Broccoli head from Spain priced 20p in supermarket.

[annedonnelly]

She has covered her driveway in fake grass!!
COP26 ... did it really happen?

Don't start me on plastic grass!!! Saw a bloke combing his the other day. With a rake about the size of an ice scraper for the car. How long was that going to take him!??

Would it really be more work to have a patch of real grass with a few daisies and dandelions? And maybe something crazy like bees or butterflies!

 

[mudsticks]

We have slow worms here, mind, both my cats wouldn't be seen dead with one in their mouth
With a toad, on the other hand ...
Gardening news: my French Beans are finally sprouting, my peas are not nearly as big as yours @mudsticks Some perennial I planted last year (forgot the name) had multiplied like crazy, hopefully the flowers are nice so I can swap the off springs for something else.
My indoor tomatoes really need in the ground, but I must put up their shelter first (a basic plastic structure) because at night it's still quite cold, around 4/5C.
I have been shovelling and spreading my free woodchips since Friday, this must be the 4th lorryload I have shifted myself since summer 2020
The kids don't want me to shift them because they like to play on them, while some adults have complained.
My loading bay is accessed from a field, it's to boggy now for a lorry, so I got them unloaded in an empty green, where usually people dump furniture.
Nobody ever complained about the furniture left there for months on end!
I put a Facebook post out for everyone to help themselves to the chips, told neighbours.
Today a woman said no thanks, too messy.
She has covered her driveway in fake grass!!
COP26 ... did it really happen?

Good to hear about the slow worms, aren't they handsome .. And helpful 👍🏼

My French beans are about a week too big really as we still have potential frosts here, up to and including the first week of May.
They're going to have to have 'double covers' outside if it gets too cold.

Well I guess not everyone sees the same 'beauty' or utility in a pile of steaming woodchip as you or I might..

Having been in the 'environmental' game for a long long time now I've realised there's not really much point getting frustrated at other peoples indifference, or even hostility..

You get little breakthroughs now and then, and the 'conversation' around it all is far more informed , and in the mainstream than it ever used to be.

I was impressed at how friendly and accepting the good folk of Glasgow generally were, when us eco-freaks 'invaded' for 2 weeks last November.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Would it really be more work to have a patch of real grass with a few daisies and dandelions? And maybe something crazy like bees or butterflies!

The woman said fake was much tidier
Then again, the chair of my gardening group tried to grow strawberries on fake grass
I have discovered there's gardeners that only want pretty flowers in pretty pots with the minimum of effort, then there's the likes of me, that want big cabbages fed with horse manure

Well I guess not everyone sees the same 'beauty' or utility in a pile of steaming woodchip as you or I might..

Aye, but I live in a housing scheme where rubbish piled up for months is not unusual, wanna compare with woodchips?
Anyhow, as I said, the kids are loving playing in the woodchips.
Watch this space as I get another load delivered in the same place, to build a play area around a few pallets, hehe.
At the moment, all those kids have is an old car tyre hanging from a tree.
Once I asked the local councillor why there are no playparks in the scheme, he said people object
Guerrilla playpark? 😄

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Evening!
Today's garden news:
I gave next door's roses grower free access of my bulk bag of horse manure, he was delighted.
I made another big dent in the woodchip pile, another member of my gardening group needs them, but he's away on holiday. Just as well I'm back at work tomorrow, or he won't find any left
I planted a heap of calendulas in a broken wheelbarrow left behind by construction workers, I gave a good dressing of horse manure to blueberries, strawberries and fruit trees.
Best of all, free, organic, no carbon footprint, purple sprouting broccoli for my lunch!
I need to improve the farmhand working conditions: never had my lunch till 4pm, my back is sore from all the shovelling, the cart supplied is clearly a hazard as a wheel is missing

 

[mudsticks]

Evening!
Today's garden news:
I gave next door's roses grower free access of my bulk bag of horse manure, he was delighted.
I made another big dent in the woodchip pile, another member of my gardening group needs them, but he's away on holiday. Just as well I'm back at work tomorrow, or he won't find any left
I planted a heap of calendulas in a broken wheelbarrow left behind by construction workers, I gave a good dressing of horse manure to blueberries, strawberries and fruit trees.
Best of all, free, organic, no carbon footprint, purple sprouting broccoli for my lunch!
I need to improve the farmhand working conditions: never had my lunch till 4pm, my back is sore from all the shovelling, the cart supplied is clearly a hazard as a wheel is missing

Today's farm news ..
So far.
Planted put 4th sowing of lettuce and agretti..

600 plants approx.

final bed prep for spring sowings of yellow and red beets, cultivate and spread compost. .

Potting on the chilli's..Only about 60 or so plants total, as there's only so much tunnel space..

About to get the flail mower on the tractor so I can mash up the PSB* - sorry bees as it's flowering nicely, but I need that ground..

*I think ours finishes earlier on account of the warmer temps here..
Kale florets are a nice substitute for psb though .

Could do with a bit more rain..

Edited to add .

Mind yr back @Pat -
In my 'other job' I see a lot of cricked spines from overdoing it in the spring .

I've half a mind to send the boy over to help..
He at least knows one end of a shovel from t'other . 😇

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Kale florets are a nice substitute for psb though .

