Tomorrow this tired old year will give birth to a brand new one. For the first few days everyone with a new diary will fill it in religiously. For most people the habit of recording the visits to the supermarket, taking the children to school, and all the other vital things that fill our day will eventually give way to totally blank pages as they get sense. Some of us don’t. I have kept a journal for over twenty years. Of course my diaries have their share of junk, but they also have a lot of data about my world of plants. Not inter-galactic shaking stuff, but a fairly careful record of what’s been seen, collected, planted or grown; when it flowered for the first time, how it was propagated , the success rate and so on. Anyone interested in plants should make a record of what’s happening in the garden – what’s gone wrong and what’s gone right. Every week go out on a set day at a set time on a journey of discovery with the diary and write down what is flowering. Make a note of the work that is done, and the weather and the temperature.
When you cut your grass regularly you must feed it regularly. If it appears to be languishing during a dry spell, then water by flooding it, not just putting a watering can-full on it. And take the chance to feed it at the same time. Never, never feed grass or anything else when it is dry. That may kill it.
For convenience apply the fertilizer first but then water it in at once. A good tip is not to cut your grass too short once the ‘dry’ season is upon you, but just tip it lightly and let the cuttings ‘fly.’ Give it as short a cut as possible at the end of the ‘wet.’ The absence of rain will reduce the production leaves and all the plant food factories at work in your garden.
During the winding-down period over the last few days I have had time to look through the latest issues of gardening magazines to which I subscribe. I am regaled by invitations to take botanical holidays which I apparently can’t afford to miss. I must say that they all sound enticing – trips to Nepal and the Everest National Park, to the Spanish Pyrenees, to Greece, South Africa and Western Australia. And almost any place you care to stick a pin into your map, you’ll get a warm welcome nowadays. However, I fear many countries are asking for trouble if they successfully entice thousands of tourists into their wild plant havens. Fragile environments suffer when exposed to many of our modern non-biodegradable plastic throwaway habits and demands. Having seen the mess that is being made of the area around the falls at Kaieteur, on balance my prayer has to be ‘God preserve us all from it.’ I see that the Government of Guyana is begging for assistance to care for its tropical rain forests. Beware of the quid pro quo. It might involve giving away mineral and oil rights.
My collection of small Norfolk Island pines is providing cover for a couple of doves at the moment. I see them most every morning stepping from pot to pot (and there are a lot of pots) picking out the worms which come to the damp surface in the early morning. Worms are gardener friendly creatures, but not in pots where they tend to clog up the drainage. In the open garden they do a great deal to improve the condition of the soil as well as attract birds. A garden without worms would indicate an infertile place. Besides my pots, there are a couple of other places where worms are definitely not wanted. One is on a bowling green, and the other on a cricket square. In the early 1960s I lived for a time in St John’s Wood area in the St Marylebone District of London. Those of you with even a rudimentary knowledge of cricket will know that this is the home of the Marylebone Cricket Club, otherwise known as the MCC, where they used to pick the England cricket team out of a hat. Now they use more scientific methods. During this period I met some really very interesting people, chief among them being a man whose entire life was spent in the gigantic sewer system of London. He it was who took me on a memorable journey through its main sewer system which he helped to maintain, where the only plant life to be seen was the remains of meals washed down and on their way to the sea.
The various changes in direction had street signs! Also at this time the Head Groundsman at Lord’s cricket ground took me out onto that immortal square where worms were very much frowned upon and dealt with as soon as their castes appeared. There are some who maintain that the important members of the grass family are rice, wheat and sugar. This is a fallacy.
This man’s entire life was dedicated to caring for a crop of plants the only purpose of which was to give batsman and bowler a fair crack at one another in that most beautiful of all games.
His view of his own patch of heaven was that if you could play cricket you should be able to get runs and take wickets on it.
On that peaceful note take great care on the road and may your God go with you.
