Garden Talk: No Work Garden

No, Baa,

He signed off though as "always dibbering."

Was it George Benard Shaw or someone else who pointed out that the Americans and British are two peoples separated by a common language?

Yes it was and he was right too LOL

Reminds me of a tale told by the great, lamented, Brenden Behn.

Himself was staying at a hostle in the countryside and fell in with a group of American students on tour. One of the young ladies lamented that she'd broken her alarm clock, and was worried about getting up on time.

"Not to worry," says our Borstel Boy, "I'll knock you up through the wall."

Allowing the pregnant silence to continue for a bit, Brenden concludes; "This wasn't the first time I'd had trouble communicating with Americans."

Dibber, dibber?

Shame on you all! A dibber is an honourable British tool (whoops, I'll amend that)... 'tis an horticultural device. William Cobbett of Cottage Economy fame had several dibbers, each of a calibre apt to its purpose.

Its official use is to poke holes in the sod (whoops, sorry again) so thereby one might drop in transplants.

The phrase, to 'endlessly dibber' in British argot is merely an innocent confession of one's habit of planting one's seed, compulsively. This habit is shared by many non-gardening celebrities, of course (Becker, Jagger, et alia). But, in gardens, usually proves less expensive.

For further illumination upon the versatile applications of a dibber in any other context, I must refer you to more experienced sources. (Brook, where are you?)

Yours, calibrically-challenged

JOHN YEOMAN

I am very relieved to hear that explanation, John, LOL. Before your followup posting, I was hesitant to add a comment that I believed I had a dibber; I was afraid I might be disastrously wrong. But now we know that women can indeed have dibbers, too!

Oh Heavens - sign me up!!!

LOL Brook, yes and very true too!

John,

Whatever you may use your dibber for it usually ends up in a bountiful harvest in a few months, for such a short amount of time and effort ;)

I painted my personal dibber a variety of colours, each band an inch thick. Trouble is I don't want to use it now for fear of discolouring it.

Well, John,

Not to snow you with technical talk or anything, but over on this side of the pond we simply call them shovels. ;-)

Here's a photo very similar to my dibber ;) http://www.gardendesigner.com/2ndgenshopcenter/commerce.pl?product=dibber

Ohmigod! It looks even more obscene than it sounded.

But what an article it could be: In The Marquis de Sade's Garden!

That one doesn't look nearly as peculiar as the wood ones ;) (I had to look for this photo to post LOL.)

While visiting Roz, she had a thingie that fit on her hubby's cordless drill. It was like a little auger, and perfect size for planting bulbs or small perennials.
I make my no work beds with hay that has been left in the bales in the weather outside. The hay gets wet and rots a bit, but it kills the seeds when it rots. I then lay down a layer of leaves and cover them with the layers of hay. I put compost on top of this and in the spring it's great for planting. Hundreds of earthworms have moved in and loosened the soil under all this.

Brook,and etc., here in the unwashed South, I always heard it called a dibble. And a mighty useful stick it is. One can make numerous round holes, of limitless variety of depth, in a very short time, and you have the stick right there to rake the soil in as desired. Further, it tamps nicely, saving you from the hazard of getting a muddy finger. See, it's really a clean little thingy.

Words cannot express my admiration for Calalilly. Your cordless drill is your #1 asset in the garden, she says (I think). Amd she's right.

Simply lay a sheet of newspaper soaked in wallpaper paste on moist soil, let the newspaper dry (it becomes a hard weather-resistant carapace.) Sink in your transplants.

And walk away.

Many a lettuce have I raised that way. And nary a weed confounded them...

Yours in mulch

JOHN YEOMAN
PS: I've stopped 'dibbering'. The term seems to provoke too much unseemly confusion in this genteel thread.

Kripes, John, now you're confusing dibbering and dithering.

That dibble is a must have tool, now that I've seen one! What a grand idea ~ also, I'm excited to see new products that are being offered overseas (in my new e-garden newsletter!) vs. traditional American gardening devices.

A question. Who offers the most obscure but useful gardening devices (web offered or snail mail)? Better asked, if you had to garden with just one or two tools, what would you choose?

This message was edited Monday, Jan 21st 12:37 PM

Definitely a dibble, which appears in my 1921 book on propagating, with half a dozen or so different shapes for different chores commonly enocountered in the garden or greenhouse.

Naawh, (have I spelt that correctly?).

The most useful artifact in the garden is a spouse.

Whenever I try to do anything, my wife comes up and says "you're not doing that right. Stand back. I'll show you how to do it."

Then I gratefully sneak away.

Why does that remind me of our honeymoon?

Yours, snoozing

JOHN YEMOAN

John, you are a bad, BAD boy. I would not take kindly to being called an artifact, no matter how lovingly it was said. (And I wouldn't touch your honeymoon comment with a 10 foot dibble/dibber or anything else.)

But you ARE right about spouses being handy in the garden. As are teenage sons, who understand they are to provide brawn and muscle when needed - in exchange for food, shelter and clothing.

John, I don't know for sure how you'd spell nawh! But "spelt" is a grain. The past tense for the arrangement of vowels and consonents is "spelled." You could say: have I spelled that correctly. Or you could have said, did I spell that correctly.

This usage is the same on both sides of the Big Pond.

(So there. Told ya I'd get ya for those hairy feet comments. Especially as you kept making a hobbit of it.) :-)

Not quite along the train of thought I had in mind, but a husband and son (nearing his brawny years) will certainly be kept at the top of my list! I've let them both know they are now on call as my goals are quite vast this season. I've already begun to prepare the soil as I've quite a bit of it to do. I'm preparing the earth along a split rail fence with green mesh wire attached to keep the ruffs within their legal limits. I've been searching for information about gardening along a fence line, but haven't found much. Which leads me to my next question. Does anyone have good leads on planning a garden fence?

Many thanks for any advice as it seems rather scarce.

Kind Regards,
Morph

Morph, your best bet is probably to start a new thread, with a title that indicates your specific request. These "guys" are just bein' silly over here, but they'll sit up straighter and give you honest serious advice in a new thread, I promise.

No we won't! Not for a thief. I mean this girl wants us to be talking about somebody who recieves stolen gardens. :-)

Seriously, Morph, G-V is right. You need to start a new thread on this. And be a little more specific about what you're trying to accomplish: veggies? flowers? Hide the fence or just have it support plants? You get the idea, I'm sure.

Ladies & gents, you are right.

I used 'spelt' incorrectly. I grovel. I am a textual deviate.

Relax. For 30 years, I pronounced the word 'misled' as 'mizzled' because nobody in that time had big enough wellie boots to correct me. Now Brook comes along...

Sigh :)

I truly think this thread should be allowed to die in peace, and another one started.

Shall we title it: 'Creative applications for Brook's hairy feet'?

Peace

JOHN YEOMAN

I warned you not to make a hobbit of it, John. So now, when you least expect it, expect it.

Meanwhile, before we scare Morph off, let us cease and desist.

RIP

Brook. One word: Nads. LOL ;o)