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

Oooh! goodie I was hoping you would say that. Can I be the too

Thanks for sorting my problem out this afternoon

Websailor

Ok, Ok, I am a plant harmer!
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The Spider plant of mine outside my front door in the sort of lobby was in a very small pot for a large plant and kept falling over. I did water it but have only now repotted it and the pot was absolutely jammed with thick roots!
Anyway afterwards I found a small pot and put some compost and the baby Spider plants in it to root naturally like they do wherever it was they came from originally. I like to leave the 'umbilical cord' intact as enjoy getting new plants that way. I understand Spider Plants can cover quite an area in wild that way.
.....it is so much easier for a wild Spider plant that way than popping down homebase for compost and a pot,lol!

Hello SS ,

Spider plants can spread like wildfire, if I don't hear from you then I know that you are trying to find your way around with a jungle of foliage .

It isn't that bad, but they do grow quickly due to their thick roots and lots of baby plants . It brings back memories when my elderly neighbour was alive years ago. She used to have hanging baskets from the ceiling in her living room, with spider plants growing down right to the floor . I had a cutting off her once, and I had it for years, which produced lots of babies which I potted and grew on.

I haven't any now, but you have given me a taster to try a plant .

All the best.

Nigel

Once I had a lawn attached to an 1890s clapboard house where I lived, where, spider plants (yellow striped ones) and a (native) papyrus reed had escaped from the flowerbeds to the lawn and made themselves at home in a pile of St. Augustine's grass and Bermuda grass (which probably arrived as a weed).

Watered and mowed regularly, the mix made quite an acceptable lawn, with the reeds coming up as much as a yard in height in the flowerbeds along with some flowers with robust root structure (pink lillies and pink oxalis), with the spider plants climbing the papyrus reeds for more sunlight.

ITIWBS,

That sounds a very attractive combination. I love to let things grow wild and see what happens. I also love the appearance of plants delivered by the birds, and possibly animals too.

Websailor

Always a part of my gardening philosophy, Websailor, try to get it to grow like a jungle and still look attractive. That lawn, on the other hand, came to me as described and was probably more happenstance than design.

I must go offline now ITIWBS,

I have been watching live feeds from Galveston, Texas of the pending arrival of Hurricane Ike and it looks a bit rough.

I like jungles not sure the neighbours do though

Websailor

I'm back in California. We've been getting early morning monsoonal haze, thick enough I can imagine it dropping a few drops of water, just enough to toss up puffs of dust without settling it, but not yet. A possibility of the first rain of the season next week.

Apologies for not posting on my thread for a couple of weeks . I have been on holiday, as well as being a little hectic .

I have some new gossip on the allotment front, which I will share with you soon .

Thank you for being patient .

Nigel

*waits patiently*

Saturday 8th November, 2008 - Weather is dull and windy, with light showers.

I have just been blowing the dust off this thread . It has been about a couple of months since I have written an allotment update. I do apologise, and hope to continue writing a weekly account of happenings now that I have sorted my computer out .

I have had terrible problems with the computer, which didn’t help by trying to put a second CD into the slot drive and getting two jammed in . I rushed my Mac into the computer hospital, where they ordered and fitted a new CD Drive as my mishap caused it to burn out. They also checked and re-installed everything onto the hard drive; I say everything, I had to load back on the majority of programs. Anyway, after a few weeks of stress, I am hoping that my computer is now better .

Onto the allotment front, I usually go down every Saturday morning but on awakening this morning, I was welcomed by a dull dreary day. It looked like it had been raining through the night, so I never went down . The soil on the allotment is heavy clay in places which doesn’t drain very well in bad weather; It turns out a muddy soggy mess .

However, I went down last Saturday morning which I enjoyed . It was cold , and the ground was very wet but worth going down to see how things were growing. My Swedes are still in the non-waterlogged piece of ground and are doing well. I enjoy a bit of mashed swede with my Sunday lunch . This is the first year I have grown them, and couldn’t make up my mind whether to dig them up to store or leave them in the ground .

