Amateur Gardening – 21 May 2019

with Wendy Humphries

Writetous:Letters,AmateurGardeningmagazine,

Pinehurst2, PinehurstRoad,FarnboroughBusinessPark,

Farnborough,HantsGU147BF(pleaseincludeyouraddress).

Emailus:[email protected]

I

ENJOYEDreadingthearticle

aboutusingwheelbarrows

in thegarden(AG, 6 April).

WhenI wasa youngstudent,

I spenttheholidaysworkingasa

labourerona motorwayconstruction

site.I workedalongsideanoldIrish

labourercalledCassidy.Hisnumber

onerulewhenusinga barrowwasto

pointit in thedirection you want to go

beforeyoufillit.

Mostof Cassidy’stipsweremoreto

dowithavoiding– ratherthansaving

• labour,butthisonealwayscomes
  tomindwhenI amusinga barrow.This
  is especiallytruewhenI’veforgotten
  andamtryingtodoa U-turn without
  steppingoffthepath!
  RogerWilliamson,
  Dorchester, Dorset

The right

direction

Star

letter

“Rulenumberone:pointthe

barrow in the direct of travel!”

52 AMATEUR GARDENING11 MAY 2019

Amysterypatternin the

garden is made by what?

What is this?

IHAVEhada lotof funasking

friendstosuggestwhatI actually

photographedin thispicture.It is not

a plantbutcould,perhaps,besaid

tobemadebya personalityof sorts;

onewhich,I amsure,mostgardeners

would rather not meet in their garden.

135 years of practicaladvice

TheWorlds Oldest Gardening Magazine

Amateur

1884 2019

■Nextweek,wemarkthe135thanniversaryof thefirsteditionofAGwitha

specialissue.It hasbeenfascinatinglookingbackat readers’lettersfromthe

past – here’s one we published in the week dated 16 December 1967...

Reader’s Quick Tip

IHAVEfounda relativelyeasy,

effectiveandinexpensivewaytokeep

pigeonsandcrowsawayfromnewly

sownseedsandbirdfeeders.The

methodI useinvolvesbuyingand

settingupa wirelessdoorbell.I got

onefor£6witha rangeof 50mandit

has 24 differenttunes,justin casethe

pigeonsandcrows get used to the

samesound!

MurrayLee,

Aberdeen

Sitting pretty

MYcatis sucha cliché.Butthen,

I supposehehasa point– if the

sunis shiningonthemat,where

elseis a catsupposed to sit?

BarbaraTrevitt,

Newcastle upon Tyne 

Garden

friends

If, afterthatclue,youhavedecided

whatit is thenturntothebottomof

thepageandcheck the answer.

John Taverner

Answer:Thepatternwasmadeby

theraspingactionof a snail’stongue

ondiluteemulsion paint used to shade

a greenhouse.

Murray’ssolutionpreventsthenibbling

habits of pigeons and other birds

The purrfect place for a nap