Flora Eerschay

Oh no! That must be painful. Recently I came across a blog by some emergency nurse who writes about first aid and other adventures in his profession, and he wrote that "war-like injuries" happen in everyday sitiuations too, just less often than in warzones. I think you're one of those! Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Since last year I'm trying to pretend that I'm narrowing down my gardening plans to make them more reasonable and doable, and then... yesterday I ordered a ridiculous amount of lily bulbs, though they're not even sending them for another three months!

I also collected a lot of mashed egg shells, to protect the lillies and other plants from slugs, because I'm not using poisons or weed killers. Of course the slugs will eat them anyway, I thought, so I ordered even more lillies...

Of veggies, I ordered broad beans, broccoli, beetroots, onions, zucchini, and I did NOT order pumpkins because this year I had to eat them myself.

I'm also not collecting seeds (almost), because I don't have a place to grow them and they'd get eaten by the slugs anyway (being usually smaller and weaker than the plants that start in the ground).

And I'm planning to make the edge of my pond look more pretty, and maybe get a rabbit. I'm probably not allowed to get a rabbit, though.

Be realistic, they say!
Happy New Year!

When you've just finished your PDC course with a design for your own garden! Yay!

I attached one of the drawings. Included fish, small poultry (like miniature chickens or quail) and a rabbit in the project, but currently there are only fish in the pond. Now that I have it all properly thought out, I decided to make the zones more permanent because I used to keep changing them, which made the garden a bit chaotic.

I just made my first tincture (nalewka in Polish) from elderberry fruits from my garden.
First I put them in a jar with alcohol, after a month I strained the tincture and mixed it with syrup (sugar + water) and after a week I filtered it and put it in a bottle. I think it lost some alcohol when mixing with syrup, because I was clumsy and the syrup was warm.
Hopefully I didn't make a poison! ;)
It should be ready on 18th of March.

I still have some alcohol left and I want to make another tincture from wild rose hips and Swedish whitebeam fruits, also from my garden. Maybe I'll add some elderberry if there are any left whenever I find time to do it...

Hi Markus!
With or without terra preta, a (relatively) small garden can make a big difference if designed well. A lot depends on the context, and where the garden is located. Is it surrounded by a desert, or a city, suburbs, industrial area, farms, other gardens? Will it have a lot of visitors and neighbours?

I think the best we can do with small gardens, is to create balanced ecosystems. Outside factors will have stronger effects than if you had a large farm, but if you look around, there are quite diverse and balanced ecosystems even in potholes.

I think any chemicals should be washed off by the manufacturer, as people use it on sofas, armchairs, etc. Does it have any strong smell?
While the wound is healing, I would just put some cotton sheet on top of it (maybe an old bed sheet) so the hair from the rug doesn't get into the wound.
When I took my dog from shelter he was very dirty and smelled really bad, but I couldn't wash him because he was too scared, so I was putting my old clothes on his bed and throwing them away when they got dirty, until the dog was clean too... then I bought him a proper bed when I was finally able to give him a shower.

Thanks, Christopher! Now I regret that I rinsed it all, I could have used it as a pink paper glue for some artwork, haha.

No, it doesn't form a layer, just gets thicker at the bottom of the jar. Looks like egg white (but pink, because of beetroots...). I haven't seen it in store bought pickled beets.

I made pickled beetroots (with garlic, bay leaf, pepper, a sprig of dill and salt water), and after a month or so, the liquid in the jar is thick like a jelly, especially at the bottom... why is that? I think it happened with my other beetroot pickles too, but they were eaten after a few days so the jelly didn't have time to get thick. It doesn't smell bad.

I have a weird wool sweater: some days I can wear it directly on my skin, and other days I can have a thick blouse under and it still itches.

Maybe if you only wear it on really cold days, the itching can actually make you warmer. By being annoying, but still ;)