That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Concentrate mentally on soil and digging which is done, solution will come...
ReplyDeleteI have housemaid's knee, so I sympathise. My solution so far: butch it out and dig anyway. Probably not a medically recognised therapy, but what the hell.
ReplyDeleteIgnore the digging - difficult I know but there's no point in making your elbow worse. Read seed catalogues instead :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree with easygardener, let it heal, then go back to it. If weeds are worrying you peg down some black tarp or similar to suppress them. With the rain we are supposed to get this weekend the soil won't thank you for working it anyway. For you - try gentle exercise to keep it mobile, gentle massage, glucosamine, arnica, either topically or as a pillule, or other anti-inflammatory, acupuncture (I swear by this), and reflexology are beneficial too. (I just got back from 2 hours with Rachel, yay!)
ReplyDeleteHope it's feeling much better soon xx
Zoe's idea of the weed suppressing membrane seems very sensible. Hope the elbow gets better soon - probably too much knitting!
ReplyDeleteVP, I would loan you some monkeys, but there is a large body of water in the way.
ReplyDeleteEwa - I do hope so
ReplyDeleteSoilman - that's exactly what I've been doing, with the help of Ibulieve!
Easygardener - that's very very tempting!
Zoe - I'm thinking of raisding the local supermarkets for lots of cardboard. Will cause some controversy up at the plot, but what the hell!
PG - thanks! And possibly too much blogging!
Deb - that's a nice thought :) I thought of borrowing your Label 'I'm a wimp' when I was writing this ;)
I can loan you SomeBeans - he's bereft now he's finished digging our allotment. All he needs in return is cake.
ReplyDeleteWhen can he start? I'll start baking right now...
ReplyDeleteThe digging will still be there when you are fit enough to tackle it. Not worth aggrevating your poorly arm. Take care.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anna. It's just a bit depressing as my plot's covered with weeds now and everyone else's has lots of lovely dug areas.
ReplyDelete