a writer's notebook
Handy Xmas gift. I let the garden largely alone last year, but this year it requites intervention, sowing and planting, and I want a lot of flowers and edibles (both of which have been getting increasingly difficult to raise), so I’m hoping this will help.
EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL WILD PLANTS OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND (Amazon)
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Add harvesting the rhubarb to the endless to-do list. I started trying to reclaim the garden, what, three or four years ago now? I now have a sense of what I can and can’t grow, and am starting to think about winter planning, and finding some flowers that will actually grow and draw in pollinators.
Windy day. The mancub hates the wind – he doesn’t like his precious furs ruffled, apparently – and keeps nipping in and out to see if the wind’s gone away.
READING: finished HERESY: JESUS CHRIST AND THE OTHER SONS OF GOD, Catherine Nixey (UK) (US+) last night
LISTENING: Spaceman’s Transmissions
MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.
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Managed to germinate a lemon pip left from a lunch a few weeks back. I’m really kind of surprised that worked, and will be interested to see if it live longer. But I am weirdly happy about this little baby tree.
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Big bright day. Note also the masses of weeds that have infested the rose bed even though I mulched that with two inches of wood chips at the end of 2024. I’m looking at the weather forecast to decide when I bail out of the office for a few days to prep the place for spring, which is going to be a lot of work. I’ve already decided that 2025 is the year of chaos gardening. After the nightmare of last year, I want masses of wild colour this year.
OPERATIONS: Seem to have lost my scripting energy. Different kinds of writing, I have found, require different mindsets and different parts of your availability. And this week I just can’t make my hands do the scripting. So today I’m going to move on to other ideas. Because if you can’t do one thing, maybe you can do something else instead. And that’s how you keep working.
STATUS: Inbox 75, still have emails to reply to. 8hrs 23mins sleep. I’ve had no real exercise in days, I’ve just been at the keyboard or in the notebook. Not sure I’ve actually been outside for more than five minutes in the last few weeks. This is probably Not Good.
READING: DOWNFALL (UK) (US+)
LISTENING: AVILA IN ALBICELLA, Julian Cope
LAST WATCHED: honestly, after herself went to bed, I put Bloomberg on and just stared at the wall for a few hours as I chased thoughts around my head.
THINKING ABOUT:
…the only person you’re ever competing against is yourself. The rest is out of your control.
MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter. Now: DESOLATION JONES: THE BIOHZARD EDITION, THE DEPARTMENT OF MIDNIGHT audio drama podcast. Forthcoming 2025: FELL: FERAL CITY new printing THE STORMWATCH COMPENDIUM, THE AUTHORITY Compact Edition, The LIGHTS OUT Anthology
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I love the colour this blueberry has taken on after repotting. It didn’t do that last year,
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That sudden burst of heat last week after soil-mulching and downpours seems to have coaxed out one last magnificent rose.
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Garlic sets arrived.
Garlic (Spring & Autumn) Germidour 2 Bulbs
Garlic (Autumn) Messidrome 2 Bulbs
Garlic (Autumn) Lovers Collection Inc:
Garlic (Autumn) Kingsland Wight 2 Bulbs
Garlic (Autumn) Eden Rose 2 Bulbs
Noting this because I KNOW I will lose the list.
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