Da für heute Nacht Frost vorhergesagt ist, ernte ich Dahlien, solange ich etwas Zeit habe. Dies ist ein riesiger gelber Teller namens Kelvin’s Floodlight. Sie sind riesig, deshalb verwende ich Bambusstöcke, um sie zu stützen.
Was ist also die warnende Geschichte? Vor vielen Jahren pflanzte meine Mutter auf unserer Terrasse im Süden Londons wunderschöne Geranien. Eines Nachts war sie draußen und es war Frost vorhergesagt, also bat sie mich, sie hineinzubringen. Während ich das tat, bückte ich mich und spürte einen scharfen Stich in mein rechtes Auge. Es war einer von Mutters zerbrochenen Bambusstöcken, sie benutzte nicht die Gummikappen an den Enden. Darüber habe ich nicht mehr nachgedacht… bis ich am nächsten Tag mein Auge wegen der Schmerzen und der Schwellung nicht mehr öffnen konnte. Wir gingen ins Krankenhaus, wo glücklicherweise (und zum Glück war es Samstag) ein Augenchirurg verfügbar war. Ich wurde am rechten Auge operiert, um jede Menge Bambussplitter zu entfernen und zu versuchen, den Schaden zu reparieren. Ich hatte einen riesigen Ballen über dem Auge und musste ungefähr von Ende Oktober bis Anfang März eine dunkle Brille tragen, weil er so langsam heilte und sich entzündete. Wenn Sie Bambusstöcke verwenden, verwenden Sie immer die Gummikappe!
Von: FenianBastard847
19 Comments
Caught myself in the collarbone in a very similar way a few weeks back. Felt like I’d been impaled.
Managed to get caught on the forehead the other day by one supporting my chillis, I doubt I’ll have learnt my lesson though and will do the same next year
I feel your pain! I did that a few times myself. I put all kinds on the ends of my canes, tennis balls, empty drink can, pop bottle, whatever is to hand.
I had a close call a few years ago but it missed my eye and cap all mine now, glad your eye was ok!
I can tell a similar tale, mine involved the intake of an injudicious amount of alcohol and an attractive dark-haired lady. If I had only used the rubber cap!
I did exactly this. Bent over and jabbed a bamboo in my eye. Wife made me a cup of tea while I sat down to recover from the shock. Raised the cup to my lips and jabbed myself in my other eye with a pencil I was holding at the time.
Gave up after that
I haven’t lifted my dahlias for years and they always come back.
Other things to bear in mind when ‘midnight gardening’. I often try to get jobs done out on the veg garden after work and during the summer that’s fine. However, it’s dark now so all those “I’ll do it later” little jobs I should have done: Get a decent head torch, get some marker lights, tidy up any brash or loose stuff… Over the years I have: trodden on a lump of wood with a nail sticking out straight through the sole of my wellly boot – fortunately it missed my foot, snagged my back on screws sticking out of frames, chicken wire in the face, bramble thorns in my scalp, classic rake in the nuts after treading on one, tripped over hoses, broken greenhouse panels by leaving them in the wrong place… They say gardening is good for you… Edit: got shut in the shed once because something lodged behind the door and I couldn’t open it. Nobody else around so I had to boot a hole in a weak spot in the wall to get out.
Yeah I always use the caps. The bamboo is lethal push into the ground
How horrible! Thank you for the reminder – will cap ours from now on!
The current advice now is,not to lift your Dahlia tubers until the tops are exposed to a frost.When you think about it-a light ground-or air frost will do zero damage to your tubers-they are in the ground which is much warmer than above ground.
In fact,unless the Winter is particularly harsh with weeks of frost-technically they can stay in all Winter.Its the sodden ground and occasionally hungry mice that will damage them.
I have a huge collection of old tennis balls just for this reason. I never use a bamboo cane without putting a tennis ball on top.
I just put a plant pot upside down on each cane.
*Learned from the experience of poking myself in the eye also
I have used empty garden snail shells as cane toppers and, as a litterpicker, I repurposed 3 hiking pole rubber tips for this.
I was always told that eye injury is the most common problem for gardeners. Be careful
Yoghurt pots, so you don’t hurt your yog.
Spice jars on the top.
Wtf sort of username is that?
First time in my life I’ve ever heard of a rubber cap for bamboo canes.
I guess it’s a good idea though