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jansman wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 8:31 pm Use the compost to grow NON Solanacea crops. Beans or greens are far more ‘survival friendly’ , beans especially. Blight will not affect them. If you are using commercial compost, remember to add fertiliser.

I'm itching to hit the ground running in the new year. So all suggestions welcome for easy grow, High value crops. I'm told courgettes are easy, so they are on my list. Probably turnips too as they are expensive. Beetroot, for sure and onions. And herbs. Lots of herbs. Peas/mange tout?

And yayyyyyyy. Two of my late sown garlic bulbs have just burst through the soil.

Could be an expensive year as I'm itching to get a greenhouse or some cloches.

jennyjj01 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 8:55 pm

jansman wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 8:31 pm Use the compost to grow NON Solanacea crops. Beans or greens are far more ‘survival friendly’ , beans especially. Blight will not affect them. If you are using commercial compost, remember to add fertiliser.

I'm itching to hit the ground running in the new year. So all suggestions welcome for easy grow, High value crops. I'm told courgettes are easy, so they are on my list. Probably turnips too as they are expensive. Beetroot, for sure and onions. And herbs. Lots of herbs. Peas/mange tout?

And yayyyyyyy. Two of my late sown garlic bulbs have just burst through the soil.

Could be an expensive year as I'm itching to get a greenhouse or some cloches.

I've turned about 1/4 of my plot over to soft fruits .. black/ red/ / white currant bushes... Lots of strawberries and put 10 raspberry canes in this spring .. when you see the price of a punnet it makes money saving sense we pulled at least 5lb of strawberries if not more .. some got turned into jam, others got traded for some pullets and some simply given away to friends

jennyjj01 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 8:55 pm

jansman wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 8:31 pm Use the compost to grow NON Solanacea crops. Beans or greens are far more ‘survival friendly’ , beans especially. Blight will not affect them. If you are using commercial compost, remember to add fertiliser.

I'm itching to hit the ground running in the new year. So all suggestions welcome for easy grow, High value crops. I'm told courgettes are easy, so they are on my list. Probably turnips too as they are expensive. Beetroot, for sure and onions. And herbs. Lots of herbs. Peas/mange tout?

And yayyyyyyy. Two of my late sown garlic bulbs have just burst through the soil.

Could be an expensive year as I'm itching to get a greenhouse or some cloches.

Golden rule of food- gardening: Grow what you LIKE to eat. Tell the gardeners here,and we will help you.

jennyjj01 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 8:55 pm
Could be an expensive year as I'm itching to get a greenhouse or some cloches.

We bought a wooden greenhouse in January, by summer the price had risen by over £200. If you can afford to do it, buy it sooner rather than later.

Medusa wrote: ↑Fri Sep 10, 2021 10:22 pm

jennyjj01 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 8:55 pm
Could be an expensive year as I'm itching to get a greenhouse or some cloches.

We bought a wooden greenhouse in January, by summer the price had risen by over £200. If you can afford to do it, buy it sooner rather than later.

Timber is going silly.... Due to it been warm last winter and the tundra thawing earlier than usual = shortage as they couldn't get the logging machines into the area / get cut trees out due to the early thaw

Hopefully once the cold weather sets in the supply will increase as long as the ships don't get frozen in the harbours


I work in the timber trade (as you have probably guessed ) usually by now we are slacking off work wise it's blooming mental we can't process stuff fast enough...

Even down to the by-products (dust and shavings) winter stocks already going rapidly the brexit issues with import duty / vat has bums squeaking even with the half Decent harvest and straw yield the livestock / equine industry appears to be stockings up whilst they can

I'm doing some culinary preps today. I've oven dried some tired tomatoes and sweet red peppers from the supermarket. I have bread dough rising - that will become rolls which will go in the freezer. I'm making a list of good packed lunch foods that I can make up over the next week (I WILL make a decent pastry for pasties!!). I'm also going to make a few 'ready meals' over the next few days so I have nice dinners in the freezer. All of this is preparation for the return of students to campus. Now I live further away, getting home later than I'm used to and making my tea isn't a marvellous prospect, especially since if I eat too late I get really bad indigestion. Plus I'm fairly convinced that the second there are more young people about, I'll likely catch covid, so having easy to cook meals ready and waiting will be useful then too!

Had a tidy up of the garden...

Got the chicken coup deep cleaned and washed out

My new power bank came to day ..

I say power bank it's a an adaptor to fit my power tools battery packs I've got several so it makes sense to have the ability to utilize them if the lights go out . That and I've got the fast chargers so in a Rolling power cut situation I can recharge them quickly (much faster than most standard power banks which the larger ones even at 2a can take all day the drill batteries take about 45 mins

Not sat down and calculated the power but they are 18v at 4.0ah so should last a good while

They are available for most brands of power tools

https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dcb09 ... ptor/85704

https://www.toolstop.co.uk/makita-adp05 ... hcEALw_wcB

Few more little solar "street lights" arrived today worked out at about £8 each .

Not sure how they'll cope with winter (short days) but at the moment they are coping dusk to dawn...

My plan is through winter my solar flood lights tend to struggle (bloody cats trigger them and they run down to the point they cut out) if I get to the point they go flat I've got the ability to run one set of lights against the other.

Or if I want plenty of light I can put the lot on so the kids can play out after school

On the back of the fire in Kent and the possibility electric supply issues I've ordered a few more solar indoor lights so with what I've got already plus the couple on order I've got solar lighting now for the whole house hooks are already in the room ceilings anyway

Only one I'm short of is the bathroom but the constant steam / damp keeps putting me off installing anything semi permanent. I've got some battery PIR low level lighting that I can put in there if needed so people can find the pot

Saw a toilet light in one of the bargain shops last year red bull's eye target if the seats up and a green glow of the lid was down wish id got one now

Nothing spectacular happening here. Just some weekly fuel rotation as I like to have a tank full(80l) in the shed, I rotate/refresh a 25ltr drum every couple of weeks. Otherwise I’ve started ordering bits required for my ore winter van service and keeping on top of my food stocks.

All standard stuff really