Until July 2017, documenting the seasons of coastal Dorset. I'm a complete amateur so don't trust I'm always right. If ever you see I'm wrong - whether with identifications or in anything else - do say! Meanwhile . . . I've now moved to Halifax in West Yorkshire. Click on the link below to collect the new URL. Don't forget to follow there!

Wednesday 24 September 2008

EROSION, SLEEVES AND STINKINGLY DISGUSTING TOMATOES

My brain has caught The Blight. When Easy Gardener asked if I put sleeves on tomato branches, I thought, for a whole day, this was a horticultural device I should have known about. I was imagining spores from Far Side of Fifty's next door potato field floating into Esther's Garden, slipping from the fabric unfulfilled and wafting off to do their damage elsewhere. And I chastised myself for ignorance. If only, I thought, the tomatoes had been wearing sleeves! Then, I thought, they wouldn't have looked like this. Meanwhile, Mr McGregor's Daughter and Rosa Sinensis were politely averting their eyes and taking note of Sandsfoot Castle. Although I'm glad it isn't over-run with tourists, I'm not sure buddleia roots between its stones are good for it either. But there is (I'm sorry Rosa!) another Henry Vlll Castle (preserved and gift-shoppized) sitting on the opposite side of Portland Harbour. It even has a roof. You can pay to go round and look at the kitchens and the armour and take part in its 'events'. Maybe Sandsfoot is a lost cause and the sea will simply take it. Erosion is eating long sections of the British Coastline. Sea defences tend to shift the problem; not solve it. These steps (which keep company with the fallen rocks and trees and stones below) seem as forlorn to me as Ceres' sleeves. There are sections of fallen brick wall down there too. (Ah! Yes! Ceres and her sleeves. She's very cross with me. She says they aren't 'sleeves' - they are 'arm warmers' - and if I had said 'arm warmers' in the first place, everyone would have known what I was talking about. For my part, I think 'arm warmers' describes 'sleeves' very well.) I shall scatter photos of the 'not-so-good' tomatoes and their leaves decoratively around the page. (Mr McGregor's Daughter, you really may prefer to shut your eyes.)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have deleted you both as requested :-) I sympathise with your identity confusion - I get confused by my email alter egos.
Arm warmers - mmmm - I am obviously way behind regarding recent fashion trends. I remember leg warmers though, but perhaps I shouldn't.
Those tomatoes look sad - just like some of mine.

Far Side of Fifty said...

Hey Lucy, Nice blog, you can refer to me anytime!
Those steps to nowhere seem very lonely.
Ah yucky tomatoes today..didn't make my mouth water in the least:(
Those sleeves are arm warmers? My girls wore leg warmers when they went ice skating. Very interesting, I will have to ask my 12 year old going on 21 Granddaughter about them. I would still like to see a picture!
Thanks for the comment on my blog:)

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

Yes, those are some scary looking tomatoes. (Thanks for the link love.) I think I would prefer the crumbling castle to the gift-shop-equipped tourist version, but then I love wild places and wildness overtaking the remains of civilization, like all those beautiful ruins scattered all over Italy.

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

Sleeves on tomato stems? I admit i don't know what those look like, but assume they help provide strength to hold all those tomatoes?
~ Monica

Colleen Franklin said...

My tomatoes are politely offering up one or two tomatoes a day, problem being they are little 'Sungold' cherry tomatoes, so one-a-day only works for the pixies. They are adjacent to G's sand box, so she gets most of them...Henry sure was busy in your neck of the woods! The events at the other castle are probably more on the lines of school tours & English history but not 'A Day Out With Henry' or
Monastery-Dissolusioning workshops, or Church Founding 101, am I right? They never teach the practical things in school anymore. Sheesh!

bare-faced gardener said...

The tomatoes I planted (referred to in my first post) have done practically nothing at all. They were kept in their pots for far too long; planted into ground that obviously had no goodness in it; got far too hot over the summer – everything shuts down over 28°C or so; not enough sun; irratic watering … need I go on ? !

Thanks for being a follower – I appreciate it very much !

garden girl said...

Oh my, those are some forlorn-looking tomatoes Lucy!