I had to have a scan on Friday. I’m not unduly worried about the results, I assume it’s my doctor employing a belt and braces approach, but in spite of that, nothing about the process brings comfort or calm. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of an MRI scan, they put you inside a tube, about the size of a small concrete water main and you have to keep completely still, while magnets spin around you at high speed. The whole process is accompanied by loud grunts and groans from the machine. I began to wonder if something had come loose and would, at any moment, burst through the casing with disastrous consequences.
I kept my eyes closed. I didn’t want to be too aware of the tightness of the space in which I was incarcerated. So restricted in movement, sightless and rendered nearly deaf by the noise, I had to rely upon my thoughts to calm me down. I don’t really know why, but lettuces were the first thing that came to mind. Perhaps their smallness and neatness had some positive effects. I tried to remember all the different varieties that I knew. I thought of the deep burgundy taffeta leaves of winter reds like Rogue d’Hiver, of the frilly cut and come again summer lettuces like Salad Bowl. I considered different cos varieties, the Romain and the bulbous butterhead that is my favourite for summer bedding.
Lettuces were in my mind because I had planned to sow some seeds under cloches over the weekend. Lettuces seem to thrive under glass. It is still early to plant such crops, but the balmy winter so far has tempted me. I planted Kings Seeds, All Year Round. These are old fashioned butterhead type lettuces that are supposed to form tight hearts. They are recommended for early sowing under glass, but the instructions fondly expect my cloche to maintain a soil temperature of 13°C. I know I’m only achieving something like 8°C at present.
Lettuce seeds are so tiny. All Year Round are a very dark grey colour, almost black. They disappeared as soon as I sprinkled them onto the soil. I mixed them up with a few radish seeds. Plants of Distinction, Cherry Bell The packet shot indicates that these are bright London Omnibus red. If they grow they will look super in my salads. I don’t know about other people’s experiences, but I find that radishes grow better for me when I mix them with another crop. It might be because if I plant them alone I sow too thickly. Lettuces don’t seem to crowd them at all. This way I hardly have to do any thinning.
It was sunny while I worked, colder than December, though still warm enough to garden for short periods without the encumbrance of a coat. I kept dipping into the shed to warm up. I don’t know whether my brush with destiny inside the scanner on Friday had changed my mood, but yesterday, sitting cosy in the shed with the door open, I felt a fresh delight in observing the sun trickling back into my garden. The walls overshadow quite a bit during wintertime. But now the sun is rising a little higher into the sky each day, the beds are gradually emerging from the shadows of December. The leaves of purple sprouting broccoli are taking on a new, dusky blue hue. Summer flowers are still shooting and seedheads remain turgid. Everywhere I look I discover the green and luscious tips of spring bulbs that I’d almost forgotten planting.
I wasn’t the only creature up there. I heard, but did not see a blackbird singing, or was it a finch? I saw slugs a-plenty. My aim to attract birds to eat the slugs might be working - something is eating the bird food - but I have a very real fear that it is the slugs who are guzzling most of it, not the birds! I looked inside the compost bin and was delighted to see still very active red worms squiggling around in there. Kevin, the park keeper tells me that they usually burrow deep down at this time of year. But no-one has told these worms that it is winter. They live very happily in a large timber school trunk that I’ve converted into an efficient compost bin. I gave the worms a new meal of kitchen scraps and some straw so that they will have a nice warm and cosy space to nestle into if it does get a bit cooler.
The inner walls of the trunk are lined with half inch sheets of expanded polystyrene that I rescued from some delivery or other. I can’t abide throwing such things away, so my garden store is always filling up with objects that might one day become useful. I’ve got about a hundred plastic orange juice bottles up there as well at the moment. My husband Mike calls it rubbish, but I know differently. For example, I discovered a stash of large mineral water bottles that I’d found in the street one day last summer. I decided that they would be excellent for planting the first tomato and pepper crops.
The first thing I had to do was to remove the labels. It is a source of interest to me how different shops take a different approach to packaging. Tesco bottles always seem to have those thin crinkly plastic labels. These are not very green, but they do come off easily. Waitrose, on the other hand must invest in some super-strong glue. Their papery labels should be easy to remove, but this Rambo glue takes an age to come loose and the residue never dissolves. The bottles are smeared for life. Innocent, the soft drinks people use paper and sparse glue, so you can whip labels off easily and put the paper in the recycling bin. Bravo Innocent! I wonder whether it occurs to the manufactures that their packaging has excellent prospects of an extended life in our gardens and hobby-rooms. I was even at one point considering making a greenhouse out of plastic bottles, but the thought of all those smeary Waitrose bottles put me off.
I’ve been tweeting with gardening buddies about these wasted opportunities. We've even invented a hashtag #whatawaste. It all started when I happened to mention that I always go to the park in the autumn to collect fallen leaves. I know that collecting leaves from grassed areas is okay. (Never collect leaves from the forest floor.) In fact if the leaves are cleared away the grass with grow back stronger. We were wondering why municipal parks don’t encourage leaf collecting in the autumn. Bag It Yourself! (BIY) In fact wouldn’t it be nice if they stacked the leaves they do collect and make them into compost for us? Meg, @meg-e-r admits that she imports leaves from the park as well. But we both feel a bit guilty about doing it, even though I’m sure it is as good for the park lawns and it is for our gardens. Emma B, @CraftyGardenHoe sees leaves being taken away – but to where… Her council is at least enlightened enough to collect kitchen waste and make compost. (EdmontonEcoPark) We got quite a little conversation going on Friday evening. Judith Conroy, @JCGardener joined in saying, “There’s a need for a scheme to match those who have with those who want this stuff.” And John Walker, @earthFgardener who is a peat-free campaigner tweeted, “BIY would work well in parks and cut costs for all.” He’s right isn’t he?
Meg pointed out that it is not just parks that could benefit. If you think of the waste that goes on, it permeates into every area of life. I know we are all guilty of not recycling enough. But who out there is helping us? Is the government doing what it can?
Our conversations spurred me to do my bit this weekend by recycling some large water bottles to make little greenhouses for my tomatoes and peppers. I don’t drink bottled water, (heaven forbid) but I found these outside on the street. Someone had left them as rubbish and I knew at once that they would come in handy. I pierced the bases in four places, then I cut around three sides about 120mm above the base of the bottle to make a good sized planting ‘pot’ and a hinged cover. Because I didn’t sever the tops from the bases, the upper (cloche) part of the bottles hinge on the uncut fourth side to allow access.
The bottle tops make an excellent air vent. At the moment they are closed to allow the humidity to build up inside the mini greenhouses, but as the seedlings develop they will come off. I’m watering from the bottom, using a Garland propagator and capillary matting. The tiny pots and covers that come with the propagator are a bit too small for anything but mustard and cress! These large 5 litre bottles work much better. I’m using just four, but in fact five, 5 litre water bottles would just fit. (With a bit of squashing.)
It made me feel good to be doing my bit, even if it is only a small contribution in the world scale of things. Jen Gale @makeandmendyear, has dedicated her year to recycling. Catch her blog at http://mymakedoandmendyear.wordpress.com/ She’s already finding it is having positive repercussions. So perhaps we’re on to something. Perhaps recycling will make us happier?
I realised that thinking of lettuces while I was pinned to the MRI scanner was also a type of recycling. I was re-purposing down-time into positive thinking time. We all wish we had more of that.
As Luke @LSandP said last week, “I think growers look at the world differently. We see rubbish as treasure to be used.”
Time is like that too. Treasure your week readers and don’t throw anything away!
