From useful ammonia to even more useful nitrate

I'm trying to answer the plant biology question: why does nitrogen make leaves? (Which is something my mum told me.) This led me to look at the nitrogen cycle and I started off investigating how nitrogen from the atmosphere is converted to ammonia (nitrogen fixation). This can be done industrially but in the biological world it's done by nitrogen fixing bacteria.

Nitrogen in the form of ammonia can be taken up by plant roots and as such is a bit useful to them, but not that useful. It gets even more useful by being converted into nitrate. This is a two step process and is called nitrification. 

• In the first step ammonia (NH3) is converted to nitrite (NO2-)
• In the second step nitrite is converted to nitrate (NO3-)

Both of these reactions are technically examples of oxidation reactions because oxygen is combined with the nitrogen. Nitrite and nitrate are charged molecules so are referred to as ions (specifically anions – molecules with a negative charge).

In the plant world nitrification, like fixation, involves specific micro-organisms.

Nitrosomonas europeae
Stan Watson,  Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute     http://genome.jgi-psf.org/niteu/niteu.home.html

In the first step ammonia is converted to nitrite by ammonia-oxidising archaea and also some ammonia-oxidising bacteria (mainly types of Nitrosomonas). Archaea look a lot like bacteria and until the 1970s were thought to be types of bacteria. Like bacteria, archaea are single-celled organisms and their genetic material is not contained within a nucleus. But more recently scientists have shown that genetically archaea are very different to bacteria so are now classified in their own group for the purposes of biological classification(1). Archaea are really interesting and I could go on a bit more about them but the details are not really relevant to my leaf question. It's thought that archaea are the most abundant ammonia-oxidising micro-organisms in many habitats(2), but I couldn't find a suitable image anywhere on the internet.
 

In the second step the main group of bacteria that are involved in converting nitrite to nitrate are called Nitrobacter.

 

Like in nitrogen fixation the micro-organisms involved in nitrification use specific enzymes to facilitate the conversions(3).

Unlike nitrogen fixation, in which the bacteria need energy (in the form of ATP) to convert atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia, nitrification actually releases energy that the micro-organisms use to make ATP (which then provides energy for other purposes). The term to describe this type of organism is a chemoautotroph – loosely translated meaning “obtaining own energy from a chemical reaction”.

The micro-organisms involved in both steps can be found in a wide range of environments, including, importantly for the purposes of my investigation, soil.

 

One of the important things about nitrate is that it is much more water soluble than ammonia, which means that it is easier for plants to take it up through their roots, and why it is most useful. Nitrite is also quite water soluble but is toxic to plants in large amounts so it is important that it is converted to nitrate.

Interestingly, nitrate can be formed directly when lightning strikes. The energy in a bolt of lightning enables atmospheric nitrogen to be directly combined with atmospheric oxygen. The resulting nitrate is soluble in moisture in the atmosphere and when it rains the nitrate is delivered to the soil, from where the plants take the nitrate up through their roots(4).
 



Diagram showing the stages in the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to nitrate

 

So now we've found out how:

1. Atmospheric nitrogen is converted to ammonia

2. Ammonia is converted to nitrite and then to nitrate

 

Next I'm going to be looking at how the plants take nitrate up through their roots and what they then do with the nitrogen. This will involve a little break from the nitrogen cycle (don't worry we'll be coming back to it) and a diversion into cell biology.

 

 

References

(1) http://www.microbeworld.org/types-of-microbes/archaea accessed 17.8.13

(2) Bernhard, A. (2012) The Nitrogen Cycle: Processes, Players, and Human Impact. Nature Education Knowledge 3(10):25 Available http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/the-nitrogen-cycle-processes-players-and-human-15644632 accessed 17.8.13

(3) http://nitrificationnetwork.org/Introduction.php accessed 17.8.13

(4) http://www.howstuffworks.com/nitrogen-fixation-info.htm accessed 17.8.13

Plant biology 1: getting hold of useful nitrogen

My mum had helpfully informed me that “nitrogen makes leaves”, when I asked her why she wasn't able to elucidate. She's a keen gardener so I thought this would qualify her to elucidate. I think she might also have an A-level in biology. I have an A-level in biology too. From 13 years ago – which is a scary thought, but probably not as scary as the pedigree of my mum's A-level in biology (if indeed she has one).

