God I love growing our own

[jenkinsbrynmair]

looks like you had a rat making itself at home in there as well

 

[pargyle]

looks like you had a rat making itself at home in there as well

Yes ... I've got one in my compost heap.. they love burrowing into the base - I'm hoping that the fox will dig it out eventually - since the fox took up residence I don't see so many rats.

 

[JamezF]

looks like you had a rat making itself at home in there as well

Not sure if it might have been a rat or some other rodent. I threw an inedible carrot onto the bay we've been filling over the winter and it "moved" onto the top of this heap overnight which probably was a rat, but the nibbles taken out of it are very small for a rat. If whatever it happened to be was still there yesterday morning, it's homeless now anyhow.

James

 

[JamezF]

Been out in the garden almost all of today. It's been a beautiful day. Unfortunately after the amount of rain we had late yesterday and overnight the veg plot is barely possible to stand up in.

This morning I planted out all but the alpine strawberries. Just as well I'd got my act together too as their roots were starting to come out of the bottom of the pots. This afternoon I spent in the greenhouse sowing (mostly) lettuce and peas, covered the strawberries with fleece to help keep temperature up around them and to hide them from marauding deer before picking some PSB to have with dinner.

Because I still have last year's pepper plants, the greenhouse is near capacity already and there's plenty more sowing to happen throughout March. I'm going to need a plan

James

 

[philat98]

you forget cheese and port

Is that a carnivore diet?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

it is if eaten after a decent steak

 

[Mabee]

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

I tried these last year but I gave up when the local cats (including mine) thought it was a nice new toilet. Then the dandelions took over enforce and didn’t want to remove
them as the bees were on them.
So this year, I have made this hugelkultur bed instead (i’ve currently got some protection on top from the cats, in case they think it’s an upgrade). Used old coffee sacks which I had loads of for smoker fuel instead of cardboard. Hopefully it’ll grow things and not just create another mouse and slug habitat!

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

looks like you had a rat making itself at home in there as well

Found that I wasn't alone in the bathroom this morning - but this mouse was very nimble and I failed to get a hold of it. Suddenly it was gone. In a small room with tiled walls and floors for heavens sake! An hour later, I felt something move in my trousers. I gingerly went to a private corner at the bottom of the garden and lowered my trousers. There it was, nimble as ever, running round my waist, not wanting to relinquish this cosy new home.

We've got three cats. Absolutely rubbish at their job.

 

[JamezF]

I tried these last year but I gave up when the local cats (including mine) thought it was a nice new toilet. Then the dandelions took over enforce and didn’t want to remove
them as the bees were on them.
So this year, I have made this hugelkultur bed instead

I've not seen those before. I've not had any major problems with our cats digging up the no dig beds though. Perhaps they just have enough other places to "play". I did have what I assume was a badger completely trash a path (woodchip on cardboard on grass) however. Looking for worms and grubs when it was very dry in the first half of last year, perhaps.

The coffee sacks might be a bit of a gamble because of the open weave. Whilst it breaks down fairly quickly, cardboard does usually make a solid, light-proof barrier for long enough to kill whatever is underneath it. I know Charles Dowding has had success with wool (or possibly felt?) though so it may well work.

James

 

[JamezF]

Found that I wasn't alone in the bathroom this morning - but this mouse was very nimble and I failed to get a hold of it. Suddenly it was gone. In a small room with tiled walls and floors for heavens sake! An hour later, I felt something move in my trousers. I gingerly went to a private corner at the bottom of the garden and lowered my trousers. There it was, nimble as ever, running round my waist, not wanting to relinquish this cosy new home.

We've got three cats. Absolutely rubbish at their job.

Our cats are really quite good at catching mice. Then bringing them into the house and releasing them. Literally five minutes ago I heard a cat thundering down the corridor upstairs followed by my daughter screeching. One of the cats had caught a mouse and brought it in, taken it upstairs and released it on her bed, which she was in at the time

Fortunately I managed to catch it and put it back outside.

One of our previous cats once brought in a live rat. It managed to climb up the back of the (upright) freezer in our utility room and crawled inside a cardboard tube that had been left on top. Possibly not the best choice from the rat's point of view. There's still a ding on one of the wall cupboards where the air rifle pellet came out the other end I was kind of assuming that a rat body might stop an air rifle pellet. Not at a range of half a metre, apparently.

The most bizarre thing we've ever had brought in however was an entire nest full of pheasant chicks that we found under the kitchen table -- chicks still alive though obviously there wasn't really anything we could do for them. I still have no idea how that got through the cat flap.

Back when I was seven or eight years old my parents' Siamese brought in a grass snake and left its corpse under one of the chairs in the sitting room. That was quite pleasant too.

James

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

I heard a cat thundering down the corridor

Amazing the noise that cats' feet make! We had a litter of five once, and could never quite get used to the racket they could make racing up and down the (carpeted) stairs. This particular litter was unusual because they separately showed traits of the two toms that had been lurking around earlier. Apparently that's a thing: the one litter can be the progeny of multiple fathers.

Our cats have brought some amazing and large gifts through the cat flap but nothing to compare with a nest full of pheasant's chicks, or a grass snake

 

[JamezF]

Anyone seen these before?

It's a plastic container that was inside a packet of seeds that my wife asked me to plant (petunias, as it happens). No indication of why the supplier considered it necessary, nor whether the plastic can be recycled, and there's a pre-printed plastic plant label stuck to the packet.

I'd kind of hope that businesses selling seeds might be a little bit more aware of the problems caused by (particularly single-use) plastic. I'd be more than happy to have the seeds in a waxed paper envelope, which at least do compost. And do without the plant label.

