Weekend social 16/09/2011

Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, September 16th, 2011 - 77 comments
Categories: weekend social - Tags:

Christmas truce 1914Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever.

No politics, no aggro, why can’t we all just get along?

77 comments on “Weekend social 16/09/2011 ”

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  1. Bored 1
    16 September 2011 at 2:31 pm

    Really enjoyed the very “cold war” last night. Such passion and commitment, just love the east European forward packs, all grunt and muscle. Lets get a flow of immigrants from there to give us forwards to match our Pasifikan backs….

    • clandestino 1.1
      16 September 2011 at 4:38 pm

      I really wish people would get over this myth, it pisses me off having gone through a diverse school system. Many, if not most, All Blacks of pasifika descent were born in New Zealand. It’s bad enough having the English giving us shit about it without our own boomers who never interact with this part of NZ perpetuating it.

      • Bored 1.1.1
        16 September 2011 at 6:18 pm

        Maybe its because we play with gay abandon and joy we dont seem to relish the physical brutal stuff, so the nimble rule, especially the bigger ones. I just love the grunt stuff because i used to watch it close up as a loosie, its sort of visceral and satisfying.

  2. The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 2
    16 September 2011 at 3:08 pm

    I will be continuing work on my novel. It is a tale of love, loss and long-distance unicycling set during the last days of the Weimar Republic.

    • felix 2.1
      16 September 2011 at 3:13 pm

      Is it about a man finding himself?

    • Vicky32 2.2
      16 September 2011 at 7:22 pm

      I will be continuing work on my novel. It is a tale of love, loss and long-distance unicycling set during the last days of the Weimar Republic.

      For real? If there really is a novel, I’d love to see it when it’s finished… 🙂

    • Adele 2.3
      16 September 2011 at 8:56 pm

      I will be continuing work on my novel. It is a tale of love, loss and long-distance unicycling set during the last days of the Weimar Republic.

      Teenaa koe, Gormless

      The very act of unicycling long-distance would be less about love and more about loss. Unicycles are not exactly chick magnets – not even in the Weimar Republic. Nevertheless, its awesome that you are writing a novel, thats a lot of hard work.

      My little writing project is an illuminated manuscript – the illuminations combining both Celtic and Maaori artforms.

  3. the pink postman 3
    16 September 2011 at 3:18 pm

    We will be off to see the Met production of Madame Butterfly ,which we missed first time round,at the Lido Hamilton.Yesterday we saw, The Guard,very good ,but don’t take your great Aunt.

  4. felix 4
    16 September 2011 at 3:32 pm

    If you’re in Hamilton this weekend I recommend the Contemporary Art Awards exhibition at the museum.

    Some very cool interactive and multimedia stuff, as well as painting, sculpture etc. I think it’s on until late October.

  5. Bored 5
    16 September 2011 at 3:38 pm

    Good movie: saw The Gaurd, its by the same director who did In Bruges, same sort of dark humour, very good as an antidote to big star big screen Hollywood schmaltz.

  6. Bored 6
    16 September 2011 at 3:47 pm

    Any horticulturalists out there? My cultivatory feathered serfs have scratched scraped and fertilised a new garden bed, its ready for the summer salad crops.

    Little trick with the finer seeds for the likes of carrots, onions etc. Mix the seeds with river sand prior to sowing in the row, means you can go along with a reasonable expectation of getting the spacing right. That way theres less to thin out, and the thinnings are likely to be larger and can be cropped as salad filler etc.

    Anybody who has carrot fly problems try and find some soot from a chimney, its pretty hard as so few people burn coal, and wood burners dont leave a lot. You spread the soot along the crowns of the carrots, the flies dont like going through it. Seems to work well.

    Interesting hail storm this week, it shredded a few of my broad beans, nothing lethal though, very unseasonal, good new fashioned global warming event methinks. Fortunately the tomato and zuchinni seedlings were still in the “cold frame”, a square of old bricks with a recycled $2 window from the dump shop.

    • r0b 6.1
      16 September 2011 at 4:17 pm

      Little trick with the finer seeds

      Excellent!

    • kākāriki jim 6.2
      16 September 2011 at 4:42 pm

      Any tips for shield bugs? We are inter-planting with marigold and garlic but I’m keen to make sure they don’t get any where my veggie patch this year.

