Gardening without worms

I love gardens. I love flowers. I love fresh veg straight from the garden............... but, I hate digging and stuff and I hate hate hate worms. Even typing the word makes me shudder. So apart from a few rare moments, gardening for me has been limited to cutting odd things back, pulling out a few weeds (and, I have to confess, then leaving them on the grass for some kind person to pick up later).

But we have a greenhouse, why haven't I made use of that. Worm free gardening. I've dabbled a bit with the hanging baskets but now, just maybe, that's all changed. A few weeks ago I sowed some seeds in trays in the greenhouse and now have runner beans, peas, lettuce and tomatoes beginning to grow. Ok, so when they're ready to go outside, Mick will have to do that bit, but at least I've started them off. I've also now got some flower seeds growing, in the hope that I can provide my own plants for the hanging baskets this year. Pictures and updates to follow.

22nd April - even the flower seeds are peeping through now and the runner beans, in particular, look really strong. Not a worm in sight.

29th April - some of the seeds are doing very well - this means the runner beans will need to be planted out into Mick's raised beds that he's redone for the veg. That could mean worms so this may be where Mick takes over. At least until the beans are ready to pick - I can do that without fear of worms leaping out of the soil at me.

Well, I've not updated this through the summer for lots of reasons but I'm thrilled that we've had lots of lovely veg etc this year and I did manage to get some flowers from seeds to put in the 6 hanging baskets I did. Unfortunately, I didn't get pics of them all - next year.

We're still enjoying the tomatoes and cucumbers (thanks to Caroline for the latter, they've been great) and have some lettuce still growing. Our peas did nothing this year, despite trying a second sowing of the seeds but the green beans were quite good and we had some delicious potatoes - more of those next year I think. We certainly need more carrots too but I think we'll try some different ones. Onions - enough to last the winter probably.

My lovely little apple tree - the first I've ever had of my own - produced loads of apples which were so tasty. But BAD news - the wasps seemed to get at so many of them. So next year, some protection for my apples is a must. Something also got ALL our gooseberries - bushes covered in berries one day, gone totally the next. Not even a trace. We've no idea who ate those but I hope they provided a good meal! We were really looking forward to the gooseberry pies too.

It's now October and we're still eating the cucumbers and tomatoes. We still have a few lettuce growing as well. Our parsnips and swedes are doing well so we're looking forward to eating some of those, maybe at Christmas. If we're going to be here throughout next year, which is likely, I think we should grow much more next year and really benefit from lots of fresh, cheaper produce.

November - finishing off the last of the cucumbers but tomatoes all gone. Mick found some potatoes today when he was digging that patch so they were a welcome and very unexpected addition to our meal this evening. I think we need to start planning for next year (I'll do all the hard work of thinking and planning and Mick can do the easy bit - the digging).

Car insurance

Another little rant which should perhaps be entitled ' How to lose customers'. Mick has used Churchill car insurance for many years, so last year when I was selling my business and the van with it and buying a new small car we used Churchill for mine too, getting a 2nd car discount for doing so.

In early March my granddaughter wanted to be added onto my car insurance to get some driving practice.

Phone call to Churchill: the longest I could add her for was 6 weeks because my car insurance ran out on 22nd April. They couldn't quote for after that. So, ok, 6 weeks it would be. Cost - £132 FOR 6 WEEKS! One of the reasons for the high cost (which I didn't quite take in at the time, I must confess) was that by adding someone else onto my insurance we lost the 2nd car discount. WHY?

They asked if I wanted them to send the next year's quote out with her added and I said 'No, I'll let you know if that changes' (at that cost for 6 weeks, no chance!). So, early April, the renewal letter arrives. Of course, she's included. Seven hundred and stupid pounds. Phone call to Churchill: explained, very pleasantly that I had not wanted her included, would they quote without. Two hundred and something but didn't really register the exact amount as I'd forgotten what the previous year had been (£190). Asked whether I wanted to accept that I said 'yes, ok' until they then asked for payment details. I said that it's not due for over 2 weeks so I shouldn't be paying now. But they stated that if I was accepting it then I had to pay for it then. So of course, I DIDN'T accept it after all. Luckily. 19th April: Phone call to Churchill with the intention of accepting and paying. But I had the sense to check the amount - £277 or £25 pm if I wanted to put it on D/D. Queried the enormous cost, nearly £90 increase. That's because you've lost the 2nd car discount now, came the eventual response after some checking. Why? Because I'd added my granddaughter on. But she's not on there now I explained, as patiently as possible (i.e, not very patiently at all by this point!). I said that at that cost I would be looking elsewhere.