After a long think, I decided to take the old option of leaving them in the ground. If I had dug them up, then in order to store them, they would have to be placed in boxes of peat in a frost free and dry position. I am anti-peat, and in order to successfully store swedes it would have to be pure moss peat which I didn’t like the idea of. As swedes have thick skins (like me ), I think they will be fine throughout the winter months until we eat them all .

My leeks seem very slow at growing, although they look healthy, they will not be ready until next year when hopefully they will have thickened up . Apart from them, there are not any other vegetables in the ground except some very sorry looking broccoli plants which are destined for the compost bin .

The annual weeds have died now , but the perennial ones are still being a pain . I hope to start clearing in-between my raspberries soon, and giving them a trim ready for next year. The weeds choked them this year, which resulted in the crop being hopeless.

Last of all, there was supposed to be a bonfire event at the allotments last Saturday night for all allotment holders and their families. It had been planned for months, a chap who has a couple of allotments bringing trailer load after trailer load of logs from his small holding. There was also a barbeque planned, and possibly fireworks.

However, after the site manager decided to tell the council about this, they wrote a strong letter stating that no bonfire and definitely no fireworks were allowed . The reason was ‘health & safety’, if somebody got injured then they could sue the council. The poster was changed to ‘come to our bonfire party, with no fireworks, no bonfire but a barbeque!’ . Then the organiser discovered that there was not enough money for much food for the barbeque. The poster was changed again to ‘bring your own food’ .

By this time it was sounding like a laurel and hardy show, but the site manager was determined to go ahead with it to bring the 60-70 plot holders together. I never went, as it was raining and very windy on the night.

Watch this space, for an update on how many turned up............I haven’t heard myself, but are sure to when I next go down .

Nigel

Nigel. that is typical of H&E restrictions these days, I expect they will ban allotments soon as a risk to backs from digging,lol!
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Seriousely though it is sad as it was an event to bring people together, at least they had a B&Q, I hope the rain brought people together more, Dunkirk Spirit and all that,lol!
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I always have thought allotments are good for so many reasons it is hard to list, getting people out into fresh air is just one of them!

Hi SS ,

It is very true, H&S is a nightmare now. Within the past year, the council told the site manager that he has to ask for a volunteer off the committee to be 'Health and Safety officer'. Somebody did volunteer, and he walks around to make sure that no tools have been left in the pathway and that equipment is being used properly .

He isn't too strict, as it is only a voluntary job, but the amount of paperwork that has to be filled in for spot checks etc is ridiculous. Did you know that we had to take the barbed wire off the top of the gates, as it is a H&S risk to anyone trying to break in? . It is true, and if somebody does hurt themselves trying to break in, then apparently they can sue the council!
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We have just planted a load of brambles at the side of the gate, training them over the top .

All the best. Thanks for reading.

Nigel

Swede Good idea to leave them in the ground, Nigel Apart from anything else, it means you have to go down to the allotment to harvest them

Thanks Frenchbean . You are exactly right, if I didn't have to go down to get them then I would probably stop in the house which would not give me any exercise or inclination .

Take care.

Nigel

Websailor

Blimey, it has been about a couple of months since I posted anything on here .

friends it has been so long. So much has been happening in real life over the past month with appointments at the doctors, clinic, hospital and the dreaded dentist . It has left me very tired, with little energy to spare!

The allotment site is looking very grim at this time of year, with some parts still under water. The Swedes have been very tasty over the winter, but the leeks have stopped growing because of the cold weather.

Hopefully this year will be a better year for leeks, and I will get a bumper crop of potatoes. The time has come once again, to start planning what varieties I will be growing and where I will plant them in the allotment.

I will keep you posted on the latest news, and write an up-to-date diary account very soon.

Nigel

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Heeessss bbbaaaccckkkkk!
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Blimey nigel with all this rough weather I am surprised anything is left in your allotment!