The Retirement Thread

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Mo1959

Legendary Member
Morning. Up early as usual. Coffee finished. Should I bimble while it's quiet?
 

Drago

Legendary Member
I have risen!

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Paulus

Started young, and still going.
Location
Barnet,
Did you dig a bean trench? The runner bean plants over on the allotment are giving lots of beans now. I dug a bean trench earlier in the year, lined it with newspapers, then threw in all manner of stuff like potato and carrot peelings, rotting or composting vegetation. When that was done, it got levelled off with earth and left for a good number of weeks. The beans were planted over the trench and the roots grow into these nutrients. It seems to have made quite a difference.
I didn't dig a trench but plenty of organic material was dug in and fertiliser. So far I have harvested just one bean . There are some others but in general it is a poor show. As I said, plenty of flowers which look good, and the plants look healthy enough. I shall try the trench method nex year. As a thought, the soil is acidic here so maybe it needs lime?
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Yeah, I was out bimbling with Lemmy at 0600 sharp.
 

PaulSB

Squire
I didn't dig a trench but plenty of organic material was dug in and fertiliser. So far I have harvested just one bean . There are some others but in general it is a poor show. As I said, plenty of flowers which look good, and the plants look healthy enough. I shall try the trench method nex year. As a thought, the soil is acidic here so maybe it needs lime?

If you have plenty of flower the issue may well be pollination. This year I have been banging on to anyone who will listen about the huge reduction in the number of flying insects around the garden, allotment and house. I'm thinking of all flying insects and not just bees and wasps. We have only seen butterflies in any number in the last two days. I've had ONE cabbage white on the allotment. I've yet to see a moth this year. It's my belief this is related to pollution, chemical usage, climate change etc. and is a very worrying sign. There are serious scientific reports on this issue not just my observation.

In the case of your beans if there are no pollinating insects around there will be no pollination and therefore no beans. Runner beans are usually pollinated by bees, no bees equals no pollination. I guess other insects will help with pollination but it is the bee you need.

This year our garden and allotment bee population is way down on the average. Last year it was significantly higher because we had a tree bumble bee nest on the allotment. I made a couple of areas potentially attractive to them but none arrived. We have insect friendly plants in the garden and I've dotted bee friendly plants around my allotment. Frankly it's not making much difference.
 

Dave7

Legendary Member
Location
Cheshire
Good morning folkseses.
A nice day :smile:.
Nothing exciting on today.
1. Drop Mrs Ds car off as the aircon
needs sorting out.
2. Off to Costco. Should have gone last
week but never got there.
3. Working in the garden. Lots of
bushes need cutting back.
No ride for me today but will get one in tomorrow for certain.
 
D

Deleted member 1258

Guest
If you have plenty of flower the issue may well be pollination. This year I have been banging on to anyone who will listen about the huge reduction in the number of flying insects around the garden, allotment and house. I'm thinking of all flying insects and not just bees and wasps. We have only seen butterflies in any number in the last two days. I've had ONE cabbage white on the allotment. I've yet to see a moth this year. It's my belief this is related to pollution, chemical usage, climate change etc. and is a very worrying sign. There are serious scientific reports on this issue not just my observation.

In the case of your beans if there are no pollinating insects around there will be no pollination and therefore no beans. Runner beans are usually pollinated by bees, no bees equals no pollination. I guess other insects will help with pollination but it is the bee you need.

This year our garden and allotment bee population is way down on the average. Last year it was significantly higher because we had a tree bumble bee nest on the allotment. I made a couple of areas potentially attractive to them but none arrived. We have insect friendly plants in the garden and I've dotted bee friendly plants around my allotment. Frankly it's not making much difference.

There's been very few insects round my Buddleia or my Lavender this year, in previous years when we've walked up the path insects have flown off the lavender in clouds, but not this year, this year the Budldleia was late and the lavender appears to have finished early.
 

PaulSB

Squire
:hello::hello: awful nights sleep but a beautiful morning to get up to. Came down in the middle of the night to find the dishwasher showing E24 error. Sod it! Switch off, let code clear, switch back on and back to lay in bed again. Came down at 6.00 and the same code is showing after a second cycle. E24 code indicates, blocked filters, drain pump etc. certainly a lot of water in there. So bail out dishwasher, clean everything I can find easily. I've just run a rinse only cycle which lasts 15 minutes, this has drained perfectly without an E24 error code and no water in machine. Next job is to run a full cycle but that will have to wait till after my ride.

I badly need a ride today to try and clear my head. I thought worry was supposed to stop in retirement?
 
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