I went to a talk at North Mids DA on Monday about growing veg in raised beds given by NVS stalwart Mick Poultney. Due to a bad back Mick now grows all his veg in large 4' wide raised beds that he has improved over many years with old horse muck and homemade garden compost. During the one hour talk Mick also told stories about the various people he had fallen out with which seemed to be an awful lot of people. I liked him very much.
A point Mick made during his talk really hit home to me. Mick helps out a friend who works with abused children and a couple of times a week they take them down to an allotment for some gardening therapy. They have found that the kids really look forward to this and have managed to cut down on their medication by up to three quarters, proof if you ever needed it that gardening can seriously take the stress out of life and make you a better and calmer individual. Some of you may wonder what sort of state I'd be in if I didn't garden knowing how f*cked up I am WITH gardening!
Something else I've acquired recently should also help to take the stresses out of my life. I've been given a Mantis Tiller and I had a quick go with it last night on a greenhouse border. It really does churn up the soil and gives lovely friable soil ideal for sowing or planting into. I need never pick up a spade again. Whether the neighbours remain stress-free is open to debate as it is very loud. I've fallen out with just about every neighbour up my street over the years so watch this space!
And one last item on busting the stress in life, this year I'm having to bash my calcified seaweed granules into dust with a hammer for it to go through a flour sieve for my long root mixes. Iain Barbour at JBA potatoes has sourced a calcified seaweed substitute that comes in powder form.
http://www.jbaseedpotatoes.co.uk/hessian-sacks-and-sundries/powdered-calcified-seaweed-p300.html
In Iain's words "Harvesting calcified seaweed is outlawed now but this stuff has all the same ingredients of calcified seaweed but is not made of it. It also has many types of seaweed added and beneficial microbes to boost its buffer ability".
It's good of Iain to go to the trouble of getting this stuff but he'll only stock it if there's a demand so spread the word and order yours for next season!
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6 comments:
Is your mantis the two stroke as ive got the 4 stroke and its not at all loud :)
Anyone used the electrical version of the Mantis---like to know what you think--considering getting one for my sons birthday.
So It's basic Seaweed Meal with added Lime then ?
Pies .....I wouldn't know a two-stroke from a Rolls Royce engine! It is very noisy though.
The calcified seaweed stuff is a substitute.....all the ingredients plus a bit so in theory it should be better.
Definetly not seaweed meal with lime - This stuff is as good as I have seen so don`t knock it until you have seen it and tried it- so more power to Iain B`s elbow
Simon if you have to mix oil with the petrol its a two stroke.If not its a four stroke.
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