h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ground elder - that's a new one on me. Chances are we don't have it here, which is good 'cos we have enough introduced pest plants to go on with.

We had some rain today. I do hope there's more coming...

Anyway. After tomorrow I'll be offline for about a fortnight (probably) as Mum will be here. I'll see you after she's gone home again. In the meantime, I hope you get to start the treatment and that it does all that it should.

Believe me, you don't want ground elder ever, it's a real nuisance. It sends running roots all over the place and if you break a piece of root off it will grow, if you drop a piece of leaf or a stem it will root and grow.

Have a nice break with your mum.
I hope by the time you get back i will have started the treatment

I'm back. Have you started the treatment? If so, how do you feel about it so far?

Hiya.
Nice to see you back. I did see your journal and i'm pleased you had a nice time with your mum.

I had the first injection this afternoon and i don't feel any better yet.
I was hoping to go to London next Wednesday to see Hypatia, she invited me along to celebrate her birthday. Not only am i not fit enough to go, i now have to see the nurse for the 2nd injection. After that i do my own injections unsupervised.
I'm disapointed that i can't go, i would have liked to me Hypatia again.

I've never met Hypatia at all, so you're still one up on me.

Do you know how long it's likely to be before you see/feel/notice any change as a result of the treatment?

I'll pass on my regards to Hypatia if i manage to get to Kew next week, she will be there.

The medication can work very quickly and there is a chance i'm already feeling the effects, rather than just having a good couple of days. If it is working then i will be a very happy bunny. My next jab is on Wednesday. After that i do the injections without supervision

We are having some wondeful weather again, just my luck i'm working the weekend and the bank holiday tomorrow

Hows things in your garden? No more casualties i hope

Well, I certainly hope you *are* feeling the effects of the treatment. That way, good days will become normal, not special events...

Self-injection doesn't appeal to me, I must say. One of my colleagues has started with a daily self-injected medication; she tells me that the first hew times were a challenge but now it's just something she has to do.

My garden's ticking along nicely, with no further fatalities as yet. But we'll start to get frosts reasonably soon, so anything's possible. What a charming thought *that* is.

I don't have a problem with having injections, i have so many it's become the norm. However, doing the injection myself was a different thing altogether. It's the knowing that you are inflicting pain on yourself that makes me hesitant. I still have the bruise from the one i did last week and i have to do another tomorrow I'm hoping that after a few times, i will be able to do it without too much bruising

I'm pleased to hear there are no more fatalities, lets hope the winter passes without any more.
Things are going ok with my garden. One of the hardy orchids has a flower bud emerging. I can't remember what colour it is, i think it's a white flowered variety.

Right, I'm back again, having somehow survived a four-day hippy-drippy talkfest.

Do you bruise easily under normal circumstances? I certainly do - I now have a large bruise on each leg just above the knee, resulting from the terrible chair I had at the talkfest. I'd like to find whoever designed that chair and poke him (definitely a male) with a stick.

The sun's just up here; I'll shortly tour the garden and see what needs to be done this weekend.

Yes, i bruise very easily, Annoying is'nt it? Do you find you can't account for some of the bruises that appear? I quite often notice a bruise and have no idea how i got it.

I went to Kew on Saturday to meet with some other hootooers. It was a good but tiring day out. I took loads of photos of flowers
I was disappointed that i just missed, by a couple of days, the Titan Arum in flower. They had 2 which flowered in close succession, imagine the awful smell that must have filled the air with two flowers.

Did you get anything done in your garden at the weekend?

I have at least three unexplained bruises on me now. It's a constant source of wonder.

I'd be a bit miffed at missing the Titan Arum too... But then, I routinely miss Kew in its entirety. Can't have everything, I suppose.

At the weekend I managed to prune the ivy and fiddle about with this and that and pull up a few weeds. That exhausted me. Pathetic, really, now I come to think of it, but I needed a rest after a week on a dopey course.

If ever you do get to the UK, you must visit Kew, you'll love it.

We are in need of some rain in this area, my garden is starting to look like a desert in a dust storm

I have a new bruise today, one from where i have to stab myself with a needle. It's the first time i've done the jab on my own and it went fine.

I'd like to think the bruising potential will diminish over time, as you get to know where your best sites are. I'm not sure that I could self-inject; I'm a physical coward at the best of times.

Dust. Welcome to my world, that's all I can say. Your callistemon should cope nicely, at least.

My brain's frozen, I think. It's that sort of week...

The last 2 jabs i've done havent left a bruise at all I still have the bruise from the first one though and it was 3 weeks ago i did that.
Luckily for us the dust storm is now over, well for now anyway. We had some rain lastnight!
One of the new orchids i bought this year has got a large flower bud, it should be blooming within the next week or so. I'll be sure and get photos of course.

I haven't even seen my garden this week. Out before dawn, home after dark... I'll get to look at it tomorrow morning. I wonder what I'll find.

It's good to hear you've experienced bruiseless jabs. Here's hoping that continues.

I noticed yesterday that my neighbours Callistemon has died, It's been planted about 2 years and did'nt look so great last year. Mine seems to be doing fine and the buds are starting to enlarge now, so hopefully some flowers soon.
Hows things with you?

Things are good here. A dental check-up with no problems found, a potentially awful meeting cancelled, and I have only seven more days of w*rk before I take two and a half weeks off. What more could I want, apart from chocolate?

A dead callistemon - what an odd concept. Had it been fertilised? If so, that probably killed it. These things thrive on neglect and adore poor soil. Mine are happy enough and I never do anything with them.

Now, here's a question. I'm removing that awful half-dead camellia and am thinking of replacing it with a small deciduous thing - a Japanese maple, maybe. (The neighbour has one in a similar spot, so I expect it'll do well.) Would that require any particular site preparation?

It's always good to get through a dental checkup without any treatment It obviously deserves the reward of just to test that the gnashers are ok of course.

I don't know what the neighbour did to kill that poor plant, my guess is that she molly coddled it with fertiliser and did'nt once give it a trim to encourage new growth. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

I'm a bit of a fan of japanese acers, i have a beautiful one in my garden, every year it just gets better.
The one thing i did when planting mine was to make sure it had a nice bed of ericacious (acid) compost to nestle in. That gave it a good start and it's thrived ever since. The one thing they don't like is strong winds, it can scorch the leaves and make the tree look tatty and sad. So a sheltered spot is ideal if you have it and partial shade if it's possible. I should say that when they are young they are not very drought tolerant and would need watering for at least the first year.

Acid compost - thanks, I'll remember that. Ideally I'd plant natives, but after the camellia I expect the soil in that corner has been 'improved' so I'd better put in something that can cope.

The site itself is on the south side of the house so it's in shade most of the time, and there's a 6' wall for extra shelter, so it should be right. As for drought - I'll just have to keep an eye on it from the kitchen window, and nipout with a bucket as and when required.

I am taking today off. I have flu. Not swine flu. Possibly just man flu. At any rate, I feel like compost.

I'm not sure you would need the acid compost, i think your soil is already acidic. I have to plant Callistemons and japanese acers in acid soil. becuase mine is neutral clay.

Are you SURE it's not swine flu? Have you developed a sudden liking for truffles? has your skin turned a little pinker than usual? Do you have an overwhelming desire to eat from a trough?