On 7/1/08 22:58, in article ,
"Charlie Pridham" wrote:

In article ,
says...
On 7/1/08 17:32, in article ,
"Charlie Pridham" wrote:

snip
if they paid me (and they used to do just that!!) not enough plants and
too much sea, thats why we live in a cold bit of cornwall, its as far
from the sea as I could get!

Too much sea?! You heathen! ;-) My parents sent me to school in deepest
Worcestershire and it took me ages to figure out why I felt so disorientated
to begin with. If they'd sat down for a fortnight and figured out how far
they could get me from the sea, they couldn't have done much better. I feel
at my happiest and best when I can see the sea right in front of me or all
around me. I'm a bit puzzled as to your reasons for choosing your past
career, Charlie!


Well I did love it at the time but after 6 months on a ship that spent a
total 9 days in port it starts to wear a bit thin, especially as I was
always planning the gardening during the wee small hours, I suspect the
public would like to think our minds were more on the job going down the
channel at 20 knots!
But the real reason for giving up was it got harder and harder to say
good by to the children (allthough by the time they were teenagers I
rather think they would have signed me on themselves)

My sole attempt at on-board gardening while small boat sailing was a small
pot of herbs and an Aloe vera on an Endurance 37. The poor Aloe suffered
everything I could throw at it. I forgot to water it - good. I
accidentally hurled it to the floor while closing the companion way hatch -
bad. I let it get sunburn - bad. I blasted it with a hose while cleaning
the decks - good/bad. And I broke bits off it for sunburn or gyroscoping
oven burns - good for me but bad for it. It must be one of the most
forgiving plants on earth!
What were you on while barrelling dangerously through our coastal waterways?
You remind me why I've never wanted to do a Channel crossing finding the Med
from Coruna to Cyprus far safer!! ;-)
In seriousness, we met a lot of people doing the Med circuit who had
mini-gardens and most of them were herbs for cooking. They were carefully
stowed in the sink below decks during a passage and then taken up on deck
for some lovely hot sun again. Enticing smells from the cockpit as one
strolled along the dock were the norm. I did notice that most of the boats
with any kind of plant on them had a female "ship's wife", though. The
solitary male sailor didn't seem to worry too much about a floating garden.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'