I’ve planted a few potatoes this week, although it’s possibly too early as the shoots won’t enjoy a late frost. I’ve mulched them with shreddings from pruning the fruit trees. We’ll plant some more on the fresh food garden courses on Saturday 2 and 30 October 2010. The other opportunity to visit The Kitchen Garden is to come on the very popular Ohariu Garden Ramble on Sunday 7 November 10-4pm. Ten or so country gardens will be open that day.
Strawberry plants are in the shops so it’s a good time to set up a new strawberry bed. Sixteen plants in a square 1.2mx1.2m will do just fine. I plant a new bed every three years. Make sure you set up a protection system now that will keep out the birds when they start fruiting. They will test every crack in your defences and sneak under the smallest gap in any netting. Mulch them well with pine needles to improve the soil and keep down the weeds.
If you’d like some white pigeons in your life, I have four (possibly five) available free to a good home. I can’t tell whether they are male or female, but fortunately they can. Please email me if you’d like to collect these beauties. You’ll need to rig up something like this to keep them at your place for the first month or you’ll be coming right back to collect them again. The Dexter calves are also destined for pastures new.
It’s slightly dispiriting to discover that we continue to fall foul of the same fakes and frauds that have captivated audiences throughout history. A Treasury of Deception: Liars, Misleaders, Hoodwinkers and the Extraordinary True Stories of History’s Greatest Hoaxes, Fakes and Frauds shows that our willingness to believe and forgive those who deceive us knows no bounds.
