Photo by Diana Morrison 20-09-12
During 2010/11 I completed Fetac Level 5 in Horticulture, gaining distinctions in all eight modules. I was very proud of myself. I have always enjoyed gardening. I love the spring time when it is time to sow all my seeds and I love the summer time when my vegetables reach maturity and I can cook them fresh from my garden. The Runner Beans are splendid this year, despite the lousy summer and we got a good crop of potatoes and onions as well. In the polytunnel, the tomatoes and cucumbers are doing well too.
The down side, of course is the general maintenance and most especially the weeding. I was at "m'lady's" the other day, where the weeds are stubborn and very extensive and seem to be taking over the garden. I attacked them with great ferocity, freeing up the established plants from wild strawberries, over-exuberant mint and tenacious violets. It was a hot day and I was wearing just a t-shirt (and jeans, obviously!) My hands were protected with my trusty gardening gloves, but my arms were bare. I was fairly hungover and not paying too much attention to anything other than the nasty little plants that needed to be pulled. I failed to notice the vicious teeth on the leaves of some magnificent shrubs, whose name escapes me just now (see picture above) and each time I plunged into their midsts, they caught at my arms and tore the skin. I just saw them as little scratches at the time and paid them no heed. They stung a bit, but nothing my addled head couldn't handle. It wasn't until I got home that I noticed the swelling and the awful burning sensation on my arms. Each tiny scratch was surrounded by rings of dark red and I thought I was having some sort of allergic reaction. I immediately found and took an anti-histamine (which was six years out of date!) and on the advice of the "Significant Other" rubbed my arms with a slice of lemon. I nearly went through the roof. The stinging was unbearable and I rushed to the cold tap to rinse off the sticky juice that was causing the most unbelievable pain. Next, he made up a concoction of bicarbonate of soda and water and told me to smear it over the rash. I tested a little on one patch, but it burnt as much as the lemon juice, so it too was hastily removed. I decided to leave it and see how it went - I felt reasonably certain that I was not going to go in anaphylactic shock, as this would have happened much earlier - but I was panicking slightly, wondering about blood poisoning and the like. Oh, I forgot to say, that I'm a hypochondriac! Anyhow, I went to bed, hoping that my body would sort it out! However, in the morning, it was still angry looking, although no worse. I took another out-of date anti-histamine and had a bath heavily laced with Tea Tree oil. Within ten minutes of the bath, my arms were merely covered in scratches - there was no angry swelling or burning. I was very relieved.
Another down side to gardening are the insects, grubs and spiders that are inevitable in the great outdoors. I am terrified of them all. But yesterday, I came across such a beautiful creature, that I had to take a photograph of it, (see below). There are always pleasures to counter the pains.
Photo by Diana Morrison 19-09-12
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