Sunday, 23 August 2009
Tameside’s finest tubers - even if I say so myself
They must be because I grew them! and they taste better than anything you can buy in the shops. Seriously, they wouldn’t win any prizes in a competition but they taste wonderful and are simple to grow. You do not need acres of land to grow them, you certainly do not need chemicals either so you be can guaranteed they are 100% organic. To grow your own potatoes all you need is a few square feet of soil, some seed potatoes to start the process and some horse or chicken manure to fortify the soil. Plant the seed potatoes a couple of inches down with the root just peeping through the soil. Space them about ten inches apart, make sure they get watered regularly - and then just sit back and wait. Three months later - hey presto, your very own potatoes.
Onions and garlic are also simple to grow, as is rocket, but that can not be said of cabbage, carrots, beetroot or lettuce. I have had some nightmare experiences trying to grow them. The problem is slugs and snails. I am such a wuss I cannot bring myself to kill them because in my (insane?) opinion they are only doing what all living creatures do - trying to survive, and that survival process to the slugs & snails of Tameside includes eating the leaves of my cabbage and lettuce and eating the exposed parts of my carrots and beetroot. I did try an organic and natural solution to the slug issue - it was a dramatic failure!
I read that hedgehogs are natural predators of slugs and when slugs know there is a hedgehog about - they make themselves scarce. Procuring a hedgehog is no simple task. You may see them occasionally rustling around in the undergrowth - but try finding one when you need one! I heard of a hedgehog sanctuary in Withington so I went there and had a chat with the lady in charge. I told her of my plan; she said it would never work because hedgehogs are amazing climbers and unless you have a an enclosure sealed with chicken wire they will escape. I left the sanctuary empty handed but determined to get hedgehog. After much midnight searching with the hounds in Denton Woods we did eventually find one, and what a fine specimen it was. I called for help, packed it into an empty crisp box padded with leaves and took it home. I made it comfortable, fed it some blueberries and sealed every possible escape route. The next morning the hedgehog was sleeping soundly rolled up in the corner of the compost heap. When night time arrived the hedgehog set about exploring and possibly hunting snails. That was the last time I saw it, the next day I searched everywhere but it was gone. I did eventually discover how it escaped - I noticed claw marks heading up a section of the perimeter fence where it reaches a v shape. The hedgehog managed to climb this vertical six foot fence by clawing the soft wood and then pulling itself up. When ever I see a hedgehog now I always wonder if it is mine. So the hedgehog is gone, the slugs are still there and my vegetable patch is always very predictable.
Growing your own veg may sound boring and cranky, but I find it to be very therapeutic and satisfying. Give it a go and I bet once you have started you will never stop.
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17 comments:
I have a real problem with slugs at the moment in my garden, I thought of throwing them over the fence into my neighbours garden. No seriously I've got to get rid of them somehow.
Why do they all come out at once when it rains?
You mean like these chaps? A lot of people eradicate them by placing a small amount of beer into a container which the slugs can drink, they then get drunk, fall in, and finally drown. At least they go out on a high using this method!
You're a humanist and would be vegetarian TC.
What is your view on the 'controversial' practice of whalehunting? Do you regard it in any meaningful way as different than fishing?
Hey TC looks like a UAF protest. Sorry had to get that one in.
Cultural Marxism and the Decline of Western Civilization. Click the link to read this fantastic article and be sure to watch the video at the bottom. When you have read and watched you will have a new understanding of what force is behind the destruction of our nation.
TSB, quite predictably I am totally opposed to the evil practice of whaling. These magnificent creatures are a vital part of the eco system. During their life most whales feed on krill or plankton, some however do also eat fish and sea lions, but when whales eventually die, they sink to the bottom of the ocean and their carcasses provide life for sea bed dwellers. Mankind very nearly wiped out whales, and if Norway, Iceland and Japan had their way – they would like to see the job completed. I show my displeasure at these atrocities on the high seas by buying as few Jap goods as possible, however my photographic equipment is Jap made simply because to buy German made alternatives – you would have to be seriously wealthy, and that is something I am not.
You may also be interested to know I also boycott Spain because of their grotesque ‘sport’ of bullfighting. This savage medieval practice has no place in a supposedly civilized Western country. I remember cheering very loud and publicly a few years back when a news item was on the TV featuring a matador who made a mistake and got hooked up and de-breeched by a bull which he was torturing with swords and spears. He escaped with his life – but he didn’t deserve to.
Blood sports are evil, only bullies like to see animals killing animals. It gives them a sense of power over the animal being killed for sport.
Hey TC looks like your dog here
Whaling is not a sport or a practice, it is the hunting and killing of an animal for scientific experimentation and/or food. Many whale species, such as the minke, are now so numerous there is no question of extinction.
The culling of seals in massive numbers has become necessary due to overprotection and the hysterical reaction of campaigning 'bunnyhuggers' who caused this overpopulation in the first place is as predictable as it is irrational.
Similarly with whales and other hunted animals and livestock, avoid cruelty when possible and treat and kill animals humanely but do not worship the false God of 'humanism', which is in reality deliberate and fundamentally irrational self-indulgence and squeamishness.
Preparing The Ground can give you a rock hard on, knowing that you are about to kill the wild life and having the power of life and death over birds and foxes can keep you hard for days on end. Killing birds is such a joy and pleasure. It's a sight to behold to see a fox killed and her young left to die with-out their mother.
Hunting is one of man's oldest, most important (in terms of our evolutionary development) and natural pursuits. The anti-hunting brigade wallow in their 'moral superiority' and self-indulgent squeamishness but can supply no REASON not to hunt. If man stops hunting he will lose something of himself as a species.
Bollocks above post
Yes we hunted when we were living in the caves, but to hunt and kill rare birds for sport and pleasure no thanks. People that kill animals for sport are bullies. The thought of killing rare birds makes me sick.
As I said, you're soft hearted, squeamish and self-indulgent.
Rather have a soft heart than a hard on fox hunter.
Don't judge others by the way you think. Take some bromide.
You need to take your own advice on that one
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