      Little bastards sucked the hell out of my corn last season.

      Looking forward to munching on some miners lettuce in the near future, tastiest salad-green out there I say.

      • Bored 6.2.1
        16 September 2011 at 6:26 pm

        They knocked the hell out of my runner beans a few years back, once established they are a pain. I had no cures, told that sticky yellow fly paper works.

    • AAMC 6.3
      16 September 2011 at 4:42 pm

      My bloody osteopath is trying to insist my extreem gardening activities are knocked on the head in order to save my buggered back, which is thoroughly depressing as it stifles my desire to replant the daytura ( spelling) and ginger infested council land over my fence with Manuka so I can bring some bees into Arch Hill.

      So it’ll have to be vege seed planting instead.

      • r0b 6.3.1
        16 September 2011 at 4:57 pm

        Meet your bloody osteopath half way on this one AAMC. I’ve had enough back problems to know that I don’t want any more!

      • RedLogix 6.3.2
        17 September 2011 at 8:29 am

        Gentlemen both of bad backs…. try some 2-4 hour day walks in the bush. Find a decently rough track… none of your carefully graded and gravelled nonsense.

        The human body evolved walking over uneven ground, twisting, leaning bending and dodging stuff. Nothing repetitive like walking on a pavement.

        • r0b 6.3.2.1
          18 September 2011 at 6:19 pm

          It is certainly true that I’ve been too long from the bush.  Spare weekends this year have had a Chch focus.

    • vto 6.4
      16 September 2011 at 5:54 pm

      Do beetroot seedlings need thinning after they have sprouted through the snow? I seem ti have lots of leaves pushing up skywards…??

      • Bored 6.4.1
        16 September 2011 at 6:24 pm

        Bloody hardy by the sounds of it….best way to thin is to gradually take them out leaving best specimens about a hand apart. Use the thinnings as salad mix (beetroot leaves can be cooked like spinach, no need tothrow it out).

    • Bill 6.5
      16 September 2011 at 6:17 pm

      Now that the feathered serpents have scraped and fertilized….apart from fencing in and clipping their wings… any tried and tested strategies you know of that prevent them from visiting a bare earth policy on any new plantings?

      • Bored 6.5.1
        16 September 2011 at 6:22 pm

        Fence the buggers out or you can let them loose with cetain crops once they are big enough and tough enough to cope. I let them roam in the larger brassicas, greast insect control. Otherwise wire mesh over wire hoops keeps the fabulous pechk monsters at bay.

        • Bill 6.5.1.1
          16 September 2011 at 7:57 pm

          “…let them loose with cetain crops once they are big enough and tough enough to cope.”

          heh – like the 3 – 4 foot high artichokes that the wee b’stards decimated?

          10 layers free to a good home.

          • Bored 6.5.1.1.1
            17 September 2011 at 10:54 am

            Now Bill, what would we do if our darling chickens were absent? No eggs, no compaionship. The buggers peck the brassicas but dont do a lot of damage, outer leaves get ragged but the growth is on the inside. They will totally demolish a silverbeet or spinach given half a chance. Penning the horrors off is the best way.

          • NickS 6.5.1.1.2
            17 September 2011 at 12:24 pm

            If you can chuck in a coop/materials to make one I’ll take two 😛

  7. The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 7
    16 September 2011 at 4:22 pm

    Weekend social 10/9.

    Are we supposed to be saying what we did last weekend?

  8. big bruv 8
    16 September 2011 at 6:48 pm

    Arghhhhh

    Oxalis is back.

    I thought I got rid of the bloody stuff, very little sign of it all winter and now with the first of the Spring growth the retched stuff is back with a vengeance.

    There must be a way of getting rid of the stuff.

    • r0b 8.1
      16 September 2011 at 7:10 pm

      We never did find one in my parents’ garden long ago.   Sorry, no advice, just sympathies – it’s a real curse that stuff.  