Aye, I've got a few on the go. Must hurry to net them before the cabbage moth arrives, usually in June here, but I already have found a caterpillar.
Here it has been warm(her) too, trouble with Scotland is today can be sunny, 15C, tomorrow heil stones.
What's a plant got to do??

In my 'other job' I see a lot of cricked spines from overdoing it in the spring .

All good, since 2020 this must be the 4th or 5th lorryload of woodchips I have shifted.
Must keep up with the weightbearing exercises, at my age, you know
Today I've put my seed potatoes in the ground, well in 2 containers plus some in the ground.
I've also transplanted some aquilegia, I didn't read the instructions, now I realize they won't flower till next year
This last couple of days I have learned:
leek is easier direct sown, instead of in modules
iceberg lettuce can be planted outside, can stay exposed to Scottish winter weather, then in spring starts to make a beautiful head.
Maybe that's why it's called iceberg, must originate from some cold mountain.
Wee flower shoots like pansy or aquilegia dry out if put under a plastic cloche and you forget to water them, even in Scotland

 

[T4tomo]

Potting on the chilli's..

so what do chillis like, sunlight window ledge, being outside, little water, lots of water ? got a couple of plants in pots from FiL and they don't look very happy.

 

[mudsticks]

so what do chillis like, sunlight window ledge, being outside, little water, lots of water ? got a couple of plants in pots from FiL and they don't look very happy.

Don't put them outside til the 3rd week in May at the earliest..Depends where you are , and even then they prefer protection of a cloche.

They like heat and sunlight .
They do well down here in the southwest in a polytunnel , they can manage outside but they won't be so happy, or productive.

If you don't have a greenhouse or conservatory, then give them the sunniest windowsill, keep turning it for maximum sunlight, but bear in mind that the windowsill can get cold against the window, at night behind the curtains , so maybe bring it inside the room at night..until all risk of frost is gone..

Thinking about it, is your fil just trying to keep you busy for some reason ?? 😇

 

[T4tomo]

Don't put them outside til the 3rd week in May at the earliest..Depends where you are , and even then they prefer protection of a cloche.

They like heat and sunlight .
They do well down here in the southwest in a polytunnel , they can manage outside but they won't be so happy, or productive.

If you don't have a greenhouse or conservatory, then give them the sunniest windowsill, keep turning it for maximum sunlight, but bear in mind that the windowsill can get cold against the window, at night behind the curtains , so maybe bring it inside the room at night..until all risk of frost is gone..

Thinking about it, is your fil just trying to keep you busy for some reason ?? 😇

right, so maybe the kitchen window sill isn't sunny enough, I shall relocate them. He moves in mysterious ways, so maybe?

 

[simongt]

Saw a bloke combing his the other day. With a rake about the size of an ice scraper for the car. How long was that going to take him!??

On a similar vein, as jankers punishment, my German teacher at school was tasked wiith cutting the CO's lawn with a pair of scissors when he was doing National Service - !

 

[gbb]

Today's farm news ..
So far.
Planted put 4th sowing of lettuce and agretti..

600 plants approx.

final bed prep for spring sowings of yellow and red beets, cultivate and spread compost. .

Potting on the chilli's..Only about 60 or so plants total, as there's only so much tunnel space..

About to get the flail mower on the tractor so I can mash up the PSB* - sorry bees as it's flowering nicely, but I need that ground..

*I think ours finishes earlier on account of the warmer temps here..
Kale florets are a nice substitute for psb though .

Could do with a bit more rain..

Edited to add .

Mind yr back @Pat -
In my 'other job' I see a lot of cricked spines from overdoing it in the spring .

I've half a mind to send the boy over to help..
He at least knows one end of a shovel from t'other . 😇

Making my back ache just reading that

 

[mudsticks]

Making my back ache just reading that

It's mostly been all about the tall brassicas this back end of the week.

Hundreds of sprouts, psb, and kalettes gone in and lots of preliminary cultivations.

If it wasn't for the yoga I'd have been broken in two years ago..

Soon it will be time for planting out - in the polytunnel - all the aubergines peppers basil and toms 😋

Then 800 or so squash plants outside, celeriac, flat parsley.. red cabbage...

But first a couple of days off* out and about walking and camping coast and country with my bf..
I try not to work 7 days a week, even at the busy times - not good for anyone.


*self diagnosed inability to sit still for more than half a day at a time...

 

[Reynard]

I've just had lunch, and you're making me hungry again...

 

[simongt]

With fruit & veg, I stick to my local greengrocer, who being a two person outfit; him and his GLW, they source mostly locally / British and also can pick and choose who they buy from and what they buy.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

@simongt we don't have green grocers in my area, neither in nearby areas or in the city.
There is an (mostly Asian food shopping) area that has lots of green grocers, but they source their fresh produce from the main veg market.
I'm not sure where those veg come from originally, as the shops sell them from crates, no country of origin visible.
Tesco today: 69p punnet of white grapes ... from India.
September/October is the grape season on the continent, but Portuguese red grapes are already in Tesco, at double the price of the Indian ones.
More carbon footprint, cheaper grapes