The voice at the other end said she'd look into it - much more than 5 minutes elapsed during which time I was already looking on line for alternative quotes - response was then that there was nothing they could do, that by adding her in the previous year for 6 weeks we'd lost the 2nd car discount. When I then asked why, as we were still insuring 2 cars, she reverted to the ' that's the way it works'!!!!!

She repeated that nothing could be done. Ha ha. Oh yes it can. My car insurance with them was then cancelled as of 22nd April. I got a number of FAR cheaper, like for like quotes, and took one with the AA at £170ish, £15.10pm saving me £10 a month. £120 saving over the year. ALSO let them know that when Mick's car insurance is due for renewal, it won't be with Churchill. Two bits of business gone + anyone else we tell. But do they appear to care?

This is the same insurance company who will not insure my granddaughter on her own mum's car. Why? Kate has the same car as I have, a Fiat 500 BUT she had a chrome kit added and Churchill will not insure a young person on any car that's been modified. Well, I guess the addition of a chrome kit does increase the risk of there being an accident when a young person is driving????????????

I'll put it all down to just another occasion when I've realised I've turned into a grumpy old woman. Or maybe not. Maybe I just expect good service from a company who actually wants my business.

DOG ATTACK

My initial reason for wanting to write this was in the hope that I'd be able to get rid of some of the anger and pain I still feel following an unprovoked attack on me by a dog in December 08. So I'll start with what happened and events since.

At that time I was running a franchise of Trophy Pet Foods which involved the home delivery of pet foods and accessories. Mick helped on his days off from his job. On 8/12/08 we were both out and had arranged a taste test with 2 dogs at a pub. We had not actually met the dogs but in conversations with the dogs' owner (also landlord of the village pub) he had told us he had a Labrador and a Flat Coat Retriever. As we have both of those breeds ourselves we were looking forward to meeting his dogs.

We arrived around mid-day as agreed and he directed us to the gate leading into the backyard of the pub. As we were entering, the Labrador came bounding towards the gate and the owner (Alex) asked Mick to hang onto him to stop him getting out. The other dog ( a black, probably Flat Coat Retriever/Labrador cross) was at that time being held by Alex but not appearing particularly aggressive.

After a very brief discussion with Alex about what the dogs were currently being fed and trying to ascertain whether he was keen to help the very overweight Labrador lose weight, we put a selection of the Trophy foods down for each dog to eat. As anticiapted, they ate the lot, quickly!

I then continued the discussion with Alex as to which was the most appropriate food for each dog. During this time the Labrador was happily wandering round the yard and the black dog came to sniff around my legs. I had no concerns about this as it was a daily event and I'm quite used to being with dogs. I'm also always careful never to do anything to appear to threaten a dog or make it nervous. At this point Mick was slightly behind me, putting away the 'taste test pots'.

The next thing I knew was that the dog was in my face. Much of the next 10 mins or so is somewhat of a blur - I recall Alex taking the dog away, Mick asking for a first aid kit (how fortunate he was with me and that he's a paramedic), Mick asking for scissors to cut the dressing, Mick asking for some water and Mick saying he was getting me to A & E. No doubt I was in shock but I certainly didn't realise the seriousness of the attack at that point and didn't think I needed to go to A & E. Luckily I couldn't see that a big piece of my lip was missing and another bit hanging loose. Poor Mick had to witness all this. I recall suggesting we should do the next delivery on our way to A & E. No doubt if Mick hadn't been so worried he'd have laughed at me.

At A & E I received excellent care and treatment from all the staff there and then from 2 consultants who came down from the maxillofacial department. They examined and dressed a deep puncture wound in my hand and after all the anti-tetanus, anti-biotic injections etc, they took me to their department where facilities etc would be better. One of the consultants then 'tacked up' the little bit of loose skin from my upper lip and discussed what he could do. Then brought in the senior consultant who decided on a different approach.

I still hadn't seen my face and it was suggested that I should look in the mirror. Not pretty. it was decided that I should stay in hospital overnight to have intravenous anti-biotics and then return on Friday 12th for an operation. The consultant wanted to be sure there was no infection before doing the operation. The operation involved doing a graft from my lower lip onto my upper lip causing me to spend 5 weeks with the lips grafted together, leaving a very small gap on one side for food and a straw for drinks. For the first few days I had a feeding tube and wasn't even able to drink through a straw for the first 36 hours.