My very leafy squash plant - where do the leaves come from?

I do not recall any plant biochemistry from my A-level in biology. That may be because:

• I didn't learn any in the first place
• I have completely forgotten anything that I did learn, more likely – plant biochemistry not being high on my list of knowledge and skills for the last 13 years.

What I do recall is that nitrogen is needed for proteins – either structural or functional so this must come in somewhere.

But I wanted to find out more about what was going on with my leaves. I needed somewhere to start and from what I could recall from my A-level in biology (or maybe even chemistry) the nitrogen cycle might be a pretty good place. Things have moved on at great speeds since I did A-level biology, at that time I relied upon one owned text book, the library for any other text books and a very slow dial-up internet connection for a few more detailed bits of information if I had the patience to trawl around in a fairly haphazard way. Now I can sit on a bus connected to the internet, I will probably rely on the internet for most of my information and several qualifications after my A-level in biology I hope that I am much better at navigating the internet for the information I need.

2 nitrogen atoms make
an atmospheric
nitrogen molecule

Nitrogen (chemical symbol N) – a few facts:
Discovered in 1772 by Daniel Rutherford⁽¹⁾

Forms 78% of the Earth's atmosphere⁽¹⁾

Where it exists as the extremely stable (inert) N₂ molecule

The inert N₂ molecule doesn't do very much for plants. In order to fulfil its biological role nitrogen must be converted / integrated into other molecules and compounds. This can be done in a lab, but it's going on in nature all the time: this is part of the nitrogen cycle. When I learnt about the nitrogen cycle I remember it being rather more complicated than the water cycle and the carbon cycle. There are lots of arrows going all over the place with lots of long names to describe what is going on. I'm going to try to pick out the bits that are relevant to my plant question and look at these one at a time before making the cycle.

Nitrogen fixation: this is a misleading term for a start. It basically means any process by which the nitrogen atoms in the extremely stable N₂ molecules in the atmosphere are “converted” to other molecule(s) in which the nitrogen atom is more “free” (in my mind the opposite of fixed). Examples of these types of molecules are ammonia (where nitrogen is combined with hydrogen) and nitrous oxides (where nitrogen is combined with oxygen). One way to think of it I suppose is that nitrogen fixing takes nitrogen atoms from an unusable source (nitrogen in the air), and turns it (fixes it) into a more usable form.

In the plant world nitrogen is converted (“fixed”) to ammonia by micro-organisms (mostly bacteria). These bacteria are cunningly known as nitrogen fixing bacteria (they are also sometimes referred to as diazotrophs, which roughly translated means “nitrogen bond eating”); they have an enzyme (called nitrogenase) which facilitates this chemical reaction to take place. (An enzyme is basically a protein that makes processes happen more quickly by reducing the energy required for them to take place – like a biological version of the catalytic converter in your car.) To put this in perspective, to make ammonia industrially requires a temperature of 400-450ºC, a pressure of 200 atmospheres⁽²⁾ (the exact conditions vary depending on where you look but this gives you an idea) and an iron catalyst. (This is called the Haber-Bosch (not the same Bosch as the kitchen appliances) process and is a good example of the concept of chemical equilibria if you are interested.) So the bacteria really do do an impressive job with their enzymes.

A facility from the early days
of industrial ammonia production
http://www.deutsches-chemie-museum.de/index.php?id=57

Some nitrogen fixing bacteria
Jones D. H. Further Studies On The Growth Cycle Of Azotobacter.
 Journal Of Bacteriology, 1920, Vol. 5, No. 4 Р. 325-341

As well as the enzyme, the biological process of converting N₂ into ammonia requires energy and this comes in the form of an amazing compound called adenosine triphosphospate (ATP). Think of ATP as the biological world's petrol – basically it is involved in a reaction within cells that liberates energy for other purposes. And one of those purposes within the bacteria that we're talking about is nitrogen fixation.

