Musings from the Merse
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Spring is Sprung. The Grass is Riz. I wonder where the mower iz
First spring images of the garden at the Small house in Duns. A labour of love and not of desperation as it often seemed in the vast acres of the Old Manse in Hutton. Its still a three pullover Spring but the Blether Centre has promised us a long hot summer. Cast not a clout 'til May is out will still apply.
Our raspberry plants seem to be the victim of very cold late summer-not a single bud on any of the 11 stalks but 5 shoots have emerged from underground to promise fruit next year at the earliest. The image is of the healthiest survivor
First spring images of the garden at the Small house in Duns. A labour of love and not of desperation as it often seemed in the vast acres of the Old Manse in Hutton. Its still a three pullover Spring but the Blether Centre has promised us a long hot summer. Cast not a clout 'til May is out will still apply.
Our raspberry plants seem to be the victim of very cold late summer-not a single bud on any of the 11 stalks but 5 shoots have emerged from underground to promise fruit next year at the earliest. The image is of the healthiest survivor
Labels: Raspberries, Small House in Duns, Spring
Friday, March 20, 2009
Creating Facts on the Ground
No, Not in Palestine. In the Small House in Duns. Soft fruit garden. AS Burns never had it :
Spring is Sprung,
the Grass is Riz'
I wonder where the Ras'bries
iz
All the other fruit is showing signs of growth but the Rasps
10 sticks in the ground. Remain just that:
Sticks.
But the one label says: 'Bliss' and the other 'Tulameen'
I think I can see a very very very tiny bud on a Bliss.
Keep you posted (npi)
(No more growth in the next two weeks and its the stick burning stove for the lot)
Labels: Raspberries, Small House in Duns, Spring
Saturday, March 14, 2009
A week to go the official opening of Spring and the first daffs we have seen around here are in the most sheltered part of the garden in the Small House in Duns. Soon the whole county will be lousy with them-no more so than in Hutton in the road down to the Kirk. Visual pollution at its most powerful-until the Rape ripens
Sadly I have free cycled my scythe
The snowdrops are well past their prime and heads hanging in shame for still being around.
Labels: Daffodils, Small House in Duns, Spring
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Question: what is a sign of Spring and happens in Hutton the 16th of March?No, all the daffodils do not come out-unlike southron parts Hutton's Daffs are timorous and reluctant to bloom and who is to blame them in such a piercing northerly wind.
Bloggees with long memories will recall that on the day before St Patrick's Day, last year, Huttonian's pond became the scene of frenzied copulation. And dead on the button, 12 noon, 16th of March 2008 they are at it again.And this is Leap Year*. The images (click on them for full effect) tell some of the story-and one of them is from last March but who is to know? Unlike last year when they were going at it like the Jim Clarke Rally drivers at Bluestane Ford, a great spectator sport, this new generation of frenetic fathers are a modest lot and I needed patience and the skill of a deer stalker to catch them on the surface-one image is of the pond when I clicked a nano second too late to freeze the action.I suspect however when they start into ' I am All Right Ejack'they won't care who is watching and that could be later to day if the pond does not freeze over in the current cold snap.
* Further research on the blog reveals that the Frogs First Frigging took place on the 17th March 2005 but, as late as the 30th two years ago.
PS Leap Year. Usual Caveats Apply as the academics unwilling to commit themselves are inclined to say: Otherwise : No pun intended
Not further proof of Global Warming claims Hutton Think Tank-but just evidence that Frog's calenders are very inaccurate.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Spring is Sprung- Lambs wear fleece. And so do we
Unlike the southron folk the Borders is enjoying a normal Spring detached from those parts afflicted with Global Warming. Daffs out on timetable, blossom ditto and the Swallows here at about the same time as normal.It is still chilly out of the sun and the only approach to the tropics I have noticed is the need to mow our meadow aka back and front lawns from early March and at least once a week.
You can say what you like about Hutton and many do but it is a pretty little place in the Spring especially when the Daffodils are on their way out. And the season-the new financial year, brings out the Council Pot Hole Patchers which will keep the road to the Kirk (and eventually to the Old Manse) a pleasant drive until, at least, June by which time the tar has run out and so as the Roads budget. In one of the images you can see the recently filled caverns- a mole no go area for a couple of months. This year Spring has also brought out the politicians-reluctantly leaving their mark on Hutton. SNP signs, a curious yellow, blending in with the dying daffs and, very recently, Tory True Blue matching the sky and the Village Hall roof
On the larger view of the road down to the Church-signed just as Cul de Sac-we should surely give it a name some time*-you can see the old pub at the top of the road. Sadly it has been just after closing time for the last 50 years. Sad, I often fancy a refreshing Pint having watched the jobbing gardeners mow both lawns and it would also have been good to have taken the horse to be shod in the Old Smiddy-top of picture to the left. It has not operated as such since time immemorial (ie I don't know when it folded up its bellows)Nor have I a horse. But it is the thought that counts,isn't it?
* As the road goes, as it's almost final destination, to the old Cemetery a bloggee has suggested it be named' Dead End Lane' Perhaps a more tasteful nomenclature than that made by Big Jim Conundrum as an alternative description of 'Back Lane' in Paxton. ( Some Paxtonians want it renamed and a sign put up, as visitors can't find it, apparently)
Back Passage.
Labels: Hutton, Local Elections, Spring
