... the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves ...

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... the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves ...
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cassandra

Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia

Posted: Tue Aug 27, 13 12:02 am Post subject: ... the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves ...

I was beavering away at the kitchen sink the other day and noticed that that bundle of dead grape sticks I stuck into a jar of water a couple of months ago had some larger furrier lumps. Suspecting fungus I looked closer and yes! They were leaf buds. They are now about the size of an aniseed ball (as they were in my youth). A quick trip outside and I discovered those red currant cuttings i had shoved into pots are also showing leaves!! Yay. Mind you this is in the sheltered part of the grounds with maximum sun. The front path (in shade all winter) still lacks the attendant ranks of daffodil spikes, though those in sunnier yards are already in bloom. So too the fruit trees. Those in town (only 6km away) are blooming madly. Mine are not quite into budswell yet. The ground in the orchard is still quite damp from the recent rains we have (finally) had so fortunately the growth of the understorey is slow. Funny how microclimates can effect things so strongly.
Time to get the lawnmower serviced and back in action before I disappear under the season's profusions of growth.

I guess you are all lapsing into the other end of the seasons - I rather like autumn with its fires, leaves and the slow emergence of the skeletal form of trees, but right now Spring is definitely my favourite season!

Last edited by cassandra on Mon Sep 28, 15 6:37 am; edited 7 times in total

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16004

Posted: Tue Aug 27, 13 6:07 am Post subject:
Spring is a lovely time of year, and seeing the new growth is always exiting. I think with any luck our period of maximum growth is now over and I can start cutting things back without the risk they will regrow again this year. Hope you get the lawnmower sorted before the grass beats you to it.

cassandra

Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia

Posted: Tue Aug 27, 13 6:40 am Post subject:
To my eternal shame, I spent today going around spraying targetted clumpy grass, hoar hound nettles and other such invaders with Roundup - so by the time the lawnmower gets back, hopefully most of the obstructive stuff will be gone.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16004

Posted: Tue Aug 27, 13 6:49 am Post subject:
If they are somewhere you can't dig them up or can't cut properly that can be the only way sometimes. Not ideal, but sometimes needs must.

cassandra

Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia

Posted: Tue Aug 27, 13 6:59 am Post subject:
Mainly in the no-mow areas which are laden with small rocks, and around the fenceline and such things.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16004

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 13 5:56 am Post subject:
In that case it is either strim at the risk of throwing rocks a good way, or sickle very carefully by the handful if you don't weed kill.

cassandra

Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 13 8:24 am Post subject:

Sounds like far too much work, lol. No sickle and am still learning how to drive the strimmer - i have only had it two years and most of that time I was paying someone else to do it - now it needs to be serviced to get rid of the two-year old fuel and ready for me to have another go at working out how to hold it so I don't burn my arm ...

PS Huge bunches of daffodils on all the road-side stalls - sigh, bliss and sunshine all day - lunch on the wharf in Hobart with one polite seagull for company - bliss.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 13 8:29 am Post subject:
My flabber is well and trully gasted

cassandra

Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 13 10:29 am Post subject:
lol, what have I done to upset you RobR? Mentioned Spring, mentioned Glyphosate, or mentioned providing employment for a local gardener? or just my general mechanical incompetence (it does not apply to the chainsaw, just the strimmer).

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 13 10:34 am Post subject:
I'm not upset, I'm surprised by your eternal shame. This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about in the fracking debate. Big corporations and governments will be bound to disregard our concerns if we pay them to do so.

cassandra

Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 13 10:51 am Post subject:
Not sure how using another 25ml of a bottle of glyphosate bought 4 years ago might qualify as supporting big corporations RobR, perhaps you are reading too much in a light-hearted remark?

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 13 11:13 am Post subject:

Of course it qualifies, no matter how long ago it was purchased, unless you stole it that is *exactly* the definition of support. You may think it makes no difference to their power (or the environment) for the small amount you've contributed, but that's what they rely upon, and it is presumably worth the trade-off.

I don't expect you to live a saintly existence, devoid of any kind of fossil fuels or products of global corporations, merely to acknowledge how important our buying decisions are in creating these global superpowers, such as Monsanto, that have the ability to influence governments.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16004

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 13 7:32 pm Post subject:
What do you suggest as an alternative then Rob? You can't get sodium chlorate very easily now, and it has a bad effect on surrounding vegetation, and digging out is not always possible.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 13 7:55 pm Post subject:
I'm not going to suggest an alternative, as she obviously feels justified in using it. But you can't then deny your contribution to the company that makes it; you get what you pay for.

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4613
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 13 11:47 pm Post subject:
Reckon Cassandra needs a Tasmanian Goat, But if i remember correctly,she has one next door,lol.

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