The producer was Johnson's. And that is pretty much what I think of them, too.

James

 

[philat98]

Anyone seen these before?

It's a plastic container that was inside a packet of seeds that my wife asked me to plant (petunias, as it happens). No indication of why the supplier considered it necessary, nor whether the plastic can be recycled, and there's a pre-printed plastic plant label stuck to the packet.

I'd kind of hope that businesses selling seeds might be a little bit more aware of the problems caused by (particularly single-use) plastic. I'd be more than happy to have the seeds in a waxed paper envelope, which at least do compost. And do without the plant label.

The producer was Johnson's. And that is pretty much what I think of them, too.

James

Its a plastic test tube. Probably a gesture to make up for the lack of seeds.

 

[pargyle]

Anyone seen these before?

It's a plastic container that was inside a packet of seeds that my wife asked me to plant (petunias, as it happens). No indication of why the supplier considered it necessary, nor whether the plastic can be recycled, and there's a pre-printed plastic plant label stuck to the packet.

I'd kind of hope that businesses selling seeds might be a little bit more aware of the problems caused by (particularly single-use) plastic. I'd be more than happy to have the seeds in a waxed paper envelope, which at least do compost. And do without the plant label.

The producer was Johnson's. And that is pretty much what I think of them, too.

James

I suspect it's a convenient method of packing very small seeds - easier to inject them into a single use test tube and lid it than mess about with paper, foil or waxed packets. Can't say that I agree with it but I understand the economics of packaging - I assume (or at least would hope) the plastic these tubes are made from is recyclable so won't end up in landfill ... they may even be the size that they could be used for a single dose of OA ? A lot of plastic containers we are forced to accept in our household get repurposed and re-used:

My Shaving gel containers get the guts removed and make handy containers for screws nuts and bolts - tipping the contents out into the lid make them very convenient.

I do the same with my deodorant stick containers - great for small electrical items such as fuses and connectors. The clear tube - my toothpaste containers.

Clear plastic containers become mini-cloches for seedlings.

The plastic drums that Invertbee comes in get recycled as pots to grow things in.

The reflective backing plate of my workshop mini stove ? The stainless steel inside of a dead dishwasher door !

There's a lot you can re-use and re-purpose if the packaging is unavoidable ...

 

[rossbyjove]

Anyone seen these before?

It's a plastic container that was inside a packet of seeds that my wife asked me to plant (petunias, as it happens). No indication of why the supplier considered it necessary, nor whether the plastic can be recycled, and there's a pre-printed plastic plant label stuck to the packet.

I'd kind of hope that businesses selling seeds might be a little bit more aware of the problems caused by (particularly single-use) plastic. I'd be more than happy to have the seeds in a waxed paper envelope, which at least do compost. And do without the plant label.

The producer was Johnson's. And that is pretty much what I think of them, too.

They are actually for putting seeds in.
I buy from 'specialised' suppliers and this is what they mostly turn up in these days.

 

[JamezF]

Think it might be a bit late to be eating these

They've been in the dark in the workshop (which is quite cold most of the time), but clearly have decided that it's time to be growing. It's the last bag though, so I shan't be complaining.

James

 

[JamezF]

"I feel the need, the need to weed"

I'm sure at least some of you recognise the quote from that 1986 classic, "Top Soil". It's still Winter, isn't it? That's what people keep saying. So why oh why oh why have I just had to weed my polytunnel and greenhouse for the second time this year? The second time in seven weeks, in fact. Stuff is growing like mad in there. Even the salad rocket is on the point of flowering in the next few days.

The main veg plot itself still needs a round of weeding finishing off too, but my only inflatable dinghy is too wide to fit between the beds. It's almost a shame we didn't have snow here at the tail end of last week as happened along the western M4. I could have worked from skis instead.

James

 

[pargyle]

Bought my seed potatoes yesterday .. and put my veg seed order in. Cleaned up some of the greenhouse to make way for some seeds to go in .. the chillies that have survived are down to three plants now so composted all the ones where the stems are brown, the three with green stems seem quite healthy and there looks to be embrionic shoots where the leaf nodes were - time will tell.

Like most people are experiencing the ground is saturated - we are on Fareham clay and it does not help. Moved the unfinished compost into the next bin - left me with about half a cubic metre ready to seive and use - last years leaf mould has made about a cubic metre ready for use and once that has emptied out I have three one tonne bags of this years leaves to go in the bin.

It's not a time of the year I like, too early to really get on with things to grow and the garden generally looks really carp ... tidy and clean main jobs. I only have an 8 x 12 unheated greenhouse and no polytunnel so I'm a bit limited by the weather.

 

[enrico]

Our beds are at last starting to be less claggy when it rains due to the amount of compost we have added in the last seven years and all are tidy and ready to go. The greenhouse is full of water cress that needs a good trim back but makes lovely soup. The beetroot are still doing well in the garden and the potatoes have been chitting for a couple of weeks. All in all ready for a bit of sunshine.

 

[JamezF]

More weeding today. Nearly there now, though I swear at some point in the last couple of years someone has moved the ground further away.

I've also been re-potting strawberries. When I planted the bed a few years back there were some spares, so I put them in tubs which have been largely ignored since. I thought I might as well dig out the plants and the runners that have also grown in them and put each in a pot of its own, to be kept in a greenhouse in the hope of an early crop. I've no idea whether it will work, but I'm not going to lose much by giving it a go. There are six tubs and I've done three, which has given me sixteen plants. I may run out of pots before I run out of strawberry plants.

As I tipped the remains of one of the tubs into the compost, out popped a queen hornet. Sadly I only realised what I was looking at after a whole load of soil had fallen on top of her so I don't think she'll make it.

James