There are a few different types of bacteria that can fix nitrogen⁽³⁾:

• Aquatic bacteria – cyanobacteria
• Free living soil bacteria – e.g. Azobacter
• Bacteria that interact with plants roots – e.g. Azospirrillum
• Bacteria that live in a mutually beneficial way with some plant roots – e.g. Rhizobium – these are known as symbiotic bacteria. These bacteria live in nodules in the plants' (typically legumes like beans and clover) roots and in this symbiotic relationship the plant provides the energy needed for the bacteria to fix the nitrogen, and the bacteria provide the plant with nitrogen in a form it can use for growth. In my garden the mangetout peas are an example of this type of plant. Once the crop is over I might try to take a closer look at their roots. The symbiotic relationship is incredible and I could go into lots of detail, but it's not really too relevant to where we started from.

Showing the nodules where nitrogen fixing
bacteria live symbiotically with certain plants
By Terraprima (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

In summary, there are loads of bacteria in the soil in my garden that are busy converting stable atmospheric N₂ into useful ammonia. When the plants can't get enough nitrogen through this process of biological nitrogen fixation is when fertiliser comes in. Some of the ammonia that is produced in the Haber-Bosch process goes on to be incorporated into fertiliser products that you can buy at garden centres, and this too can provide plants with nitrogen.

Diagram showing (I hope simply) biological nitrogen fixation

So, now we've found out about where the nitrogen comes from and how bacteria convert it into ammonia. Next time we'll try to find out about what happens next.

Just in this short bit of writing there's lots of tangents that I could have gone off on, and other information that I could have added but I've tried to resist. Feel free to ask questions and I'll try to answer or add comments (or your own facts).

References

(1) http://www.webelements.com/nitrogen/ accessed 26.7.2013

(2) http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/equilibria/haber.html accessed 26.7.2013

(3) Wagner SC. (2012) Biological nitrogen fixation. Nature Education Knowledge 3(10):15 http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/biological-nitrogen-fixation-23570419 accessed 27.7.2013

Thursday's square lashing

I have neglected the garden a bit. Whilst I was away for a long weekend, I had asked Matt to water it for me. He managed this (nearly twice a day). He also decided that it needed feeding. He did this with a copious combination of fish blood and bone (which I have learnt is a combination of the blood of fish and the bones of fish, not fish plus blood and bones from elsewhere) and chicken manure pellets (as well as the tomato feed water that I had requested). Now, I am not a gardening expert but when I examined the plants the fact that there was a thick layer of these fertilisers all around them, along with flies all over the garden and the revolting smell (which would be passable on a farm but not in an urban garden), something seemed amiss. It was possibly the horticultural equivalent of giving a small child too many brightly coloured sweets.

So I did the most obvious thing that came to mind and set to in removing the vast majority. This filled two standard bins. In it were lots of earwigs and maggotty things - also rather dubious, I'm suspicious that it's the larvae of flies. In a slightly grumpy manner I requested that Matt should deal with this. He has apparently emptied it into a black sack but beyond that I'm not sure where it's gone. I really must find out more about the whole nitrogen/phosphorous/potassium content thing with the fertilisers and then maybe we can take a more scientific approach to feeding. I've remembered that nitrogen makes leaves (I have plenty of those especially on the squash plants), potassium makes fruits (which is mostly what I'm after now) and phosphorous makes roots (I don't know if I need any more).

This evening the garden seems both more fragrant (I can actually smell the lavender rather than chicken poo) and less fly infested. Matt is still sure that the Wormery is an excessive source of flies but I'm not sure this is such a problem. The after work task was to improve the support for my beans and mange tout peas. I had constructed a rather amateur frame for them a few weeks ago but they (both the frames and the plants) were flopping all over the place so I needed a better solution. That better solution was inspired by seeing my mum and dad's garden (they are experts), and the frame that they had erected for their tomatoes (my tomatoes are not needing that sort of support yet). 

So I carefully extracted the existing support network and formed it into the new one. This also required me to do a bit bamboo cane cutting which I have found can be done very easily with some secateurs. I went for a more standard grid formation and I fixed the horizontals and the verticals with green string. I never really used to understand the rationale for green string. To do this fixing I utilised the skill of square lashing. Well, something akin to square lashing - I'm sure it wasn't Girl Guide regulation square lashing but then I wasn't trying to make a washing up stand. Once in situ I tied the plants onto the frames too. 

