The Mushroom Invasion

How to Grow Garlic and When

Sort of Unexpected Raspberries

Quick YouTube Update

Just to say I've set up my YouTube channel to link into this blog, so that now any relevant videos I post will also appear here.  Not all my YouTube videos are relevant to this blog, so you might want to subscribe separately anyway.

Here are some recent videos:

At some point I might tidy up the channel into something a little more focused, but not right now.

Oh, and I'm also making another terrarium.  100 points if you can guess the theme.

Jonathan Bradshaw 
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YouTubin' It
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Weekend Allotment Fun

I'm having a marvellous weekend so far.  Yesterday I tidied the shed.  It now looks considerably more like this:

than this:

I was in and out of there, and on the allotment, for hours.  In the morning I took a flask of coffee with me, and stopped off at the corner shop on the way over for some bread rolls and a packet of salt and vinegar crisps.  For lunch I sampled my experimental sweet onion chutney with broccoli in it, and it turned out to be an absolutely excellent sandwich filling.

Even nicer than it looks.

There was plenty of time for sitting and thinking, and sitting absolutely quietly so I could help myself to some ambient sound:

I'm a big fan of ambient sound/field recording videos.  I've been playing this one on a loop through the week.  It's 11 hours long.  Mine is shorter than that.  There are even live ambient rain YouTube channels you know, that broadcast all the time.

So that's another thing I've got up to: more YouTubing.  I now have 18 subscribers, so I'm practically a celebrity.  Here's a video about the outside of the shed:

Here's a video about the inside:

I really don't know why microgreens just didn't grow for me this year.  After last year's burst of enthusiasm I thought I'd be living on the things by now.  Evidently there are more variables I need to learn.

It's a marvellous mushroom, isn't it?

Oh, I also decided to dig up the rhubarb.  Yorkshire born I may be, but rhubarb's just never been my thing.  I've decided to give it away.  I planted some garlic in its place.  Two cobs have been claimed, leaving one still that's free to a good home.  If you happen to be in the North Manchester area and want a rhubarb plant, it's yours.

Jonathan Bradshaw 
Follow @apossibleworld  Subscribe to RSS

Related posts

Vegetable Politics
August on (and off) the Allotment
Grow Your Own Meals, Indoors, Forever and Ever?
The Art of Pottering
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Please consider disabling your adblockers when reading this site.  I make every effort to ensure no inappropriate, rubbish or offensive advertising appears here, and nothing that is contrary to the spirit of this blog.  So it's really nothing to be afraid of.  Cheers.

I'm making a terrarium

This week I am fascinated by terrariums: miniature gardens and eco systems inside glass jars. They're an art form.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/27092035244564040/

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/137359857365977077/

I've decided to make one of my own, using the beautiful glass globe (25-30 litre capacity, at a guess) I used to make my first batch of blackberry wine, now emptied and strained into a demijohn to complete fermenting, which meant I could start to fill it up with rocks and compost.  "Demijohn" is a fun word to say.

Some claim you're supposed to put a layer of charcoal between the soil and the rocks, but I don't accept that.  There's a good layer of rocks on the bottom to allow for drainage, and on top of these I've put about six inches of soil mixed with fabulous, nutritious worm compost from the allotment. Now all that remains is the artistry: adding and arranging the plants.  So far I've put in a cutting from a new peperomia albovittata I acquired over the weekend, and a cutting of a purple-leaved something whose name I do not know. Looking at it now, this may have to be removed, as its dark leaves are almost invisible against the soil and behind the glass. On the other hand, this plant does have a tendency to spread, so may make a useful ground cover, perhaps contrasted against some lighter coloured pebbles.

This morning I added a thyme cutting, because at this scale, it looks like a tree.

There are many things to consider: layers, density, the overall aesthetic: should it be tacky or tasteful? Alien or realistic? The joy is in answering this question by asking it.

Related posts

Give and Take
Seedling and Indoor Gardening Update
The Art of Pottering

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Please consider disabling your adblockers when reading this site.  I make every effort to ensure no inappropriate, rubbish or offensive advertising appears here, and nothing that is contrary to the spirit of this blog.  So it's really nothing to be afraid of.  Cheers.