really old style living?

mardatha

Oooops yes I did ty. Readdit and promptly forgottit! I have my own supplier on a survivalist forum . My plant is quite big now but the RV doesnt seem to want green leaves floating around in his tea.
He is no fun.:D

Primrose

parsonswife - if you're having ongoing back pain problems, I can really recommend reading Sarah Key's "Back Sufferers' Bible. ISBN 0-09-181494-4 She's a well known physiotherapist. It's full of diagrams, information about what causes certain conditions, and specific exercises to help improve specific conditions. I found a cheap copy in a charity shop but you can probably get one cheaply on Amazon. It's a really good source of information for back sufferers.

parsonswife8

Primrose wrote: »

parsonswife - if you're having ongoing back pain problems, I can really recommend reading Sarah Key's "Back Sufferers' Bible. ISBN 0-09-181494-4 She's a well known physiotherapist. It's full of diagrams, information about what causes certain conditions, and specific exercises to help improve specific conditions. I found a cheap copy in a charity shop but you can probably get one cheaply on Amazon. It's a really good source of information for back sufferers.

Thanks for that Primrose, will try and get my hands on a copy. I've got a problem with the 4th and 5th vertabrae in my lower spine. I see a consultant every six months, who says that surgery is not an option.
I have been to physio a few times, but it hasn't really helped, so I take paracetamol when needs be and try and do a bit of gentle exercise.
I'm allergic to anything with aspirin and ibuprofen.

seasalt_2

Have just skim read to catch up again - the last three evenings I've started reading and then had to go and do something else - just wanted to comment quickly on the seaweed - still put on fields/gardens on this scottish island - as long as you use freshly washed up seaweed and not stuff that's been dried up at the top of the beach for weeks, you'll be fine - leave it in a heap in the rain for a bit if you're worried - I put it on all my empty beds each autumn/early winter - straight from the beach into my barrow and onto the beds. In spring I either dig it in or, more often, just rake aside any that hasn't rotted down - the crunchy bits that are left deter slugs and snails - or add it to the compost heap. It also makes a great top layer for a compost heap as it stops weeds sprouting. I have heard it said that too much seaweed (like an over application of manure) can "burn" the soil but as my soil was more or less neat sand when I started, this hasn't happened to me yet. On the fields, it is usually spread rather more sparsely, left for a while and then ploughed in.

Seakay

Just to reiterate what seasalt said;
I've read several sources saying that the salt on fresh seaweed is not problem when applying it as mulch. Also saw a gardening programme where a no dig bed was created by piling up an 8" layer of seaweed, putting a covering over the top, leavinging it a few months and then planting potatoes straight in.
Also, see here:
http://www.plantea.com/seaweed-kelp.htm

Seakay

Quick couple of questions (I'm working my way backwards through the thread!)
What/who is an RV? Familiar with OD DD etc but not that one.
Is Stevia that plant that can be used as a substitute sweetner? Can it be grown in this country?

Did my own bit of city foraging/winter preparation the other day when walking friend's dog in the local park collected big bag of pinecones for woodstove lighting in the winter and kept and eye out for (but not yet located) ginko tree rumored to be there. Maybe if I'd found the tree and drunk the tea I'd remember where the tree was!!!!

RAS

Hi - RV= Ratty Virgo - mardatha's nick name for her OH.

meanmarie

In West Kerry seaweed was always used as a fertiliser, not sure whether fresh or not, and would think that it was mixed with farmyard manure so may not have been very concentrated.

Marie

ceridwen

Seakay wrote: »

Quick couple of questions (I'm working my way backwards through the thread!)
What/who is an RV? Familiar with OD DD etc but not that one.
Is Stevia that plant that can be used as a substitute sweetner? Can it be grown in this country?

Did my own bit of city foraging/winter preparation the other day when walking friend's dog in the local park collected big bag of pinecones for woodstove lighting in the winter and kept and eye out for (but not yet located) ginko tree rumored to be there.

Stevia rebaudiana (it HAS to be that variant of Stevia!!!) can indeed be used as a substitute sweetener. It can be grown in this country - witness myself and Mardatha are both doing so - it hasnt grown big enough yet to start experimenting with. MSE readers who stop and think about it for a bit could work out whereabouts I will have stashed links to info. on stevia;);)

One gingko tree on its own is insufficient anyways - its a waste of time looking for one on its own - it has to have "company". As I recall - summat to do with having both "sexes"????

ChocClare

I have just started at the beginning of this thread and read 10 pages, so I'm posting to bump it up again before it disappears and I can't read the next 44-odd!

This is so interesting so far! Absolutely brilliant stuff.

We live in Middle of Nowhere on half an acre with fruit/nut trees, chickens, bees and veg. The veg garden has been less successful than in previous years - I have an enormous gay courgette plant (which has nothing but male flowers on it) taking up quite a lot of the garden; I planted a million tomatoes which looked sickly for ages and then turned into triffids when we were away one weekend so that I now have tomatoes growing every which way but impossible to get to; I have ultra successful rhubarb taking up about a third of the garden and chard taking up another third. I cooked some of the chard (which does look lovely) the other night and we all agree WE HATE IT, so that's quite sad - still, it looks nice. The Jerusalem artichokes which I thought I'd dug up and the potatoes ditto are taking over the final third of my garden. In slightly more successful news, I had loads of blackcurrants off bushes I didn't know how to prune, and the Cherokee Trail of Tears and runner beans are going great guns. Oh, and we had loads of stawberries and borage and onions, so that's good. And beetroot. If I don't get home from work too late tomorrow, I am going to have at one section of the garden to clear it ready for... something. Possibly kale (sorry Mardatha) or spinach. Or possibly potatoes that I plant on purpose. I've got onions and garlic ready to go in, plus some leeks which I put in pots months ago and keep forgetting to plant out. Anyone got any other suggestions (don't say chard)? I've got salad and 80 million herbs (possible exaggeration warning) growing in beds and an old Belfast sink, so don't need any more of those.