    • kriswgtn 8.2
      16 September 2011 at 7:17 pm

      oxalis is a bulb and u need to kill it
      I know that for onion weed a few drops of machine oil onto the bulb (where the leaves meet) will kill them. Maybe this will also work for oxalis – worth a try.

      we had both in wellington and managed to keep it under control

      • Bill 8.2.1
        16 September 2011 at 7:25 pm

        You do know that onion weed is perfectly edible? The link goes to a blog concerning a host of edible plants etc that we tend to over look.

        http://wildpicnic.blogspot.com/search/label/Onionweed

        edit. and so are most forms of oxalis according to PFAF

        http://www.pfaf.org/user/DatabaseSearhResult.aspx

        • R 8.2.1.1
          16 September 2011 at 10:25 pm

          Great link, thanks, Bill. I recall coming across that blog a while ago, it’s great. There are so many cool ways to rethink plants formerly known as weeds. Oxalis is a delicious addition to a leafy salad. I used to eat it as a child and so I was really chuffed to see it legitimised by someone who knows what they’re talking about!

          The flowers add a nice touch of colour to a winter salad, too.

        • NickS 8.2.1.2
          17 September 2011 at 2:02 pm

          Om nom nom.

          Any chance someone could send me some? Because I’d merrily fill up a storage bin with potting mix and grow it.

      • big bruv 8.2.2
        16 September 2011 at 7:36 pm

        Kris

        Nothing short of the Exxon Valdez dumping it’s entire load of crude oil would be enough to kill the amount of Oxalis I have in my Vege garden.

        The tips some of you guys gave me last summer seemed to work a treat, apart from the odd one or two patches I thought I had got rid of it, however two weeks ago I dug the entire garden over and that seems to have had the effect of bringing the little buggers back to life.

        Right now the idea of Concrete is most appealing.

        • kriswgtn 8.2.2.1
          16 September 2011 at 9:26 pm

          Oxalis also has yellow pollen when its above ground
          These carrry spores which settle and the process goes again

          I think your best bet would be to get a square of metal like a grate with fine holes and **filter** all your fdirt in your garden that way u get the bulbs .or you could concrete
          but then you miss out on a garden which adds value and also attracts birds to your space

        • Mac1 8.2.2.2
          16 September 2011 at 10:57 pm

          Big bruv- this link may help.

          http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/life-style/gardening/6667/Natural-ways-to-control-weeds

          I’m not against sprays per se, but there are good ideas on oxalis treatment within this article. I’m pleased to see you back on this non-political post. I’ve been wondering how your garden got on.

          No oxalis in present garden, but that blasted psyllid is in the communal gardens here.

          • Bored 8.2.2.2.1
            17 September 2011 at 10:50 am

            Its a pain in the arse. I have used two strategies: in winter the feathered fiends eat it and scratch and that seems to keep it on the back foot. In spring when it takes off you need to dig it out as much as possible then plant something that out competes it, mulch like crazy….one patch I left yams in. They are an “oxalis” and the oxalis just got swamped.

            • Mac1 8.2.2.2.1.1
              17 September 2011 at 12:30 pm

              I planted two rows of yams last year, red and yellow. My partner in our community garden plot said you will regret having the yams because you will always have them! Better to have yams than oxalis though. And I’m still eating them. I figure that the yams will still be viable if the psyllid destroys the potato gardening.

              I suppose kumara would also compete with the oxalis as would pumpkins and corn etc.

              So live with the oxalis but compete is another idea, as you say, Bored. I did that at a previous home with oxalis by planting an orchard on the old garden site. Trees compete very well! On that patch I also grew two pigs which I moved around the orchard in a movable pen. They ate the oxalis greens and rooted up the corms, ate the big corms but spread the little corms about as well.

              Thinking about Big Bruv’s importing new topsoil. There would be a danger in importing new invasive plants as well?

          • Lanthanide 8.2.2.2.2
            17 September 2011 at 3:36 pm

            That oxalis treatment is interesting, but it essentially says: if you use the system, you’ll never be able to dig your garden again because you’ll distribute the small bulbs around.

            Easier to just dig them out or kill them, I think.

    • Lanthanide 8.3
      16 September 2011 at 10:52 pm

      The *only* way you’re going to get rid of oxalis is to painstakingly take all the bulbs out. I did this some years ago on about 8m^2 on my hands and knees. IIRC it took about 10 hours over two days to do it all. Put down weed mats and bark. We moved out of that house not too long after so I never really saw how effective it was, although 2 1/2 years later it was up for sale again and I went to the open home to have a look – there were a few patches of oxalis here and there but probably only about 10% of what had been there.

