Here's another photo from my Kentish Town walk on Tuesday. I photographed this shop once before, three years ago when it was still open. It closed permanently in March after 84 years. The Guardian did an interesting article about it here. Apparently the shopfront is listed as a historical landmark, so how that will affect any new occupants of the space, I'm not sure. It's really a shame that no one talks about "gowns" anymore. Such a great word.
So it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut famously wrote.
Yesterday was pretty mellow around here. I worked around the house and garden in the morning and read in the afternoon. Dave had to go to school to inventory instruments, which he's been doing for the past few days, but now that job is winding down too. We still have new plants to get in the ground, so there's plenty of work here to keep him busy!
This was my main task -- to repot the avocado. We ordered this massive clay pot -- actually, two of them, because the first one broke in shipping -- and yesterday I hoisted the plant from its old pot into the new one. Then I had to dig it out and reposition it because I initially potted it at an angle, which looked terrible. Et voila! This pot is about as big as we're ever going to be able to offer, I think, and ought to get the tree to ceiling height. It's so heavy I can barely lift it.
Hard to believe that plant started out as a seed!
Here's our latest gardening conundrum. (I swear this isn't turning into a gardening blog. At least, not exclusively.) I was going to clear the masses of borage that have grown up at the back of our garden, because they're old and ragged-looking and collapsing under the weight of their own stems. But then I found these little critters crawling on the plants -- ladybug (or ladybird, if you prefer) larvae. So now I can't clear the borage. I've got to give these guys a chance to grow up!
Well done on getting the avocado from the seed to what you have today, especially in a climate not suited to avocado.👏🏻👏🏻
ReplyDeleteI thought your post was going to end on the note that the borage was inundated with destructive invaders - the fellow in the last photo is a bit creepy. Good to know it's an innocuous future lady bug.
ReplyDeleteI remember there always seemed to be an avocado seed suspended over a glass jar sitting on a window sill when I was a little girl. Now it seems wasteful every time I throw one into the compost bucket.
HAH! I was just about to ask you what in the heck a BLUSTON was, and then I slowly realized it was the name of the shop!
ReplyDeleteMy avocado plants are in terrible shape. I finally just cut one the other day. Cut everything off and put it in a new pot. Let's see what happens.
ReplyDeleteI have several avocados growing in my compost pile. Make sure the borage has gone to seed before you pull it out so that it will come back next year.
ReplyDeleteand I like hearing about your garden.
ReplyDeleteI live in California among forests of avocado groves but I remember growing the seeds into small trees in the house. Be sure you have it where you want it because it just gets heavier. There is a wistful sadness when long time old places are reused, reduced, or just plain eliminated. There is same type of struggle to keep wonderful examples of 20th century houses in tact in Southern California while the new owners and builders want to tear down to build up larger houses. I am not sure but it seems the developers are winning.
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