The peas are doing well and I got a good harvest from them tonight. The beans are looking a little sorry for themselves so I'll have to give them a bit more attention. The other job for this evening was harvesting the beetroot. I have looked in four books but none tell me how I can tell if they're ready for harvest and I can't remember when I planted them. Matt pulled one up and it didn't appear to have a beetroot so I might just leave them a bit longer. 

I actually quite enjoyed my square lashing; tomorrow I'm going to make some frames for the tomatoes. Perhaps it will encourage them.

Sunday's worm transplant

We returned well laden from a trip to Lucy’s and Pete’s) (Matt’s sister and her husband) in the Cotswolds. The un-seasonable midsummer weather that didn’t deter us from midsummer gatherings which included:

1. 1kg goosegogs from Lucy and Pete’s garden (I think that Pete is mainly responsible for the garden)
2. 18 eggs from Pete’s mum Lorna
3. 2kg of cherries that I forgotten that we’d bought from a food market at a conservation charity's property 
4. 4 tomato plants (also from Pete’s garden)
5. 1 bag of worm dense compost from Pete’s compost bin

(keep an eye out on Slack Lasagne for updates on items 1, 2 and 3)

Maturing bright lights chard

We also nearly came home with some with rhubarb until I pointed out to Pete that what he thought was rhubarb was actually swiss chard variety rhubarb red. I was slightly embarrassed in pointing this out given Pete’s agricultural credentials but since I am having success with my swiss chard variety bright lights and there would be little space in our courtyard garden for more of this type of crop.

We had purchased a wormery online back in March but as yet had been insufficiently organised to acquire the worms that were needed to power it. The system is that you set up your wormery and then order the worms by mail order once their home is prepared. We saved up peelings etc on a number of occasions over the last few months and never got around to ordering said worms so ended up discarding the waste in the normal way when we couldn’t stand the smell any more.

This weekend I was on a mission since the company we had purchased the wormery from was Cotswold based and I had a plan to collect some worms in person. So I left an answerphone message on Saturday morning with my request. For the rest of Saturday I was very excited every time that my phone (or indeed anyone else’s’ since I have a popular ring tone) rang. But come the afternoon I was so desperate for a nap that I turned it off for an hour. When I awoke I had an answerphone message myself and my dreams of worms were shattered. Apparently the worms are dispatched from Yorkshire.

Fortunately Pete came to the rescue and told us all about how his compost bin was full of worms. I was a bit wary because I know that you’re supposed to use a special type of worm.

A camera shy worm

So I did a quick search of the interweb search for an image of an appropriate worm. I shared this with Pete who assured me that his were the right type of worm. It’s a shame that there’s not some home worm DNA sequencing test to check their pedigree but I was happy to give it a go.

Worm extraction

So on Sunday morning Matt, my husband, helped Pete extract some worm rich compost and package it; we all hoped they would survive the 130 mile trip southwest-wards. Matt and I stopped off for a bit of cheeky department store shopping on the way home so the worms’ welfare was in even more peril.

It was with great anticipation that I unpacked the worms from their sack into the wormery. The first test of the enterprise had been passed as the worms had travelled apparently unscathed. Now all that remains to be seen is whether they are the right sort of worm and start making lots of lovely worm juice for us.

Initiating the wormery

House design makes the
wormery look nice in the garden

The wormery after a feeding

While I was in the garden I harvested our first home grown salad of baby spinach and rocket, to go with our toasted sandwiches. It was a good job that I investigated the rocket as it had become water-logged. It wasn’t until last week when I planted some strawberries that I knew anything about making holes in the lining of hanging baskets. So today I urgently tipped off the water from the rocket basket (this has made me think about growing watercress next year) and pricked a load of holes in it with an extended craft knife (this was the only thing I could find that was pokey enough to get through the hanging basket). Hopefully I have averted potential rocket failure – from this perspective at least – I did have to launch a number of snails over the garden wall and I fear that these may be my greatest challenge.

