doctorlou

Bloody dog keeps running all over my asparagus bed so I rigged up a netting frame around the asparagus bet. I have planted nastersham seeds every where, I hope the bees will like them, they certainly like the blossom.
Three more rows of early spuds have gone in and I have various cabbages and beetroot growing in cold frames.
The greenhouse is constructed at last and I have , corgettes,leeks and salsify planted in little pots. This is such an exciting time in the garden not a time to do it all especially as I have agreed to go back to my old Hospital and do four clinics a week because they are desperate to meet bloody targets!

Fantastic day, started with walk in the sun with the membership secretary, along stretch of river belonging to a fly fishing club I am appliying to join.
I copsed pea sticks from my next door neighbours little orchard / wild garden, taking care not to make much noise as my neighbours dog has bitten me 3 times!
I planted two rows of peas and two rows of broadbeans. Then I set about beating flat copper pipe and nailing it round the top of the bottom raised bed, I only hit my thumb three time! All the raised beds have copper tape which I am slowly replacing. The other half came home mid afternoon and drove himself mad trying to glaze one of me new little green houses. I bought two I hope he will not lose the will to live until he has put up the second!
Also planted a load of nastertiums in containers. The bees were very active in the sunshine bless em!
I have four trays of different cabbages and some brussels growing up in one of my three cold frames and a tray of beetroot.I had to mend the lid of one of the cold frames and after several failed attempts to mend with nails I resorted to 'No more nail' glue, worked a treat though my nails are covered in the stuff. It was good to be alive today.

What a day. I rotorvated my large potato patch. I have a brilliant  Mantis which takes the back breaking work out of this chore, digging trenches. The early spuds are in, it is great to be planting again. I was interuped numerous times by my other half puting up one of the two greenhouses that I bought the other day. They have metal frames with strong plastic windows and measure 6ftX4ft. I have a proper greenhouse but it is not in the kitchen garden so plants tend to die in there because I forget to check on them!
Anyway 'kits' and my husband do not mix. He ALWAYS says 'these instructions are ludicrous'( it would help if he looked at the picture of the finished product, it REALLY helps.) 'This bit does not fit' (he has put it in the wrong place) 'There are not enough nuts and bolts' (He has misplaced them) etc Followed by stamping his feet and having a tantrum. It happens every time, I don't know why I ask him to do it but I think it is good for him to do something physical! 'Look on the bright side' I said, 'the second one will go up twice as fast!' If he doesn't get taken away in a straight jacket before then!
  I have also rotovated and raked two of the raised beds and recovered them with membrane after applying the stinking chicken pooh. Greens go in next week.
By the end of the day we both got into our hot tub to get the feeling back in frozen fingers (I have mild Raynauds and he is on beta blockers for hypertension) and to help with the aches and pains. I could not be fagged to start cooking at 6.30pm so we walked down to our local pub for food. It's ok and fills a hole, the menu reads better than the food eats!

I ache all over having worked for at least 6 hours yesterday and today. I have just about finished mending the snow damage to my fruit and vegetable cages.http://community.webshots.com/user/loopy130?vhost=community See my garden photos by using this link. You will see that I have 5 large vegetable cages in raised beds and 2 larger fruit cages.(All were buckled by the snow(
We have sucessfully kept slugs at bay having put copper tape all round the raised beds but the tape is not robust so I am now hammering copper pipes flat and nailing it to the edges of the raised beds. I was squating on my haunches doing this yesterday for about an hour and my thigh muscles are agony from being on stretch for so long.
I bought some starter plants today, cabbage, broccoli and brussels and they are now in one of the cold frames.I have bought a load of chicken shit pellets (nitrogen ++) my bloody car still stinks of it. I cant wait to start eating my own fresh veg again, I have carrots and a bit of spinach and some cabbage on the brink otherwise it's the surplus broadbeads and runners from the freezer.Happy gardening
Went to the Village Garden Club last night, subject 'Organic Veg growing' I did not learn anything new other than crushed garlic in water left to rot a bit, then makes a good spray for green fly and caterpillars, we shall see!!

I spent several hours in the kitchen garden today. Dug up a few beds and a bit of weeding. I planted shallots, red onions and garlic and since cold weather is predicted for the next few days I hope they will survive. I have put copper tape nailed all around the raised beds and some repairs were needed. Copper tape is prone to damage so I am going to hammer flat some copper piping and use that instead. Expensive but permenant and the fact is it really works to keep the slugs off. I put some bone and blood fertilizer on my asparagus plants also. I have my spuds chitting away in the summer house and will probably start getting them in next week. I have finished repairing all my fruit and vegetable cages that were damaged by the snow. If it snows again I will run out and take the top netting off, one learns by ones mistakes!!

I have been witness to relentless bullying over the last 18 moths  by an Arch Deacon and a Rector who are determined to get rid of their new Vicar. The new Vicar is very very popular,and has has touched the hearts of the community in many ways and has reached out to many who would never have considered having anything to do with the Church of England. The only faults that this young Vicar has is that  her 20 year marriage failed when she moved here and she has a chronic arthritic condition which has meant that she has had some time off in her first year, but this is now well under control and her Hospital specialist deemed her fully fit to go back to work. The Church in their wisdom refused to let her back to work (where did they get their medical degree?) After a lot of unnecessary stress and visits to Church legal advisers she has been allowed to go back to work. However, they still will not let her take the most important services that occur over Christmas such as the Carol Service and Christmas Eve midnight service and continue to make life very difficult for her. I have never come across such a bunch of non-christian Christians in my life. It makes me glad to be an atheist!

The public toilets in our village were smashed to pieces by our resident vandals. A few thousand was spent refurbishing them and a few weeks ago they were reopened. With in 2 days two windows were smashed and 2 days agoi they smashed the rest of the windows with rocks taken from the dry stone wall behind the building. Can anyone tell me what kick these yobs get smashing a bloody toilet?
Since I last wrote about the vandalism, they have burgled several houses to feed their drug habits, there is a drug dealer in the village, they stole a car and smashed it in a crash, stole a van and set fire to it in the middle of a houseing estate and they commit ant act of vandalism EVERY SINGLE DAY. Why arn't the police doing anything? They need proof, the word of witnesses even respected pillars of society is not recognised by the courts. These young people have too many rights and no bounaries for acceptable behaviour. Because they get away with it there is no deterant to stop and sadly some of these young men are destined to a life in and out of prison unless they are given a 'short sharp shock' now. It is hard to believe that this Village was idyllic three years ago and now it has more crime per capita than the two nearby towns combined.

Only 1 of the 3 bastards who wrecked our Range Rover by smashing all the windows and back lights and leaving dents above and below the windows has been charged. I cannot believe it. Two of the sods were bragging to their mates that they had done it. One of the 3 who has not been prosecuted has made my life a living hell for 3 years including assault but he has got away with his evil doings every time. I am incensed. What is wrong with the Law in this country which allows these young hooligans to ruin peoples lives and totally get away with it.

At least one of the little sods who smashed our car windows and lights has been to court and is being prosecuted. We still have the problem but the boys that still hang outside the house are not so vile. One of them still threatens to burn our house down or 'take it to another level' but I hope he does not have the nerve to do it. What is this country coming to, inner city problems I can understand but in a sleepy country village? Is nowhere safe form these vile young people? Let the parents and teachers smack if necessary, it did not do me any harm and I had plenty from my mother. All my 4 brothers were caned at school and they are civilised people with impeccable manners.