After being battered by gales and heavy rain for two days yesterday turned out fine so I managed to get a few things done. I recently acquired a plastic dustbin and was wondering how best to make use of it. Fix a tap and use it for water storage? Grow potatoes in it? In the end I sawed it down to make a 16 inch deep pot and a plastic ring which I can sink into the ground as a possible home for more strawberries. Plastic drums and bins are very easy to cut with a panel saw, a fact I discovered some years ago after trying to chew my way through one with a stanley knife! I’m not sure what to do with the lid so any suggestions would be welcome. And please don’t say use it as a shield when I’m playing soldiers.
I also made some rather colourful plant labels from the top of an ice cream tub. They are plain white on the reverse, so easy to write on.
In the afternoon I had to drive my wife out to Gilsland to discuss a business proposition. Not wanting to spend an hour listening to a discussion about wool I had a wander round the village. Gilsland straddles the border between Cumbria and Northumberland with most of the houses in Northumberland. In the victorian era it was famous for its spa waters and people would come in their thousands to take the air and bathe in the sulphurous water. It also straddles the Roman Wall and has a milecastle alongside the Poltross Burn.
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| milecastle at Poltross Burn |
It’s interesting that as soon as you cross the county boundary all the becks become burns. There is a small overlap and we do have a few burns in Cumbria but it still feels like a foreign word.
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| Gilsland Spa hotel from above the village |
December is fast approaching and the winter solstice will soon be upon us. That's when the new season really starts to get going. Those with heated propagators will be getting ready for early sowings of tomatoes and peppers and possibly onions if they are thinking of exhibiting. Nowadays the excitement of Christmas has been replaced by the exitement of wondering what the next year's growing season will be like.
I use an old dustbin lid as a wildlife water supply, turned upside down and nestled into some soil or stones, then top up with water. Add a stone in the middle for birds to perch on and stop it blowing away-we have have had hedgehogs, pheasants and small deer over the years, as well as garden birds.My kids liked to use them as shields for playfights as well!
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