Sunday's strawberries

I must say that I’m rather pleased with the things I’ve planted in the garden. After the disappointment of losing so many seedlings while we were on holiday it was an uncommon pleasure seeing the mange tout peas and the dwarf beans popping out from their troughs.

And it surely won’t be long now until we’re harvesting rocket and baby spinach leaves from their respective hanging baskets. Three out of the four courgette seeds that I planted straight into a pot germinated and have healthy looking leaves (which leaves me with the dilemma of what to do with two of them as I’ve been informed that you can only have one courgette plant per pot – how do I choose which one to leave alone?). And my mini squashes are going from strength to strength. The tomato plants that my mum kindly brought (although they don’t replace my own deceased seedlings) are maturing a bit in the cold frame. I have been informed that I must resist transplanting them into hanging baskets until their pots are full of roots, so they get a daily inspection.

I had a scare with my chillies last weekend when I thought that in the brief spell of hot weather I had managed to scorch them to death in the mini greenhouse but they seem to have revived.

On a floral note I’ve managed to pick (well, cut with the kitchen scissors) a decent bunch of sweet peas to give to a friend and my Californian poppies are on the brink of flowering. 




None of my newly potted flower plants that I put in the front garden have died or been stolen and there are even some rose buds appearing. On the down side my sunflower hasn’t germinated (obviously not enough sun) and the wildflower seed that I sprinkled over the gravel out the front seems to have been defeated by weeds (unless the wildflower seed was actually weed seed). I’m not totally clear on what the definition of a weed is because some of what my mother disparagingly says are weeds actually look quite pretty.

As a bonus, the Christmas tree that we felt sure was dead seems to have found a new lease of life.

Despite all this relative success (I hope I haven’t spoken too soon) one regret persisted. I had no strawberries plants. My mum had told me a couple of weeks ago when they were visiting that I was too late to do strawberries so I did my best to move on. But their absence in my garden was hammered home yesterday when I saw a neighbour’s hanging basket full of them and the beginnings of some fruit. But fortuitously on the very same day my mum had some good news for me. During a phone call she randomly mentioned that she had read in the paper last week that it wasn’t too late to plant strawberries. I was on a mission now; if I didn’t get these plants today then I would definitely have missed my chance, the next few weekends being full of other things so the garden would not be a priority. My mum didn’t sound that optimistic though: she wasn’t sure that I would be able to source strawberries at the point in the season and even if I did she wasn’t sure they’d be economically viable.

So I planned my afternoon carefully. It would start with a trip to the dump as Matt, my husband, had prepared a car-full of junk from the roof (from previous inhabitants) for me to get rid of. Then I had in mind a route round various local garden centres based on a combination of convenience (it being a Sunday I had limited time before they would shut) and value.

The trip to the dump was, if anything, even more satisfactory than usual. I think the slightly drizzly weather reduced the number of visitors (this is based on anecdotal evidence only, when it’s sunny the dump seems to be rammed) so I had several men in fluorescent jackets assisting me with my disposal. Plus it was more straightforward than usual because everything was designated as “general household” so I didn’t even have to navigate around the various skips.

The first garden centre (or more technically a bit of everything centre) was both the most convenient and, I estimated, the best value. My luck was clearly on the up as available to me were 6 strawberry plants for £3.99. This did seem like good value, although I suppose I can’t really judge this until I’ve tasted the results. The purchase was not straightforward however. There were three different varieties: Honeoye, Elsanta and Pegasus – the description on the labels being remarkably similar. I had no idea which to choose and I knew that my mum was by now uncontactable (she hasn’t totally embraced the concept of the mobile phone). I tried to get some advice from the interweb but couldn’t find anything particularly useful. Lots of websites told me that strawberries are good in hanging baskets; but no websites told which strawberries are particularly good. I ruled out Elsanta as I know this is what you mainly get in shops and wanted to try something different. I wasn’t sure how to pronounce Honeoye, so this left Pegasus. I felt happy with this selection, Pegasus also being the name of a bridge in Normandy that Matt and I had enjoyed a visit to 3 years ago.

