shooting tips
By peet
9 comments
The weather’s pretty good here in Hampshire. Bright skies for the last few days seem to have encouraged many of the plants in the garden to risk putting their heads above the parapet. In particular, the hostas are forcing up their bullets, and I even have an asparagus spear or two. (Apologies for the extended military references! I’ll try to refrain in future…)
asparagus tips finally appearing
Hosta starting to show
Elsewhere, the sedums are preparing themselves for a long show, with bushy growth on all the clumps in the garden…
… and the ornamental currant bushes are attracting lots of early bees, who frustratingly disappear as soon as I get the camera out (this incidentally is a Canon, but I promised not to go on with the military stuff…)
Back on the alpaca farm, the paddocks are now cleared of twigs and pine cones, which means that my extended bout of raking is over – and thank goodness for that. Three hours at a time starts to take its toll. Time to clear the remaining corner of the field, which is densely covered in bracken, brambles and nettles, as well as numerous foxgloves. Sadly, these have to go along with the more pernicious weeds, as they are poisonous to the alpacas. I’m hoping to save as many as I can, and donate them to the village plant sale.
I’ve brought home three bags of well rotted alpaca poo, and I’ll let you know if this turns out to be good manure. It looks fantastic, and doesn’t smell (much) so I’m hopeful of a good result.
I’ve also got a decent gardening job to do down in Winchester – a couple of weeks’ work at a reasonable rate, so things are looking up. A big win on the Grand National would round the week off nicely – anyone got any tips?
1 Apr, 2009
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Comments
Fantastic photos! my little diggie camera isn't up to very close close-ups.
1 Apr, 2009
Oh militay pun are just ok thanks for shareing how old ar e you asparagus I jut planted some in my new garden I know it takes some time before they look this good. YUM. Have a happy April Fools day and enjoy some home made tea on me.
1 Apr, 2009
One of our neighbouring Garden Clubs hosted Gardener's Question Time on Mondat evening. There was a section on alpacca poo - apparently it's the best thing ever for the garden
1 Apr, 2009
Hi Lujean - The asparagus plants are two years old (year-old crowns planted last spring). Won't get a proper crop until next year. Patience is the main requirement for asparagus!
Andrewr - I heard alpaca poo on GQT; they seemed to think the 'best ever' tag was a rumour spread by alpaca farmers... 8-)
Spritzhenry - if you get a chance, I'd recommend a digital SLR. The difference in quality is well worth it. There are some real bargains out there at the moment.
1 Apr, 2009
Peet....alpaca poo will never catch on ........there are not enough alpacas around here for the amount of poo we could use, even in our small garden.
Liked your pics doing a survey on cameras at the moment, considering a SLR and as you say some great bargains to be had.
1 Apr, 2009
I'm sure the alpacas will be very happy to have someone carting away all their poo. After all, it can't be pleasant to live a life without flushing toilets.
I'm sure the poo will start your gardening year off with a "bang". Soon your flowers will be "booming" and your veggies will have taken off like a "shot".
2 Apr, 2009
Good work, Gilli!
Dottydaisy2 - don't be seduced by loads of special features on a camera - the lens is always the most important part. After that, just go for the highest number of megapixels you can afford.
2 Apr, 2009
Peet thanks for that, think it will be the Nikon 60, 10 mgpx, got totally confused spent numerous hours reading reviews, each site recommended a different camera, so gave up and narrowed it down to a Canon or the Nikon.......watch this space!!
2 Apr, 2009
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Great!!
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