Unintelligent Design

• Salsify (Mammoth)
• Beetroot (Moneta)
• Turnips (Market Express)
• Swede (???)
• Runner Beans
• French Beans
• Radishes (???)
• Kohlrabi (Purple Delicacy)
• Wild Rocket
• Perpetual Spinach
• Lettuce (LIttle Gem)

I may be a little bit addicted to The Wire.

Having heard a lot of hype about it over the last few years, but taken the view that 'nah - I don't really watch cop shows', I finally started watching it three or four weeks back.

Just finished season two - which was as good as the first one, and also had the benefit of a Tom Waits theme tune.

I'm trying to work out why I like it so much. It's beautifully plotted, for a start, and it holds up to rewatching. But I think it might just be the fact that characters change - or try (but fail) to change.

Season one, for those who haven't seen it, revolves around an investigation into Baltimore drug lord Avon Barksdale.

The police and the dealers get roughly equal screen time, and on the Barksdale side, the focus is generally on Avon's nephew D'Angelo - great performance, and a good example of a character who slowly changes...

I think that's why it works for me. Season two? That's a different animal, and harder to discuss without spoilers - I think I was more hooked by the police and the plot that time...

(Incidentally, for anyone who's read Garth Ennis's Punisher MAX comics, I think it's fairly likely that one character was inspired by The Greek...)

• English Mace
• Fennel
• Lime Mint
• Lemon Scented Catnip
• Gold Tipped Oregano
• 'Green Ginger' Rosemary
• Orange Scented Thyme
• 'Berries and Cream' Mint
• Ramsons (Wild Garlic)
• Purple Sage
• Sage
• Rock Samphire

• Broad (fava) beans ('The Sutton')
• Radishes ('Jolly' and 'Cherry Belle')
• Garlic ('Solent Wight')
• Spring Onions ('North Holland Blood Red)
• Parsnip ('Tender and True')
• Hamburg Parsley
• Rhubarb ('Champagne')
• Gooseberry ('Hinnomaki Yellow)
• Quince ('Vranja')
• Asparagus ('Mary Washington')

• Kale ('Westland Winter')
• Tomatoes ("Black Krim")
• Strawberries ('Mara De Bois'  and 'Cambridge Late Pine')
• Cucumbers ('Marketmore')
• Jerusalem Artichokes ('Fuseau')

Warren Ellis has posted (on Bad Signal) a note stating that one of the guest cast had Twittered that Dollhouse was being axed after Ep.12 - Ep.13 will be DVD only, not sure about 14+...?

Anyone seen any other mention/confirmation of this?

My attempts at gardening continue...

I haven't actually killed the rhubarb, quince tree or gooseberry bush yet, which is a good start.

They've now been joined by a row of garlic, a row of parsnips, a row of Hamburg parsley and half a row of radishes. Plus an awful lot of strawberry plants in pots...

I'll add some more radishes in a week or two - I'm trying to time them to avoid a glut - and probably put some spring onions next to the garlic.

That leaves, um, a lot - beetroot, turnips and salsify, which can all share a bed. Sprouts, kohlrabi and a couple of kale plants... Which, again, can share a bed.

The fourth bed will be perennials - asparagus, artichokes, cardoons and some horseradish (in an escape-proof box, with tiles buried in the ground to contain it...)

...and that leaves the fifth (raised) bed, against the fence and a little shadier, for the various salad-y things. Mustard greens, mibuna, chicory, lamb's lettuce and the like. There may be rocket at some point...

The handul of other things I'm growing - tomatoes, aubergines and cucumber - will all be in containers.

...and now I just need to worry about what, if anything, I plant later in the year to replace this lot. :)