Remembering A Great Keyboard Player.

One of my heroes from my youth was taken away  by Covoid19 at the beginning of May.   Dave Greenfield played keyboards in Punk band the Stranglers.   He was influenced by  English Prog Rock bands like Yes and Deep Purple.

Sadly I never saw them play live.  I use to buy their albums and new singles and sing along with them on Top Of The Pops.

I have seen some mighty fine Keyboardists like: Steve Walsh from Kansas, Rick Wakeman from Yes, Keith Emerson - Emerson  Lake and Palmer and Geddy Lee- Rush.  Dave Greenfield must be up there with the best in keyboards players:

I have been playing old and new Stranglers records on You Tube for the last day or so.  'Valley Of The Birds' and 'Norfolk Coast' are newish tracks that are well worth a listen a long with the seventies and eighties classics like 'Strange Little Girl', one of my favourite tracks.  You can hear Dave's keyboard playing at it's finest in this track:

Thanks Dave I will never forget you and your fantastic band,

An Old Name For An Old Flower.

The merry month of May is incredible this year.  One flower that is playing the tart at the moment is the Hawthorn  flower.

When I was growing up in Lancashire my dear old mother would say: 

" Don't  ever bring that flower into our house David (Sunday name) it's  called "Mother Death".

"If you bring it into house your mother will die".

I know it's  an old wives tale but it's a wonderful tale.

Years and many moons ago a Ukrakian man who was one of my friends dad.  Took us us on a walk where I wrote the poem: 'Ode To A Ruin'.   He started eating red Hawthorn berries.   He said: " What ever a bird eats you can eat".

Apparently you can eat the leaves too:

Hawthorn  or  'Mother Death'  in flower.  Do you know of wild flowers that have flowers or fruits that have superstitious connotations or are OK to eat?

Making New Plants On A Warm Sunny May Morn.

I made fifty new perennial plants this morning.  First of all I divided four Ajuga plants and ended with forty new plants complete with roots,  which I potted up with two bags of cheap German garden centre compost:

New Ajuga plants for next to nowt.

I then went to the other end of the polytunnel and checked on some Nepeta cuttings I made about two or three weeks ago.  To my delight they had grown roots:

That's  fifty plants for four Euros.

Getting Back Into Rambling Again.

I have been on three walks since Friday.  I  am finally getting back into Rambling again.  I can't  do things half hearted.  Like my perennials and vegetables growing hobby.  Walking soon becomes my obsession.  

Where I live in the countryside next to the sea and the hilly peninsula I live on.  There is some spectacular landscape and seascape scenery:

Here's some pictures:

An old ruined farmstead not inhabited since the Great Famine.  Nature is gradually taking it back.

Gunnera Tinctoria.  A native of Brazil and Chile.  This large estate garden escapee is colonising many parts of the West of Ireland.  It's a form of giant rhubarb and very poisonous.

A car park next to the bay.  I have a photo somewhere of us sitting with my late dad on this wall.  I always think of it when I walk here.  You can see Hungry Hill over on Beara in the distance.  It's  a beautiful  place and I didn't  see anyone on my walk apart from motorists.

The Slug Pubs That Never Close.

The pubs are never closed in our garden.  The wife uses slug pellets but I'm not keen.  I wonder what they do to us and to other wildlife like the birds?  What are slug pellets made from? I looked this up and came to the conclusion that slug pellets contain poisonous chemical substances that can harm the slugs and also us and contaminate the soil.  

No I  prefer to get some shallow plastic trays leftover from the Chinese takeaway and fill them with some cheap beer, cordial or pop.   I filled ours with Canadian lager.  Is there any lager in cans that is good?  It's drinkable if it's chilled but only just.

Any road here's my slug pubs in the Brassica baths:

Have a  last drink on me sluggies and snails.

How do you deter slugs and snails from devouring your vegetables and plants?

Panic In The Polytunnel.

'Portugal' my polytunnel, plastic office, potting shed and "escape from the missus" garden room was playing at 'Scorchio'  and "we wish it was the Algarve" yesterday.

The poor Broccoli plants that we (me) had transplanted and potted on started to wilt and wanted a Siesta or even a lie down in the afternoon.  So what would I do?

I planted them outside in the veg plot.   Then we made a cloche out of old plastic water pipes and a cut down plastic corrugated sheet.

Yes folk it's another one of my tight wads:

 "how to mek it for nowt"

 Gardening series again.  

Here goes:

Hmm..  Well yeah.  Tiz a little bit industrial, nay out of a builders skip.  The ends are closed in with old manure (fertilizer) bags to keep the 'flickers' out like slugs and snails and other 'wee beasties'.  Weighed down with Cornus or Dogwood twigs in plant pots.

Yet again I display my City and Guilds Apprentice in Allotments ' Make Do And Mend' certificate.  The University  Of Life that is vegetable growing:

I checked on the Broccoli plants progress this very morn.  

"Mr and Mrs Broccoli had a quiet night and are doing  very well".  

Thank you Matron.

Heath Robinson eat your heart out!

"On Wednesday's I Go Shopping And Have Buttered Scones For Tea.."

The wife finally took the hint.  She made my favourite scones.  I gave her 11 out of 10.  

I was in Scone Heaven.