I stayed in hospital for 5 days and then returned the following week for the stitches to be removed.

After that I was able to eat only foods which I could pick up and put in through the small gap using my fingers (no, Mum, I can't eat ice cream!!!). Over the 5 weeks we became very inventive - Christmas dinner was mainly ok - no cranberry sauce with the the turkey though and gravy separately through a straw. Tried a tiny bit of Christmas pud (cream through a straw) but too sticky to really be able to pick up and enjoy. No mince pies. But chocolate - that was easy. Toast was ok too, if cut into thin fingers. No fried or poached eggs, but omelettes, cut into thin strips, no problem. Meats too, if cut into small pieces or strips, quite manageable.

5 weeks after the operation I had to undergo a further operation, just under a local anaesthetic, to have my lips divided. Then a further visit 10 days later to have the stitches from that operation removed.

So what are the long term effects? How do I feel? What's happened since? What's happened to the dog? Well, here goes................

As responsible dog owners we reported the attack to the police, little interest at first but eventually they took a statement and eventually it was decided to prosecute. But what a farce. The dog's owner didn't even bother to attend the first hearing and was simply asked to attend on another date. We were told this hearing was just to set a date for a plea hearing and that nothing would happen. In fact, at that hearing, he told the court he normally keeps the dog on a muzzle and the court decided that was good so he was simply ordered to keep it under proper control in the future. Who monitors that? No-one until it attacks again. Are they stupid? Yes, clearly. To us it is obvious that if he stated he normally kept the dog on a muzzle, he knew it was dangerous. So why did he let it wander, muzzle free, when we were there? Why does he allow it to escape from the pub's back yard by jumping over the fence if he knows it's a threat? Why did he not even warn us?

So now I worry constantly about the dog attacking someone else, particularly a child. Whenever I see reports of dog attacks (it's usually the incidents where a child has been killed that hit the news) I worry that the dog will attack again. Once a dog bites, it is known that it is likely to do so again. Reports of such attacks are upsetting for all the obvious reasons but then I get angry. I could have been killed. Does it take a death to cause a dog to be put down. I love dogs and we've said all along that if one of our much loved and adored dogs did anything like that, they'd be straight to the vets. I don't know how we'd cope with that but we couldn't risk keeping an animal like that. Ever.
Other long term effects and feelings since in Dog attack 2

B & Q

Just a little rant about customer service and customer relations. Maybe this should really be titled 'How to lose customers and boost the trade for Homebase'.
Two weeks ago we visited B & Q - on a Wednesday to benefit from the oldies discount now that I'm 60. We bought some Golden Chestnut wood stain for the big shed and a spray thingy to apply it to the shed. We also bought some wood stain in the same colour for the big gate, but to be applied with a brush.
Such fun: prepared the spray thing; started spraying; not good. First, the spray thing is rubbish as it's not possible to get a fine enough spray so it comes out far too thickly. Second, I was stupid enough not to cover the paving slabs round the shed - they look so pretty now. But third and worst of all was the supposedly Golden Chestnut. Did not do what it said on the tin. Colour not what it was on the tin. It's yellow, maybe even orange. No chestnut in sight. But having started we thought we should finish so a first coat of this revolting colour (well, maybe quite a nice colour in the right place but NOT on MY SHED) and did so using a paint brush.
Not wanting to have a yellowy orangey gate at the front of the house it seemed sensible to return the wood stain bought for the fence and exchange it for a more appropriate colour. Half way to B & Q (half an hour away from us) I realised that I didn't still have the receipt. No problem we thought, it's a B & Q product, the seal on the tin was unbroken and we only wanted an exchange for a different colour, not a refund.
Wrong. Young woman on the returns counter was quite firm. Not without a receipt. Why? Because we don't do anything without the receipt. Not feeling in the mood to argue and with Mick clearly not saying anything at all, let alone persisting with the request, we left. By the time I got to the car I was seething but clearly Mick wasn't feeling as strongly about it so we headed back home.
I seethed for a further 10 days. This morning we went back to B & Q, with the intention of demanding to see a manager if necessary. Same reaction initially until I pressed the point about the fact it was a B & Q product, so couldn't have been bought anywhere else and that the seal was intact. Finally she said 'well I was going to say that if you promise not to bring the replacement back, I'll let you change it' . No idea what that was all about but we did the exchange. Now to find out what we think of the new colour.