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

Dutch herbs coming on nicely in pots.

Veg patch awaits them. Small Curly Kales already planted out. Chard seeds just sown.

Italian garlic Aglio Rosso and Aglio bianco coming on fine since last October. All appeared to have survived the winter.

Sweet peas planted out.

Bare rooted traditional English hedging plants planted in Feb doing well. Only 3/25 have failed.

Chive seedlings doing well.

English wild flower meadow coming on.

Pond becoming more and more puddle like..hardly any rain in months. Traditional westerlies have disappeared. Add water from water butts everyday..but they're running out.

Lots of birds in garden. Saw sparrow hawk chase a sparrow right down deep into hedge earlier..I think it survived.

Oh yeah and scotch bonnet peppers coming on.

Everything is sort of coming on

Three inches of fresh snow here.

Sounds like spring starts in autumn then..

Honestly I'm so relieved we didn't emigrate when I was a kid. Thank god Dad got promotion.

I spent a good hour earlier just sitting outside at looking at the funny thing that has become my garden. I've now been here in this place in south east London for just over 20 years. There's still the Victoriana/Edwardiana that was here when I moved in. The curly stone edging and weird concrete stone wall..the funny stuff used to make a rockery which i discovered online was all the rage in Edwardian times, the overgrown Ivy up the back with the Elder tree..and the little strappling I put in a year ago..one of its children I nursed. The wonderful coral pink hawthorn that appeared one year as a little 'un pooed out by a bird and is now a tree. Like the holly also pooed out by a bird.

And now the oldfashioned pretentious English wildflower meadow and hedegrows I'm creating

The Dutch herb veg patch.. and curly kale..the little alpine area

An English country garden is a wonderful thing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUyxCP5Rvco

I'm part of a race of mentals

I*ve got potted clematis, climbing pea and morning glory on the go on my balcony. All part of the master plan to cover part of my pigeon netting before I pull most of it down. We have had some hard frosts and hail in the last two weeks but now it looks like they have survived and thrived.

*That Song* is a bit of an earworm/nightmare for me, it was a favourite of both my parents and older sisters so I had to suffer through it repeatedly while I was enjoying the *English Invasion* in the colonies. Everyone in my family was born in Britain except me so naturally I had to learn about the superiority of everything British while living in '60s Canada. I suppose it was inevitable that I would marry a girl from Plymouth (and divorce her).

Of course the funny thing is that the singer of the song Jimmy Rodgers was a yank. And in that Youtube film half the stuff is American creatures. But the sentiment is the same..and we are truly weird about our gardens..well some more than others

Pigeon netting sounds like an idea. I'm a right snob about them. I regularly get the big old wood pigeons in the garden..but just lately some poor feral thing has turned up..what gets called a flying rat in Trafalgar square..I think it must have babies somewhere..but knowing me..I'll be feeding the damn thing before long.

Was she the bipolar? I didn't think they did that in Plymouth..

Yes, that*s the one- she was recently clinically diagnosed which is a really good thing, some of her docs before said she was just depressed which required different meds than BP. She is a Very Good Person so I'm glad she is getting proper help now.

I don't think geography has anything to do with it!!

The netting is because I foolishly allowed a flying rat type nest to be built, little did I know that they tell each other *We have a place to hang out now!*. I'm told that after a year they get the message and move to another location- here's hoping! In the mean time I plan to cover about an eighth of it with climbing flowers, then remove the part that keeps the song birds from perching on the railing and singing me awake in the Spring.

btw, good to hear you have some Dutch herbs on the go- here in Vansterdam we value their medicinal effects.

dutch herbs?????

are we talking here, the stuff you bake into???and buy in shops in amsterdam???

Yay...

difficult position here!!!!?

Sorry meant to add yay...garden looking great today...computer went funny..

Okay..

Yay.... chives, mint, thyme, sweet cicely, basil, bay doing great. friend from Utrecht brought the thyme...

no worries

I didn't know that was a real song. I only knew the parody, which I learned in primary school (not from the teachers!).





What should you do if you're stuck for the loo
In an English country garden?
You pull down your pants and you fertilise the plants
In an English country garden.
Then you pick up a leaf and you wipe your underneath
In an English country garden.
Then you pick up a spade and you bury what you made
In an English country garden.





TRiG.

That's great Trig

Am starting new journal now. All welcome.