      Kris’ suggestion for using some sort of mesh may make this easier if you’ve got a particularly large area.

      You’ll probably need to repeat the process for a good 3-5 years before you can completely eradicate it.

      Alternatively you could just get all your top soil taken away and buy new soil. That’d be pricey though and not particularly environmentally friendly.

      • big bruv 8.3.1
        16 September 2011 at 11:03 pm

        “Alternatively you could just get all your top soil taken away and buy new soil. That’d be pricey though and not particularly environmentally friendly.”

        That would work?

        Bugger the environment, that sounds like the best idea of the lot.

        Cheers, I will make the call tomorrow and get the job done, the idea of picking every bulb out of the garden is enough to put me off growing my own stuff (which I really enjoyed last year)

        Thanks.

        • NickS 8.3.1.1
          17 September 2011 at 12:27 pm

          Of you could always DIY heat sterilise the soil, as heating it above 60 degree C should kill off any bulbs and seeds.

          • Lanthanide 8.3.1.1.1
            17 September 2011 at 12:50 pm

            You’d probably need to hold it at that temperature for a good 20-30 minutes. Heating up a few cubic metres of soil to that heat for that long is going to be very difficult, or very very time consuming if you choose to do it on small batches on a barbecue or similar.

            • NickS 8.3.1.1.1.1
              17 September 2011 at 1:11 pm

              Relatively easy actually, all you need to do is cover the stuff your burning with soil to contain the heat, and it’d take only 10 minutes of heat, enough to penetrate the top 10cm of soil to cause sufficient damage to any living material 😛

              Basically about the only fun parts would be sectioning the garden and acquiring enough material (cabbage tree leaves, old flax, hay + a little petrol to start it) to treat the whole garden.

              • Lanthanide …
                17 September 2011 at 3:33 pm

                Ahh yes, there I go thinking of high tech solutions with electronic elements or metal trays or some-such.

                I guess I don’t consider yard waste burning because it’s banned in CHCH for the majority of the year.

    • the pink postman 8.4
      19 September 2011 at 4:02 pm

      never go past it .If you think “I will pick that out later you have lost,Im sure the bloody stuff can mind read. So persevere take it out as soon as you see it.Use round up .Dont leave collected bulbs around burn them.You will never eliminate it completely but you can manage it.

  9. rosy 9
    16 September 2011 at 7:41 pm

    I’m getting ready for a couple of very much loved family members arriving for a visit… yay!
    And reading Graham Greene novels (or ‘entertainments’ as he called the less serious ones)- something I never got around to before.

  10. mickysavage 10
    16 September 2011 at 8:21 pm

    So anyone watching the rugby?

  11. big bruv 11
    16 September 2011 at 10:17 pm

    Oh come on Micky, nobody is better than Mex and Nisbo.

  12. Descendant Of Smith 12
    16 September 2011 at 11:50 pm

    Son has run out of plum sauce so I’ll make some more up and send him a first aid parcel.

    I keep 6 kg bags of plums in the freezer specially for this purpose.

    Other than that it watching rugby – and the Warriors just had a really good win.

  13. ak 13
    17 September 2011 at 1:31 am

    Yes, would highly recommend the Warriors game for underdog supporters and also a moveable chook pen for oxalis: fork the soil lightly first and the girls’ll get every last bulb.

  14. vto 14
    17 September 2011 at 9:18 am

    There doesn’t seem to be anything on this weekend

  15. Brett Dale 15
    17 September 2011 at 11:49 am

    How about them Warriors?

  16. big bruv 16
    17 September 2011 at 12:00 pm

    Ah yes, the Warriors.

    The only useful purpose the warriors serve is to gather the entire auckland criminal fraternity in one place on game day.

    At least the poor cops get a 80 minute respite every couple of weeks when the Warriors have a home game, it is a well know fact that the crime rate drops dramatically when they play.

  17. big bruv 17
    17 September 2011 at 11:05 pm

    Who was it that said Robbie Deans was a good coach? 🙂

  18. Bob 18
    18 September 2011 at 8:46 am

    Working bee today making up stoat trap boxes , these will be added to the ones we already have out .
    In four years trapping we have caught more than 800 stoats / weasels and nearly 2500 rats plus the odd hedgehog , rabbit , cat . All volanteer input .