>I just got back after a weekend in the summer house with two friends. They’re having their bathroom re-done, so I’ve lent them the summer house for the next 2-3 weeks. (Or as long as they can stand being that far away from town…)
Anyway, I’ll start this entry by showing off one of my (MANY!) heroes:
In Denmark, this is known as a “cross spider” because of the markings on it’s back. (It’s upside-down in the picture, but really has a Latin cross on it’s back.) Now, I don’t love spiders. In fact, spiders make me panic slightly, in a manner most unbecoming to a member of the supposedly not-scared-of-spiders “stronger” sex. However, Spiders eat insects! -And if this fellow eats even just a single mosquito, then I’m happy to let him string his web wherever he likes, as long as it doesn’t interfere with my pottering about.
What else to report? Well, I took some more rose cuttings and potted them directly (the original ones are still tempting fate in a water-based medium), and I also took some buddleia and cornel cuttings just for the sake of it. As the house is now inhabited for 2-3 weeks, my plan to let the cuttings stand in the South-facing kitchen window have been scuppered, so instead they are now standing in the workshop in front of a shaded North-facing window. I read somewhere that rooting cuttings was all about moisture, not light, so I’m hoping that is true.
I had a strange idea this afternoon as I was pottering about: Hops seems to be a very difficult plant to get rid of (and I sort of want to get rid of it in places, and sort of don’t, cause it’s PRETTY), but if I could make some use of it, maybe I could convince myself that it is a good thing to have a slightly-too-large hops plant crowding my poor honeysuckle on the South wall.
Hops… With some malt, yeast and water… Why not? Supposedly, making your own beer – in a decent quality – is not too difficult, and it would be kind of awesome to make beer from the hops in your own garden. After all, the house is known locally as the “Carlsberg house” after the owner before the last one, who apparently used to work for Carlsberg, the largest Danish brewery. I’m not sure it will happen, though, especially not this year, but it would be a convenient excuse to let the hops grow as much as they want. (And the want to grow a LOT! 5-6 meters in a season, easily.)
I’ll finish off with an autumnal motif from a corner of the garden:
-I love the golden colour of these mushrooms, even if I wouldn’t want to eat them. (No idea if they’re poisonous or not, but they’re very tough so that alone eliminates my curiosity to look them up.)
