Becoming self sufficient from scratch-my diary

gizmocoe

wildlifeservices wrote: »

You can eat ground elder!! I used to have it in my garden in Scotland.
Martin Wildlife & Countryside Services

Hi Martin
What do you do with the ground elder? Treat it like cabbage?:o

Thanks
Gizmocoe

bevan840

Morning Everyone

Well, I went to ASDA last night, to have a look at what they had. I got a bag of compost for £1, propogator (sp?) for £2. Squirt bottle (£1, also going to be used on kittens when naughty) + Gloves (£1) + small fork and spade set (£1) = £2 Special offer, 3 packs of seeds £4, (Peas, carrots & lettuce) and one of the kiddy's strawberry things (for me to do as I love strawberries and didnt have any seeds) £2. Was that good value do you think?
Hopefully, if the weather stays as it is I'll get the veg & salad planted this weekend Did strawberries last night hehe I'm a bit late sowing them according to the time you should do them so I figured it would be better to do them sooner
Thank you Moozle for starting this thread, it's given me so many idea's my OH keeps looking at me as if I gone crazy hehe Just wait till we get a place with a proper garden, then he'll be correct!! lol

Sazbo

hi bevan - i love my £2 Asda propagator:) And I got the £1 fork and trowel set too. I'm new to all this so nice to try a few things out while I'm still learning, see what suits me, with minimal splashing of cash:) But am deffo going to have a look on freecycle etc, when I have a clearer idea of what my needs are.

While dashing out to work this morning, I noticed that another of my dwarf runner beans (started off in my Asda propagator) has shot up and looks like it needs transferring to a bigger pot!

Have a good day everyone, hope you're enjoying the sun:)

Sazzy x

bevan840

How long did it take before you started seeing them shooting up? The cress I did with my stepkids was up within 2 days! Unfortunately they weren't there to see the start of them but they were very happy when they came over the weekend after and saw how far they'd grown! lol They're dead now though as I think they got a bit overgrown as no-one was eating it, kept some of the seeds though so I might do it again with them

Sazbo

bevan840 wrote: »

How long did it take before you started seeing them shooting up? The cress I did with my stepkids was up within 2 days! Unfortunately they weren't there to see the start of them but they were very happy when they came over the weekend after and saw how far they'd grown! lol They're dead now though as I think they got a bit overgrown as no-one was eating it, kept some of the seeds though so I might do it again with them

I used to love cress, you remind me I really should do some myself:) Well the first dwarf beans I think I planted over the easter weekend - wasn't expecting anything to happen at all lol - but they germinated within a week. Repotted them, coz I read that they have long roots (planting them in empty toilet toll holders is good for this reason, plus then you can just plant out the whole thing without disturbing the roots) and shouldn't be planted out till May, and they are still going great guns:) Would be a fun thing to with kids.

Saz x

bevan840

Well, we go through plenty of toilet rolls!!! lol so I'll stop OH from putting them in the bin. I've given up nagging him to put them in recycling bin, I'm going to start nagging again!!! lol So I can use them for some plants instead

tripod2000

Gigervamp wrote: »

We made his elderflower champagne recipe last year and the ingredients were out. I'll have a look through my notes, because we also made another batch using a mix of hughs recipe and MIL's recipe. Our second batch was good. Very alcoholic! After only 2 glasses I was sloshed!

DON'T whatever you do, use glass bottles. They have a tendency to explode and you don't want flying shards of glass.
We re-used 2 litre coke bottles, and despite letting the gas out everyday, one bottle still exploded, ripping the front off the wooden chest they were stored in. Luckily, being plastic bottles there was no other damage.

Anyway, if I forget to get my notes, give me a prod!

This is what I always feared. A good fizzy drinks bottle should take pressure better than glass. HFW didn't let his elderflower guff finish primary fermentation when it went into bottles. That's a big NO-NO in the brewing world. You let the sugar ferment out until there is no activity. Then add a little bit of sugar (1/2 a teaspoon per pint) to 'prime' or add the fizz when you put it in bottles. That way you don't have too keep taking the fizz out or have bottle bombs. See Jim's Beer Kit forum for a lot of helpful advice!

TheBees

Hi Moozle - I've been following this thread with interest as I'm a beginner in the garden. TheBees have taken the plunge and planted up our bank at the end of the garden with vegetable seeds rather than spending a fortune on shrubs.

DD12 and myself spent last weekend planting up french beans, sweet peas, parsnips, carrots, spring onions, lettuce and broccoli. So far we've just done one row of each and plan to do another row in a week or so.

After a week we're very excited to see some lettuces appearing and one single carrot!

I would love to put some photos on here if someone can tell me how in simple terms!

Moozle_2

Update:
Fenced chicken run in, expecting chics any day now:j
Started job at garden centre, money is coming in very handy and managed to restrain myself from buying as yet.
Got bedding and food for the chics from wages:D
I have lots and lots of dwarf runner beans germinated, but i'm not to sure what to do with them now?


I'm looking forwards to the first bit of home produced produce, hopefully a few eggs in the next couple of weeks.

Hope everyones getting lots done, raining here today but we had a lovely productive weekend.

Sazbo

Hi Moozle, hi everyone :hello: All very exciting about the impending arrival of your chickens!... or should that be 'eggciting'?:rolleyes::D

We also had a productive weekend. O/h did a great job of mowing the grass front and back - good timing just ahead of the today's rain. We rather rashly decided to buy a rhododendron (sp?) because we needed to find a use for the rest of the huge bag of ericaceous soil we bought to plant out the blueberry plants, lol!:o The rhododendron is lovely tho, so I hope it survives.

I have a couple of dwarf runners and a couple of dwarf french beans, ditto courgette and cucumber. The beans are all about 3 inches tall now. I guess next step is to plant them out mid May? I think they might need hardening off first tho...

I have sowed a new batch of rosemary seeds, having re-read the packet and realising they're supposed to be sowed indoors and germination takes a minimum of 3 weeks!:o :rotfl: Ah well, second time lucky!

Garlic has shot up, and the pak choi is actually looking like pak choi now - to the extent that I have to watch o/h like a hawk to stop him from munching it all! I've also potted up all my little chilli plants.

My strawberry plants have lovely flowers on them - and I have my netting at the ready;)

ETA: Forgot to mention that my compost dalek arrived too - and I'm a bit daunted coz it's looks so big!

Have good week everyone :wave:
Sazzy xxxxx