God I love growing our own

[Goran]

just don't strike a match anywhere near the tunnels!

Reminds me of..

 

[fian]

definitely doesn't work - had a rat warren slap bang in the middle of a mint bed

is there any other kind!?

To the translator, cider vinegar may be better understood.

 

[Midget Gem]

What are the rats doing? I have them in the greenhouse. The only damage they do is eat tomatoes that are near the ground. I have voles too and they are worse.

Digging massive holes, eating the peppers before they are red or even just taking a few chomps out of them then leaving them on the ground. I live in the countryside so it's impossible to get rid of them. I just don't want them in my greenhouse or my raised beds where they have eaten everything in sight.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Digging massive holes, eating the peppers before they are red or even just taking a few chomps out of them then leaving them on the ground. I live in the countryside so it's impossible to get rid of them. I just don't want them in my greenhouse or my raised beds where they have eaten everything in sight.

the first step in reducing the rats is habitat - removing anything that can attract them, a general tidy up/ removing their hidey holes and then removing food sources as much as possible

 

[JamezF]

After days of rain I got a bit more done on my new beds today, until I ran out of cardboard. No problem though, I realised later that I can probably use half a dozen sheets of newspaper from my in-laws as a substitute to finish things off. I'll be the Daily Heil or Express so hardly top-quality, but burying them under a load of rotting waste at least means they've served some useful purpose, and it's no more than they deserve.

James

 

[philat98]

After days of rain I got a bit more done on my new beds today, until I ran out of cardboard. No problem though, I realised later that I can probably use half a dozen sheets of newspaper from my in-laws as a substitute to finish things off. I'll be the Daily Heil or Express so hardly top-quality, but burying them under a load of rotting waste at least means they've served some useful purpose, and it's no more than they deserve.

James

Charles Dowding is demonstrating similar work in his latest video on spring planting.
He has broad beans in flower that he planted in December. My beans are not flowering yet and I am located more than 1000miles further south.

 

[JamezF]

Charles Dowding is demonstrating similar work in his latest video on spring planting.
He has broad beans in flower that he planted in December. My beans are not flowering yet and I am located more than 1000miles further south.

I've not watched his videos for a month or so. I must catch up. He does say that planting broad beans late in the year can be a bit of a gamble for him, but it's been a very mild Winter so they have presumably survived well. I sowed quite a few late in 2022 and they were all killed by frost

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I'll be the Daily Heil

I wouldn't even use that for compost, I remember my grandfather telling me they used it for toilet paper and my grandmother caught a really bad dose of bigotry which took years to clear up

 

[JamezF]

I wouldn't even use that for compost, I remember my grandfather telling me they used it for toilet paper and my grandmother caught a really bad dose of bigotry which took years to clear up

Well, yes, but there's only so much we can use to light the woodburners, and if I put it out with the recycling the neighbours might see it.

If I mix it in with the food compost do you reckon I'll get really right wing rats?

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If I mix it in with the food compost do you reckon I'll get really right wing rats?

are there any other kind of right winger?

 

[philat98]

I've not watched his videos for a month or so. I must catch up. He does say that planting broad beans late in the year can be a bit of a gamble for him, but it's been a very mild Winter so they have presumably survived well. I sowed quite a few late in 2022 and they were all killed by frost

James

He grows some interesting salad crops in his cold greenhouses. I hadn't noticed those different mustard varieties before. I am going to try those if I can buy the seeds.

 

[JamezF]

He grows some interesting salad crops in his cold greenhouses. I hadn't noticed those different mustard varieties before. I am going to try those if I can buy the seeds.

I grow some of them, especially over the Winter when they tend to do bettter than lettuces. I think the ones I grow are called Golden Streaks, Red Frills (both of which were relatively easy to get hold of) and Pizzo (not hard, but more difficult to find). Pizzo gets very hot as the leaves get larger and the plant gets older.

I also grow leaf radish in the Winter as well as Land Cress, Chervil and Corn Salad. They all do pretty well in the greenhouse and the ones in the polytunnel pick up in late January to keep things going until Spring. We've had several years when we've not had to buy any salad leaves through the Winter despite eating a salad a couple of times a week or more. Unfortunately our weather has become so unpredictable that sowing times are a complete gamble. Two years ago I sowed at the start of September and the timing was perfect. Last year I sowed at the start of September and many of the plants hadn't put on enough growth before the days got short to survive the winter and produce leaves to harvest. I think the plan has to be to sow every two or three weeks from the start of August until the end of October (in the south of the UK) and accept that there will be wastage.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

He grows some interesting salad crops

Salad? what's all that about then? some kind of fabric conditioner?

 

[JamezF]

Salad? what's all that about then? some kind of fabric conditioner?

For clarity, @philat98 , JBM doesn't believe there are more than two food groups: meat and whisky.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

For clarity, @philat98 , JBM doesn't believe there are more than two food groups: meat and whisky.

James

you forget cheese and port

 

[JamezF]

you forget cheese and port

If I've had sufficient whisky I often forget the cheese and port.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If I've had sufficient whisky I often forget the cheese and port.

James

I'm on a diet at the moment so tonight I just stuck to the Talisker washed down with a nice LBV (not usually my thing, but it was a gift) Quinta De La Rosa before I had my mutton curry

 

[JamezF]

A mutton curry sounds good. Lamb is often my preferred choice of commercially-produced curries when we (rarely) have them, so mutton must surely be worth a try. I'm not sure that even our (very good) local butcher sells it however.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

A mutton curry sounds good. Lamb is often my preferred choice of commercially-produced curries when we (rarely) have them, so mutton must surely be worth a try. I'm not sure that even our (very good) local butcher sells it however.

James

doesn't often show up on butchers' boards nowadays but when a restaurant or takeaway advertises a dish as 'meat curry' tou can bet your life it's either mutton or goat - either will do me! When I was in Lesotho and had to spend a few days in the capital with the other NGO's (we used to stay in Prince Harry's bungalow courtesy of Sentebale) there was a curry house five minutes walk away next door to the 'Basotho Hat' arts centre. I don't think they knew what 'lamb' was as a cooking ingredient but their 'sheep curries' were superb

 

[JamezF]

(Yet more) heavy rain was forecast for this afternoon, so having secured the supply of a pile of cardboard from a local builder I cracked on with making my new beds.

I intended to mix my (brown) compost with the (black) green waste compost, but life didn't work out that way so I just tipped mine on top and raked it level. This is at the halfway stage, when it was still dry. I was two wheelbarrows (of compost) short of finishing the last bed when it started raining properly. That close to being done I just had to push on to the end, by which time it was lashing down.

It does however mean that tomorrow I can get this lot planted out before they escape from the pots:

Not sure they're all in the photo, but there are a dozen each of early, mid-season and late varieties, plus some alpine strawberries (at the back left) that were grown from saved seed.

Shovelling the green waste compost was hard work. It's out the open so is very wet now. It was just sticking to the shovel. I was very surprised however to find that my own compost, despite sitting under cover for as much as a year since I started filling that bay, was still quite moist. My back and arms have seized up quite nicely this evening.

James