Weeding the Web

Presents for gardeners: jigsaws from Wentworth

Long, gloomy afternoons; rain battering the windows. Going by the recent weather, that could well be what we're in for this winter. Not much to be done but batten down the hatches and...what?

Well, in this house it never feels right without a new jigsaw at Christmas - something to be mulled over at intervals in front of the fire (preferably with some mulled wine). The last one I completed was Gibsons' 500-piece of The Garden Shed which was good fun because there were lots of garden tools to look out for.

You can't, though, beat the feel of a wooden puzzle and I was reminded of this when Wentworth sent me a small sample recently. The pieces, made of 3mm board, are beautifully tactile.  Their picture puzzles also include whimsies - special shapes cut into the design, usually relevant to the picture.

Of course, they tend to be a bit more expensive than cardboard versions, but they're keepers, and they have several pictures that will appeal to gardeners, including the fun You remember that tiny shoot...? and the rather charming Gardener's Cottage (pictured).

Spam, spam, spam

I picture thousands of owl-eyed desperadoes, closeted in bedrooms, faces lit by the sickly glow of the screen in front of them. I may be right. Certainly the sudden intense rise in spam comments to this blog implies an awful lot of eye-strain and bent backs out there somewhere.

In fact, in the interest of research, I went looking. One site, called ODesk, had this advert:

Here's another from Elance:

Commenting Service: write 100 positive comments (with backlinks if possible) where our English website is mentioned (forum,blog,social networks,website comparison) with different accounts.

Hundreds of commenting jobs are out there.

If you're a blogger, you've almost definitely acted faster than I have. This week, after some time spent naively attempting to cut spam by blocking certain words (I realise that problems I've had posting comments on other people's blogs is probably because my mine has "web" in the title) I gave in and began to screen comments before posting them.

Wouldn't you think this would put them off? Did it work for you? I got just as many comments, and no less work in deleting them from the blog and email notifications in my inbox.

So I gave in and changed my settings to demand that anyone commenting must sign in. I don't like this because I've had problems signing in to blogs and have, at times, had to give up, but I must admit it seems to be working. Like magic, comments praising my "awesome" blog have melted away. Ditto queries about my blog platform (huh?).

Will they creep back? Have you found that they do?  I'd love to know how everyone else is getting on with this problem.

In the meantime, if you do have trouble leaving a comment, please email or tweet me and I'll have another think.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: Kalanchoe

With the rain bedraggling everything in the garden, and the begonias finally cut down by frost, the perkiest floral presence is the kalanchoe on the windowsill. This is my type of houseplant - very forgiving, lots of flowers.

 More of this month's Garden Bloggers' Blooms can be found at May Dreams Gardens.

Presents for gardeners: music you can dig

Here's something that I really hope someone's going to buy me for Christmas. If they don't, I'm just going to have to get it myself.

Jo Stephenson and Dan Woods not only know a fair amount about growing things, but have applied their musical talents to composing on matters that will be very familiar to gardeners.

Can You Dig It? is bursting with songs such as Derrick the Evil Pigeon and Gardener vs Slug, but my very favourite has to be Love Song to Alan Titchmarsh, and if you fancy a giggle I recommend you pop over to their website for a listen.

You can also buy the CD there. I think it's just the perfect Christmas present for a gardener.