It was a good job that I hadn’t planted those tomatoes up after all as the hanging baskets that had been reserved for them would now be deployed for strawberries. I did a bit of hanging basket rearrangement in the garden to make sure that the strawberries would get the sunniest spot possible – hopefully this won’t be too much to the detriment of the rocket and baby spinach – and introduced the strawberry plants to their new home.

When I spoke to my mum this evening she seemed reasonably impressed – most likely at what seems to have been a bit of a strawberry plant bargain and also that I followed some instructions in terms of planting them shallowly. She advised that I give them some tomato feed. What ensued was my first ever plant science lesson:

• phosphorous makes roots
• potassium makes fruits
• nitrogen makes leaves

Apparently tomato feed is rich in potassium. Mum couldn’t explain to me the plant biochemistry that makes this so, but I feel inspired to find out. Watch this space…..

Saturday's team buidling

I’m not sure who’s idea the team building was in the first place but it’s taken a number of months, if not nearing a year (if I really wanted to find out I could review the minutes of our team meetings) for us to get around to doing it.  We tend to work more with other teams across our organisation than with people within our team so the rationale was that we should all get to know each other a bit better as the only things we do all together otherwise are the aforementioned team meetings and a yearly gathering at Christmas (a very seasonable curry last year).

We agreed in principle that we would do something together but the details took a while to fall in to place. Suggestions for the event included:

• Tree surfing – vetoed by most of those aged over 50
• All you can eat buffet competition – no-one actually owned up to suggesting this. Quite how it would be team building eludes me but there was apparently a t-shirt for the winner
• Bread making – not met with a great deal of enthusiasm

Then I got an email from WaterAid. Matt, my husband, and I had done a sponsored walk of part of the South West Coast Path for them a few years ago and this time they were recruiting for teams to climb 200 peaks across the country. I suggested this at one of our legendary team meetings and everyone seemed to think that this was a pretty good idea. So I signed us up to climb our most local “mountain” Sheepstor.  

Then we all forgot about it for a while.

As the day neared I thought that perhaps we should sort out the logistics. I checked our team page on the website and found that, despite repeated invitations to “join my team”, very few of the team had thus far signed up. The walkers included my boss, me and 2 others. So I had to do a bit of motivation – the lure of a free t-shirt should do it. The week before the event we were up to 6 signed up which was adequate numbers and, in my opinion, a reasonable personality mix. I sensitively collated t-shirt six requests and placed my order.

We also began some publication of our “climb” across the teams that we work with in an effort to raise (or exceed) the £400 sponsorship target the WaterAid set. A couple of us did a bit of promotion via social media and we distribute sponsor forms to the noticeboards of the other teams that we work with. This was met with much hilarity in some locations because as far as sponsored events go this would not be the most challenging (one colleague is about to embark upon a Lands End to John-O-Groats cycle ride) but our walk was for a good cause, people are generous and the forms started to fill up a bit.

All that was left to do was to hope for fine weather and sort out the final arrangements for the day. Most importantly this included planning catering. The consensus was that we should have a pub lunch rather than a picnic (I think that was everyone’s preference apart from mine and I am aware that I am uncommonly fond of a picnic). We agreed to meet at 10.30am and I sent round an email confirming details, including the route map, emergency instructions (anyone would think we were attempting the North Face of the Eiger) and reminding people to bring:

• A drink +/- some snacks – I had made some “Paradise Slice” the night before for us to refuel on
• Sensible footwear (including socks due to my perceived risk of ticks this was after all Sheepstor)
• A hat and sunscreen (the weather forecast was looking good)
• Games / activities with which to augment the walk

I drove up from Plymouth with 4 others. From an environmental point of view this was particularly pleasing to me. We stopped off at, Helen’s, the last pick-up-point to adorn ourselves with our t-shirts. As you might expect from a carful of women the talk on the way up was mostly about men, we would save the more refined topics for the walk itself – our boss (the only man on the walk) would have to contend with a group of chattering women as it was so we could at least improve matters for him by chattering about something he might be able to join in with.

We arrived only a few minutes after the planned rendezvous which was good going considering as we’d spent a good few minutes meeting Helen’s lovely cat Coco.

