Scavenging nettles and horse shit

Yesterday after getting the last bit of bedding on the rotary dryer I set off on my bike for my Sunday ride.

The last time I had been up near the riding stable I had passed some horse dung on the path and, remembering my father rushing out with his bucket and shovel every time he saw a horse pass the gate, felt it was rather a waste to ride on by. Yesterday I had thought to put in a strong plastic bag and a trowel in a saddlebag - just in case. To my surprise I found a heap of almost dry dung so shovelled it into the bag, not feeling too self conscious as walkers and cyclists passed.

This morning, again setting off late as I had taken some rugs to the laundrette, I had headed the same way as yesterday as the bit of the tow path on this route is wide and set back from the Navigation so not as affected by late morning crowds as the route to Victoria Park or Limehouse, Again I found some dung - fresher this time, so damper, heavier and smellier!

Near the car park at the end of Coppermill Lane is a long stretch of nettles. Not sure what is giving them the nourishment. It is possible that they cleared the stream running alongside the bottom of Coppermill Lane and dumped the dredgings there. Yesterday I picked the nettle tops (gardening gloves turned out not to be easy to use!) and filled my soya desert tub.

I then went to the Farmers Market in Walthamstow High Street and got some bread, sour dough white and medieval white, getting the stall holder to put them in my pannier (not the pannier with the horse shit in!). Usually I then go home by road, but felt as it was so late the roads would be busy and unpleasant so retraced my route to the cattle creep and then went across to the Navigation and headed home.

At home I cut up dried apricots and half filled a jar, adding plenty of nettles and then filling with half vodka and half water to make a tonic (this from "A year with James Wong" the book of the second series of "Grow your own drugs"). It will be ready in 2 weeks and will keep in the fridge for 6 months, so will not keep to be an early spring tonic next year.

I also tidied the shed and gave the "chelsea chop" to the geranium. Today has been busy too, so it feels a nice long time since I left work on Friday evening - I like that feeling!

Bedtime now summertime!

As today looked set to be a nice, dry day, I took the opportunity to strip the bed right down to the mattress.

In the past I have had to do the annual washing of the bedding over several days, but my new washing machine has a 20 minute quick wash for stuff that is not soiled, so I thought I could get it all over and done with in one day.

In my machine I had to wash in relays:
1. the duvet cover
2. both mattress toppers (one the original one, one the padded one I got when the springs of my old mattress started making themselves felt)
3. the memory foam mattress topper cover (which is still ever so slightly damp so not yet put back - I am not looking forward to this task!)
4. the fleecy underblanket

I took the duvet inside and the sleeping bag  I have spread out under the fleecy underblanket* to the laundrette; the duvet overflowing the shopping trolley and the sleeping bag balanced on top.

We have fewer laundrettes than we used to. I am lucky, my nearest laundrette is round the corner - except it was closed! So I had to come back for an internet search to find the next nearest was in the High Road.

Then everything was put on the rotary dryer for the sun and breeze to work their magic.

I still have the coverlet to do, but very pleased to get this job almost done for this year.

* In winter I don't add anything on top of me, I add it all underneath me.

Finding space for sweet potatoes

A box of sweet potato "slips" from the Organic Gardening catalogue arrived at work this week. I had forgotten I had ordered them last autumn!

I have to grow them in pots for a few weeks before planting them out by mid June (so they've arrived just in time!). They seem to be fairly slug resistant which will be a good thing in my garden!

Sweet potatoes last longer in the larder than potatoes do, and add a lovely flavour to a stew.

Sunday in the garden

Yesterday I had a long session in the garden. It was dry and breezy. Excellent day for getting my winter bedding washed and dry. Unfortunately the evening before I had checked accuweather website for the weather forecast which was predicting a lot of rain between Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon!

The ground on the flower bed where I dug 2 holes to put in my scabious plants was very dry despite the rain we have had the last fortnight or so.

There was a crow in my neighbour Dorothy's buddleia bush breaking off twigs for a nest. A little while later the crow and its mate where in my other neighbour's ash tree screaming at a cat climbing. The cat retreated, coming backwards down the treet The leaves are still young in that ash tree, and the one beside it, so not a great deal of cover, and I can't see any sign of a nest so don't know what the crows were trying to protect!

