused a huge rise in the price of topsoil. At the height of the boom all you had to do was to flag down a passing tractor and trailer carrying a load and they would drop it off at the house for nothing. Good quality topsoil now appears to be trading on the world markets alongside gold. The price seems to be around 150-200 euro per 20 tonne so if you can get a good quality load free of stones and couch grass, it’s not too bad. I opt for the most local supplier just down the road from us and prepare a space for the delivery.

A load of sheeting

As I am attempting to do this on a budget I manage to scrounge some black plastic sheeting to put on the ground. The load arrives; the sheeting on the ground soon gets covered, and more of the ground besides. The resulting pile also manages to block out the sun. It’s big, very big.
I’m very pleased with the soil. It’s got a good mix of silt, sand, clay and small stones. The field that it came from had been well limed and regularly top dressed with sand and manured on an annual basis. I pay the money to the friendly farmer. I spend the next thirty minutes just standing and looking at the giant heap, wondering what I have let myself in for.

On a budget

Again, because I am trying to do this on a budget, I have managed to get some used coal bags to put the soil into for easy storage and to move it to the new raised beds when they are in place. After covering most of the pile with more plastic to keep the weeds from germinating, I set about shovelling the soil into the bags. I soon realise that, although the soil is very loose and top notch, it does have more stones in it that I first thought. It also has old roots and couch grass. It will be grand for the subsoil at the base of the raised beds but not really fine enough for the surface. I don’t like rummaging through stones in the veggie patch and carrots certainly don’t like them so a cunning plant is needed. It’s time to be inventive. When I worked for the council I was once given the job of sieving 70 tonnes of soil, it needed to be fine enough for a top dressing on the bowling greens. I remember the giant sieve I used, so I need to replicate one of those.

Making a soil sieve

I pop to the Co-op to see what they have in stock. I was thinking of getting wire mesh with holes about 1” square, but after looking at it I realise that size would be too big for the job and let too many stones in. They have some strong metal mesh that has holes to about half an inch but it is too heavy for the job, it’s made to clean sheep’s hooves as they walk over it. I have about given up when I come across some fine mesh used for strengthening concrete. It’s just what I need and only costs 5 euro for a sheet 2’6” wide by 8’ long. My budget can stretch to that.
The first thing I do is divide the mesh in two, so I am left with a sheet only 4’ in length and one spare piece of the same size. I then sandwich one of the sheets in between lengths of 2”x1” planks of wood and screw them tightly together, which holds the mesh in place. The finished product is sturdy and sits well leant up against the wheel barrow at a 45 degree angle. When I shovel the soil onto the mesh, the stones fall to the ground in front of me and the sieved soil goes through and makes a neat pile that resembles finely sifted flour.
A resounding success I think. Now as I am the ideas man, all I need is for someone to do all of the hard work for me. Any volunteers?