Topic: Started preparing compost for next year's tomatoes

[goodlife]

  YES! I'm early but at least it is with something...progress! Usually I'm late with most of things.
Well, the story is...
I went to allotment to fetch some pots for some plants that needed potting up and bringing in for winter...cold weather is coming...
I did get all the necessary containers together AND into garden too...but then some mess near allotment gate court my attention and I thought 'I'll just....' .....two ours later and I was now 'progressed' to move Dalek tub and started hording stuff together for filling it up...'what happened there?' Half rotted straw, old compost, left over fertilizers, ash, rock dust, sand, bit of lime, some grass clippings, leaves etc...anything and everything ..
Half way there I was getting bit shaky (didn't take account I would be gone that long and it was too much bother to go inside and take mucky boots off for spot of snap)...raided few left over apples from tree, those were supposed to be for birds...and chewed what was still edible..'that's better!'...carried on another hour. Now I've got Dalek full of mix that will be perfect for all my tomato containers in few months time...YES! ONLY FEW MONTHS and all that fun will start again..

...after that work out (it was little bit punishment for body that is struggling with cold..naughty of me...) I went home...BUT...pond court my eye... ...got it half empty ...
Today I'm about to finish emptying it out totally..and then I get those plants potted up what I was supposed to in first place!!...

[Bill Door]

Yes weather was looking good here.  decided to go to allotment and do a few jobs.  Put on allotment clothes and opened back door.  Stepped outside and decided that coffe seemed like a better idea.  So did not go to allotment  and feel better for it.  Still got things to do but since giving up work have followed latest advice "don't do today what you can put off untill next week".

Take my hat off to you Goodlife.

Regards

Bill

[artichoke]

It is SO hard to force oneself out into the weather on these dark mornings (afternoons are hopeless), but when I do, I marvel at my stupidity in hanging about indoors.... Outside is warmer and brighter than staying in the house (we keep it fairly cold), and accomplishing some digging and deer protection, and picking perpetual spinach, cabbage, landcress, leeks is very satisfying. And at the moment my broad beans, field beans, onions and shallots look beautiful and green and life-enhancing. (May be problems ahead, I do realise). Within the limits of being in my 70s, I have limitless energy and enthusiasm if I spend a few hours outside.

WHY do I hang about indoors when I know that SAD will be banished instantly by getting outside ASAP?

I used to live in Fife (Scotland) when darkness descended at 3pm or earlier in December.

Goodlife: when you lived in Finland: when does it get dark there at the moment, and how did you manage then?

I visited Finland once for a festival of peat art and peat science, which was a collision of two cultures, interesting to observe....my husband is a serious peat scientist, and the "artists" were out of his world completely.......eg  swimming about naked covered by a few blown up plastic gloves, settling on peat outcrops with suitcases and sleeping bags, or pretending to drown in peat bogs......re-arranging bog oak pieces into patterns......recounting folk stories about drowning in bogs which he says are never deep enough to drown a normally sized person.....

I loved Finland for the board walks they set out for us at night, across the bogs, when we could stand and listen to creatures connecting with each other.

[goodlife]

It is SO hard to force oneself out into the weather on these dark mornings (afternoons are hopeless), but when I do, I marvel at my stupidity in hanging about indoors

Oh yes..I feel like that too and then the stupidity carry on with me when I finally make the move outdoors...I just can't get back in until I'm on my last legs..

when does it get dark there at the moment, and how did you manage then?

I'm from Helsinki and this time of the year the light levels are more and less same as in Scotland..so dark fairly early.
You question did make me think....well..It wasn't so much issue of 'managing'..I just didn't really take that much notice of it. As kid, the play didn't stop because of the dark..we used to play in the snow until we were wet, cold and hungry or mum would shout us in...we were even allowed to handle candles and would make all kind of snow/ice 'domes' to where the candles were place in for light display. Even the day light hours are short in winter we would make most of it...skiing, skating, fishing through ice...all sorts of activities and I think there is more brighter days there than in here and having snow on ground little bit of sun will be that much brighter when it reflects from the snow. Indoors mum would always have loads of candles in winter..just for enjoyment value.
But I think Finns generally just are very outgoing people, have lots of hobbies or interests to do and go and see..and they travel lot abroad to get the necessary sun too.
Perhaps I'm not that much typical Finn anymore....I like hibernating...I'm not overly keen of snow...don't cope with biting insects that there is plenty of in Finland...I prefer to see grass/green, even in winter and like 'not so extreme' seasons..perhaps I was born into wrong country

recounting folk stories about drowning in bogs which he says are never deep enough to drown a normally sized person.....

I can't say how true those stories may be or if it is possible to drown in them..but I have too heard of them and warned about dangers of bogs from very early on. The land nearby my grand parents place is bog marsh ...and there is lot of natural springs bubbling about on surface. Even we where little nippers, we were allowed to play there though lessons were drilled into our heads first what to look for and where to put our feet when wondering around. I can remember uncle saying...'don't put your feet 'there'..you won't get out and you WILL sink in'..apparantely during war even horses were lost in these 'eyes' in the bog. I have always imagined them being like 'quick sand'...??? But, true or not...nobody would never ever attempt their faith to test if the warnings were for reason or not..we would just accept them 'full stop'.

AH....board walks...those are something to treasure........................if all the insects leave you alone (I'm a insect magnet..)

[Robert_Brenchley]

There's a phenomenon called 'quaking bog' which I've always been wary of. Moss establishes itself across the surface of a pool, and eventually grass follows. So you now have a level patch of grass which is actually floating. I discovered this in Snowdonia as a teenager; I was walking on the side of Llanberis Pass in Snowdonia when the grass I was walking over suddenly started bouncing up and down, with ripples spreading across it. At that stage it's safe, for humans at least, I'm not sure about horses. Later on, I lived in Cornwall, a few miles from Goss Moor, where I used to go birding. There's a lot of it there, and it's more open. So it's a matter of jumping from one tussock to the next; as long as you're on grass you're safe. I was crossing one particularly hair-raising stretch once, heading for some willows - they take a lot of water out of the soil in the growing season, so the ground is usually drier - and when I reached them, I saw nothing but glistening black mud. So I grabbed a branch and pulled myself up into the nearest tree. It was a decent-sized willow, and it promptly started capsizing. Those trees were growing in nothing but liquid mud. You wouldn't sink altogether in it; you're too buoyant, but I wouldn't have wanted to be stuck in that stuff!