Nigella (love-in-the-mist) seeds in bread

If I am early at Kings Cross I take a detour to St Pancras before walking to my osteopath in Caledonian Road. There is a stall which sells lovely bread. This morning I got one with potato flour which also had nigella (love-in-the-mist) seeds in it. If you can have poppy seeds in bread and cakes, why not nigella?

I usually have masses of love-in-the-mist but this year, perhaps due to the long winter, I don't have much in the garden at all, so won't have spare to try in a loaf. Not too disappointed, as I can't taste the seeds in the bread so would only be using them as seeds are good nutritionally.

Rain stops play (gardening)

I did a bit of weeding late this afternoon, and put my runner bean seeds and courgette seeds in pots before rain drive me indoors.

I've done my usual trick of ordering far more vegetable seeds than I have room for, and will start squeezing in a row of this and a patch of that tomorrow, if the rain holds off.

Weather or foxes tipping things over in the garden?

This morning I found what had been a full can of water on its side. I suspect foxes. One of the plum tree pots was also on its side. I suspect wind.

This morning in the office I nearly put a coat on mid-morning as I was feeling a little chilly!

Not very long ago they were forecasting a dry May, now they are forecasting a wet one!

Last weekend I was planning this weekend to get a load of bedding washed. The duvet and the sleeping bag (I have it opened under the bottom sheet) at the laundrette, the duvet cover, the fleecy under blanket, the mattress topper and the blanket that goes on top on the topper in the washing machine. All dried in the sun before being put back on the bed in the evening. That is going to have to wait a while!

Marigolds for whitefly

Spent the day with my friend in south London. We went to the county fair in Morden - a very suburban county fair (not like the Royal Cornwall of my childhood!) but nice in the sunshine and the demonstration with suffolk punches (horses) was interesting. From over 300,000 before the first world war their numbers plummeted over the decades, but recently have built up to over 500. They are as rare as pandas!

To the garden centre on the way back and I got some marigolds for the conservatory to ward off white fly.

I also got a pot of bidens. This is a yellow trailing plant. Some years ago I got a pink metal watering can which had a slight leak. I've just got round to drilling some holes in it to use as a pot and wanted something trailing. I wasn't able to find a trailing tomato.

Lower Leyton Lammas Lands: beating the bounds

Today I went to help beat the bounds of the Leyton Lammas Lands. I did the first bit, the southern section. This is usually done second, so I hadn't done it before. It is the most accessible section for pushchairs, people relying on walking sticks, etc, so they decided to do it first this year. Others went on to do the upper section which would involve fence climbing.

Large group of us ambling along in the sunshine, learning a bit of history, bumping the heads of two youngsters at strategic points. A lot of people there that I know slightly.

One section, that used to be a pitch and putt, that was used for camping over the Olympics, is going to be closed off and the Lea Valley Authority are going to build holiday cabins there. The Authority has allowed lots of bits of encrouchment over the years - which is why these annual walks are so important. At the end of the walk we were asked to use our local open spaces - use it or lose it!

I did have a photo. Recently I couldn't get a photo from my computer to my blog. I can't get this photo from my camera to the computer! I might have another go later.

Hammock stands: from metal to bamboo

When I went to lie in my hammock recently I nearly fell out as the metal frame had started to rust and one angle had nearly rusted through. I left the metal bits out on the path Tuesday evening and they had been taken away when I came home from work this evening (Friday).

I ordered a new frame where the struts are bamboo. This is supposed to be easy to take up and down so I can bring it in when rain is forecast and during the winter so hopefully it will last and last. It arrived at work today and I got one of the metal bases home. It came in two parcels, the long, thin and very heavy one I haven't opened yet. I am hoping there are more than 2 long bits in it, as half the weight of the parcel will be too heavy for me to get home on the tube, especially the bits between work and the tube, between the tube and the bus station, and between the bus stop and home.

This time of year it is nice to lie out on in on a warm evening. Later in the year when my neighbours' ash tree is in leaf I can have an early afternoon nap in the shade.

Sometimes thre greenest thing is to do next to nothing, and reading and napping in a hammock is a nice way to do that. A nap on the bed with the cats beside me is nice too; except cats aren't very green!