Presents galore

I went to a car boot sale today determined to come back with a spade to replace the one I broke with my own brute strength the other day.

Mission accomplished. Or rather it was Susan who was successful in buying one as a present for my birthday tomorrow. Not gift wrapped, because it was suspected I would guess, but presented to me on the spot. And a very fine Brades Skelton spade it is. The man who sold it to her said it was a good one - he could hardly say anything else, but I can certainly appreciate its qualities. Let's hope it survives the masculine strength that is me.

There was more from Susan at the car boot sale in the shape of rhubarb, tomato, pepper and runner bean seedlings. I was especially pleased to get the rhubarb as I think I have given up on the rhubarb I planted last year. Still hasn't appeared above the soil. Let's hope the new one does better when I eventually transplant it.

My friend Jan, who also visited the boot sale, presented me with a herb cutter. I had been very jealous of the one she had in her kitchen last time I visited. I notice now the one she has given me is called a mincing knife. I'm grateful, all the same.

The potato planter turns out to be...a potato planter

In a previous posting, I speculated on whether the potato planter tool had another name or not. I did a quick search on Google and failed to find an alternative.

My mate Steve, who sent me his photograph of one, says he's never heard it called anything other than a potato planter. I think he should know as he is an expert in his field (not to mention his allotment).

Yet my wife Susan still insists there is another name. She used to work in the Museum of Lincolnshire Life, where they had thousands of agricultural implements in stock, and believes she came across it there. Perhaps the name they used was peculiar to Lincolnshire. 

Eh! It's getting a bit like the hunt for the yeti or bigfoot. The truth is out there somewhere...

In the meantime, I have discovered the herb cutter, a handy device for the kitchen. I tried one in my friend Jan's kitchen the other day to chop her herbs as she was preparing a meal and it was brilliant. My problem as a left-hander is that I find a lot of implements and such like, including scissors, are set up for right-handed people and I can't handle them properly. (That's my excuse anyway, and I'm sticking to it). The herb cutter wasn't like that - even I got it to work.

Susan says I have had a very sheltered life never to have heard of a herb cutter.