I had been uncommonly organised and printed off a copy of the suggested route. Unfortunately, upon arrival, I found that I had left this at home. Fortunately, I had packed a map of Dartmoor and due to the wonders of modern mobile technology was able to download the suggested route so between those we should be able to work it out. Unfortunately the suggested route map was both tiny and rubbish, and very difficult to see on my phone screen in the bright light anyway. The Dartmoor map was rather aged so it was difficult to make out which path we were actually on, plus it was very windy so was difficult to keep the map under control. In the end we just sort of made up our own route (it wasn’t until we were well in to the walk that I realised that I could also have used the satellite tracking on my phone improve this process). This did actually include a bit of climbing to get to the top of the tor. This was where I was most glad of my sensible footwear although I think everyone else was most glad of it due to all the various animal poo (some of which we could identify) on our chosen paths.

 

There were actually sheep at Sheepstor

We had a really lovely time, and I don’t think that I’m just speaking for myself. The conversation flowed freely and most people chatted for a bit of time with most others. As well as animal poo we talked about pubs, gardening and lots of other things and we all sat quietly enthralled and snacking (fruit and jelly sweets as well as the Paradise slice) whilst our boss told us about his time in Saudi Arabia – much more adventurous than the rest of us put together.  I think we all enjoyed finding out a bit more about each other and would say that we fulfilled our team building objective. We didn’t even need to enhance the walk with any of the games; which was probably a good thing as I think that there might have been a big injury risk had we deployed the ball that I had brought and / or the blind folds that Amy had brought (for three legged races and blind pairs) up a windy tor.

The team at the summit of Sheepstor

As well as the sunshine we were lucky with the visibility: the view from the top was magnificent and we all took a turn looking through our boss’s binoculars back towards the city, as well as admiring the nearby reservoir.

View of Burrator Reservoir

We were ready for our pub lunch by the time we got there and our boss kindly got us all some liquid refreshment. As I wasn’t the designated driver I couldn’t partake of the rather lovely still cider that most of my friends were drinking but a taste was enough to encourage me to return to this venue with someone else as the designated driver on a future occasion. Over lunch we started planning future team building exercises which might include a trip to a theme park or a water park. That really would be pushing it asking for sponsorship.

In the car home we reverted to our very first topic of conversation: men. Fuelled by the rather lovely cider (and maybe the team building) the talk amongst my friends was slightly more graphic than on the way up.

The team building would continue for a few of us later on a night out to some of Plymouth’s numerous waterside drinking establishments. I enjoy getting dressed up and putting some make-up on from time-to-time and this would be an ideal opportunity. The evening started with a quick drink at mine where I cracked open the duty free vodka that I had brought back from holiday.

Charlotte had this with fizzy apple juice while Helen and I had a cocktail of vodka, elderflower cordial and tonic water. Helen noted that it was a shame that we didn’t have some cherries to improve these further and I duly produced the cherries in spirit that have been in my fridge just waiting for such an occasion. The concoction was delicious.

We met up with Amy and her boyfriend for a little while before they headed off for a curry, Charlotte and I headed off for a cider and Helen headed off to meet someone else for a bit. It was great to have a natter with someone who I don’t natter with enough. We gave Helen the requested 45 minute rescue call but she wasn’t coming back to us fast so I helped Charlotte across the cobbles (a reflection on the shoes she was wearing not the amount that she had drunk) and we settled ourselves outside another bar for another drink.

I enjoyed watching the mating behaviour of the people of Plymouth on a night out and very felt lucky not to have to be actively involved in it. Helen eventually joined us again – one of her skills is clearly getting the attention of men and there were some choice / hilarious / pathetic chat up lines which unfortunately elude me as I write. This may indeed be evidence that alcohol impairs your memory.

Fortunately my faculties weren’t too impaired and I was able to ensure I had enough cash for a taxi home and was completely able to remember where home was as well as indulging in some small talk with the taxi driver. And I even had the foresight to have some toast with my favourite yeast extract and a big glass of water before retiring to bed.

Hopefully this’ll the first of many enjoyable team building days.

