Garden – August – 1

Posted byThe Autistic ComposterPosted inWillow GardenTags:, , , ,
Doin’ The Dirt was a gardening series that ran in my first blog, ‘ A Guy Called Bloke, from 2018 to 2022, when the blog closed. Willow Garden is a series exclusive to the Earthly Comforts blog only.
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Currently four commercial worm farms at heights of 20″ to 32″ will all raise to 48″ this month!
August’s Summer of Discontent

I never thought there would be a day when Murphy would stop just packing a punch but also come with a sting, and yet, now that is precisely what is considered the norm. Perhaps the better terminology is Murphy’s Punch Now Packs A Sting!

I am still not right, yes, it is still hot sticky and humid in the UK, but that doesn’t sit well with me as much as it used to as little as a year ago. I used to love the heat, but now l can’t abide it. That’s not entirely true – l love the hot weather, but l am now suffering with the humidity of the UK – that’s more accurate. The summers in England have been getting more desirable to many, and the humidity is ever rising.

Why am l surprised? We are a small island surrounded by water. High humidity is inevitable. Give me dry heat any day, and l am happy, start making me sweat like a big fat field boar, and l am suddenly not so great!

So, in addition to not feeling 100%, l sweat without even trying. Sometimes it just drips off me like a tap. Making matters worse is that even with the new hat, l suffer. Of course, l don’t wear the hat outside the garden, but l need to get a bush hat for the reserve.

Yesterday whilst at the reserve, l was working with chippings and unbeknownst to me at the time, l accidentally stepped onto a wasp’s nest. It wasn’t long before they made their presence known to me and the others.

Nick and l between us got stung half a dozen times. His arms caught three stings. Sadly one gloved finger of mine caught three stings!

Nearly 24 hours later and l am sitting here typing this post with a dreadfully swollen, itchy and somewhat painful right index finger [my central typing finger]. It’s the size of a good-sized grape at present and angry red like a tomato! Oh well, such is the way of life outdoors at times!

I am suffering this summer, and l now jokingly refer to it as the Summer of Discontent!’

I am not feeling great and am suffering with a few ailments. Swollen wasped itchy as hell finger, pollen-filled and constantly weeping eyes, strange chest pains, heightened humidity, and significant problems with my reduced diet = unpleasantness!

Also, increased vexation – l have no patience for things or people and most assuredly slow people and even slower administrations! I don’t vex out at others, but l vex out with me; l am like an angry troll hiding in the bushes and shaking them violently!

Still waiting on news from the council regarding an allotment. The biggest problem is the waiting game. The council must write to the plotter, give them a month to respond, write back with their decision once the plotter has reacted, and wait another month. Never once set foot on the plot and see how badly managed and run down it is. They don’t know anything about the fields they rent out.

They should hand over the responsibility of management to the committee up at the allotments – they should TALK to the committee. Still, they don’t, because if they did, they would then find out that plot twenty has been empty for nine months and that the plotter sublet it out [not allowed apparently] to three women three months ago that have done nothing with it either! So it becomes very frustrating. But this is England.

So in the interim, when not getting stung by a crew from Murphy or playing ball with the pollen counts, l continue to work with a material l am allergic to, making my eyes even worse [compost spore] – you have to laugh out loud. Otherwise, you might go insane from the strangeness of everything!

Worms and wormeries occupy my days non-stop.

Stage 1 – I sifted and sieved out the worms and eggs from the compost pile and returned that to a compost pile only.

Stage 2 – was returning the compost pile to a hot compost heap from a warm compost heap – that means l must turn the heap daily till it’s broken the greenback to it.

Stage 3, which started yesterday, is the sifting off of the debris to collect ready for the worm harvest sometime this month and laying their new worm towers up and the debris from the compost heap is to act as the base layer of the wormery sump—[Drainage area].

I had plans to make a new style tower base, but with the rising costs of wood and other materials – l opted to go with a slightly cheaper option which was to increase the height of the towers from 30″ to 48.” It’ll make them tall with a lot of soil. But until such a time that l can produce an income from the business and start to craft the more efficient systems and better still inside an actual building as opposed to being sited outdoors, then that is how it is to be for now.

That’s my task today, to sift compost debris.

Things l have control over getting done, but as is the very essence of life, things out of our control…
The task for the next two weeks is to make this area hyper efficient and move the taller worm farms here, but first the compost systems need to be in the allotment space … erm, wait a minute!
For an extra giggle for the day – here’s my latest garden disguise! Protection wear for composting. In an attempt to stop the spores from the compost triggering the allergy l am now wearing goggles – if it still continues, l’ll have to mask up as well …. joys!

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Published by The Autistic Composter

Earthly Comforts is a wildlife journaling scrapbook focusing on the countryside, wildlife biodiversity and environmental conservation, flora and fauna volunteering projects, gardening, composting and vermiculture, inspiration, poetry and photography.

19 thoughts on “Garden – August – 1”

    1. Hey Sadje, l know, however upon further inspection and as the joint continued to swell, Suze and l counted 7 puncture marks. No wonder l was runnign a fever last night.

      I could see it on my glove and it just wouldn’t get off nor would it stop stinging me, the pain was so intense, l was struggling to understand how one tiny wasp was able to deliver so much pain!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  2. Oh My! Wasp stings are so painful, I still vividly remember my first one more than 70 years later. Shocking to say the least! So sorry you had to experience such a thing, Rory and the aftermath!

    Yes, I like your new look, too. So cute! I especially like the smile and the t shirt. 😊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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