My nephew Gary's shortlisted video.. please spread it around!

He writes:

My vid is one of 125 shortlisted after about 23000 submissions so it’s wonderful just to have reached this point. A final 20-25 will be picked for the show by a panel of big names in the art world, Darren Aronofsky, Takashi Murakami, etc. I really don’t expect to get any farther but who knows.
I received an Email from the Guggenheim asking me to promote my entry as much as possible before the 20th of Oct…

Have a look and check his back catalogue too. Brilliant stuff!

An interesting Guardian article by Polly Toynbee

It is hard to see how we avoid being Shrill in times like these but I think she manages it!

Lucky finds..

No particular intentions this afternoon but a trio of fortunate 'Right place, right time' opportunities...
My neighbour's compost bin lost its door and the grass grew through.


A grasshopper stayed still long enough...



...and the Woodpecker found itself sharing the peanuts..


..but not for long..

And the next pallet....

Becomes a gate.... I am now off to find more scrap.

Crate expec... sorry

The Blackberry people were less than helpful. I am forced to send myself pictures for processing. Anyway, the crate has been converted and is now filling up with wood for the winter.
Worth the effort for a saving of £99 or thereabouts...

Pending a temperamental Blackberry...

I was going to post a selection of pictures of my recent skip diving success.. A lovely big pine crate, soon to be a wood store and dragged manfully a mile up the hill. However, I took pictures with the Blackberry and it refuses to relinquish them to the computer. I shall have to ring Holland and ask them how I do it...


The crowded houses that are the raised beds are largely managing themselves. There is a man in America who advocates 'Square Foot Gardening' and who will sell you his plans for distributing veg in foot square sections. I have developed 'Square Yard Gardening' and would be pleased to send my plans for nothing on request...
The Courgettes have been covered in Thunder bugs. Initially anxious, I checked them out and discovered that they are mostly benign. Pollen hunting, the worst they can do is burrow through the yellow flower. Here are a host of them in a thistle.

Thunder bugs are famous for collecting on your washing as it dries and have gained a reputation for presaging storms. I suggest it may be that those of us rushing out to collect the clothes as the rumbling starts put two and two together. They had been there all along. Only the observer effect links bugs and borborygmi

This one meets a sticky end in the jaws of a very fetching emerald green spider..

Meanwhile, in another part of the garden.. the Khol Rabi and Beetroot are nearly done and Alpine strawberries promise more for next year.

Dill, Fennel and Tomatoes all doing well thanks to Blood Fish and Bone. Lovely!

.. and the Goldfinch have discovered that swivelling downwards to the thistle seed is better than sitting and stretching up...

Baby pictures...

As with lambs, kittens and babies. Vegetables look at their best in infancy.

I ate this one soon after. Yes, I know, carrots are cheap and a bit prone to fly but they taste great when they are still small.
Raised beds mean that the fly don't know they're there and nonchalant ambivalence seems to be the secret to a good crop.

I am trying Kohl Rabi too. However, these are sparse enough to treat as unfortunate only children and I am reluctant to pull one yet.

The peas and beans are distributed amongst courgettes. They may jar initially but will add height to the bed soon and their flowers will break the greenery up.

Being picky about the visual aspect of a Grobag might seem a bit , well.. picky. It's fun to see how the whole comes together after the initial growth becomes homogenised though.
Perhaps others would benefit from applying their stated love of gardens to the development of new growth...

Off with their heads!