Memes & Themes

Don't faint Suburbia and Growing Our Own, at last I'm responding to your tags! I do like doing these, so forgive my tardiness and here goes :)

1. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.

2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.

3. The player tags 5 people and leaves a comment telling them they've been tagged & asking them to read their Blog.

Q. What were you doing 10 years ago?
A. Dreaming of quitting Earthwatch (an environmetal charity) and starting my own business. I did just 5 months later.

Q. Name 5 snacks you enjoy
A. Chocolate (obviously), popcorn, nuts, fresh fruit (especially from the allotment) and salad cream sandwiches

Q. Things I would do if I were a billionaire
A. I once made the shortlist for Who Wants to be a Millionaire and spent the week thinking about what I'd do with the money if I got on and won. After the usual dreams about donations to my favourite charities, world travel, a house with a garden large enough for an orchard etc. I came to the conclusion that the only real change I wanted in my life was my commute to work. I no longer have that commute, but I'd like to spend my billion on trying to invent an instant transporter system to end the nightmare for those who still have to.

Q. Five jobs that I have had
A. As a student I worked on a farm in Nottinghamshire testing peas for their tenderness (using a tenderometer) and chopping up ten tonne blocks of ice from Grimsby into much smaller chunks with a pickaxe.

As a civil servant I reunited someone with their savings certificates they'd lost whilst parachuting over Italy during WWII.

As a systems analyst/business analyst I designed an application form that was available at all our post offices for a number of years and also worked out how many millions it would cost a medium sized building society to convert their computer systems to the euro

As a freshwater biologist I devised a method to sample Mediterranean wetlands using invertebrates as environmental indicators and splashed about on a number of Welsh and English rivers looking at salmon and trout populations.

Whilst at Earthwatch I organised a number of volunteer weekends in my role as Events & Education Co-ordinator - including ones at the herbaria at Kew and The Natural History Museum. My job was sponsored by Marks & Spencer and I had to go to their head office and give a regular account of my activities.

I need to add a sneaky sixth job - NAH and I realised pretty early on that computing and engineering didn't exactly grab people's attention at parties. So we invented spoof jobs to talk about instead. Mine was designing Crazy Paving.

Q. Three bad habits
A. I could have used all 3 of Suburbia's and NAH threatened to provide me with an extensive list, but here are 3 of my very own:

I leave all the pots and pans to soak instead of washing them straight away. When NAH is away this can be for days - shhh don't tell him!

I'm a daydreamer - I could spend all my time just gazing out of the window. I call it thinking!

I leave the stuff I'm working on spread out for me to return to. Trouble is I have several projects on the go at once. If I put them away, those projects just won't get looked at for a while - I found a jumper I was knitting over 20 years ago in a cupboard the other day...

Q. Five places I have lived
A. Excluding the location of this blog and temporary residences of just a few weeks or months -Birmingham (hometown), Newcastle (student), Durham (first paid job), Cardiff (2nd time student) and Corsham (first place NAH and I lived in after getting married)

Q. Five people I want to know more about:
A. I've just started delving into NAH's and my family's history and have hit paydirt already. On my list are:

T.E. Lawrence aka Lawrence of Arabia - NAH's dad's cousin was a friend of his and was the first curator at Clouds Hill cottage after Lawrence's death

Norma Proctor - my grandad's cousin who sang Rule Britannia at The Last Night of the Proms in the 1970s

Jesse Boot - one of NAH's great great uncles was a pharmacist and knew the founder of our familiar high street chemist's

William Booth - a relative on my dad's side was The Salvation Army's founder's second in command

Thomas Hardy - I hated his books when forced to read them at school, but NAH's aunt says there's a character in one of them who might be his great grandfather

Tum, tee, tum, tee, tum - now who to tag:

Authorblog - it's about time he had a taste of his Sunday Roast!

GardenJoy4Me - I'm looking forward to her take on all of this...

Turquoise - returning the favour of my first ever tag! Thanks Lisa, you tagged me just in time to prevent me from giving up blogging :)

The Plot Thickens - Simon, I'm returning the favour from your recent tagging ;) My response to yours is up next.

Threadspider - Just to keep you on your toes.

There's no obligation to play if you don't want to, but I'm dying to find out what you all have to say :)

Comments

  1. Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen8 May 2008 at 07:54

    It's nice to know abit more about you. BTW I've linked with you,hope that's OK, will you do the same?

    cheerio!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Esther Montgomery8 May 2008 at 08:50

    Between the ages of eleven and fourteen, I used to travel to school on the London Underground.

    It was quite a long way. One of the ways I passed the time with my friends was like this:-

    If we found ourselves jammed between lots of people in the area in front of the doors (which was quite often) we would talk about something interesting enough to grab the attention of eavesdroppers.

    Gradually, we would introduce made-up things and let the conversation get more and more absurd so we could see how long it took before the grown-ups around us realised it was all nonsense. (We could tell by their expressions.)

    This game sort of overlaps your boring comute item and your invented professions.

    Esther
    ESTHER IN THE GARDEN

    ReplyDelete
  3. Esther Montgomery8 May 2008 at 12:33

    Mentioned you on today's posting - ESTHER IN THE GARDEN re. landslide.

    Hope ok.

    Esther

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ewa8 May 2008 at 19:27

    VP,
    interesting to know little bit more of you :)
    Greetings from Poland :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. CanadianGardenJoy9 May 2008 at 00:05

    VP ............................................................................................................. and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Joy

    ReplyDelete
  6. VP12 May 2008 at 14:59

    Yolanda - thanks for stopping by and thanks for the link. You'll see that I've returned the favour :)

    Esther - I must add your game to our repertoire! Thanks for the mention too :)

    Ewa - hello again! Glad you enjoyed it

    Joy - don't worry, whenever and whatever you feel like doing...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
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 ...
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl...
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape...
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing ...
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the...
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee...
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi...
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso...
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter, ...
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener...
Read more