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Saturday's plantings

After several weekends away from home and more busy ones coming up it would be now or never for the garden (well for this year anyway) and with a garden warming party planned for a few weeks’ time there’s some serious sorting to be done. So I was delighted this morning that the sun was out and the lingering chill that’s pervaded all week seemed to have passed. Rather than persist with his interior DIY projects Matt, my husband, decided to join me outside too.

I had planted quite a few seeds a couple of months ago – my green fingered mum warned me then that it was too early. I tended to them in mini-propagators in the spare room, balanced on a pile of cushions on top of the chaise longue by the radiator to maximise sunlight exposure and warmth. I was not disappointed: 11 out of 12 mini squashes germinated, 6 out of 8 aubergines germinated, 8 out of 8 tomatoes germinated. Not quite as successful germination of peppers and chillies as I’d hoped but still over 50%.

I transplanted some of the mini squash seedlings into pots. I ran out of plant pots so transplanted the rest of the seedlings into sawn off milk bottles. Some of them grew and some of them died.

And then we went on holiday. I transferred the seedlings and surviving seedlings into the greenhouse. Barbara, Matt’s mum, had kindly agreed to water them for me while we were away. My mum said that it was still too cold and that they would die. But apparently the first weekend we were away the weather was scorching. Barbara was away visiting his Matt’s sister Lucy so the plants went untended. I think that the seedlings died of heat stroke. And then apparently during the following week the weather deteriorated and there were gales. The greenhouse blew over which saw the demise of any remaining seedlings and the emptying out of my (as yet ungerminated) herbs.

But with some careful salvage work from Barbara we came home and still had three living mini squash plants. And after today one of these is now potted into what I hope will be its final growing container. If I have any more big terracotta pots left when I’ve planted the rest of the produce that I’m aiming for one of the other mini squash plants might get a chance to grow up and fruit in our backyard. Otherwise I will be looking for good homes for them.

Matt did a lot of work on clearing out the garage. This required me to offer various items on Freecycle®. The list is like a selection of dodgy prizes from the Generation Game:

• 12 concrete blocks (one of which was previously stabilising the re-erected greenhouse). 4 “wanters”. Collected by a chap who’s going to use them to build a pen for 2 Staffordshire bull terriers.
• An exercise bike. 11 “wanters”. Collected by a chap who’s wife needed it to do some exercise.
• A dehumidifier. 26 “wanters” – obviously there’s a lot of damp in Plymouth. Still awaiting collection.
• A bag of building sand, half a bag of cement and half a bag of floor levelling compound. 2 “wanters”. Collected by unknown from the garden path.
• A chest of drawers. 14 “wanters”. Collected by a couple who were “desperate for storage” (after I had re-located a spider who had made a nice home for herself in the bottom drawer).
• A skanky set of shelves. 4 “wanters”. Awaiting collection. But the people who collected the drawers and the blocks and the exercise bike all wanted it too when they saw it. As well as a random chap who spotted it and drove down the service lane to ask us if he could have it.

There’s something strangely satisfying about offloading stuff that you can’t really imagine people wanting at all to people who are absolutely delighted to have it.

Before lunch I also planted a clematis, some chard, some mange tout peas, some dwarf French beans and a sunflower. The only one I remember the Latin name for is the beans: Phageolus vulgaris which is kind of catchy.  And I tied some canes together for my unruly sweet peas.

After lunch Matt put up some hanging baskets. Into which I have planted rocket and spinach. The instructions on the packets are very vague, and tell you to plant rows 40cm apart. This is challenging when the diameter of the hanging basket is less than 40cm, so I just kind of sprinkled the seeds in what looked like a reasonable density. This strategy seems to be working for the beetroot seeds that I planted a few weeks ago as they are now sprouting nicely.

The planting has come to a standstill for now as the compost has run out (it’s surprising how far it doesn’t go, even when you bulk out the bottoms of the pots with empty sawn up milk bottles). And it’s kind of strange after spending all that time working only having a load of pots with compost in to show for it. But I did get to see some baby blue-tits close up on the bird feeder which, even if nothing grows, makes the day in the garden worth it.