How to Get Through The Tough Times The Old Style Way.

gillst_2

ChocClare wrote: »

I am going to be far more disciplined about planting veg this year as well - all the tomatoes are going firmly in the greenhouse as I have had blight the last three years and it's just heart-rending to lose it all. I know we had a running joke about the number of tinned tomatoes you could keep under your bed, but I would like to have home-bottled tomatoes this year WITHOUT FAIL

I also had blight with my tomatoes last year - lost the lot :mad: However, I do not know how true it is, but I was told that it could have been that I grew them in close proximity to some potatoes I was growing! Anyone else heard of this? I am determined to try tomatoes again this year, and hope things turn out better

ChocClare

Welcome mummyjane - love your name as that is what I get called by my DH when he has lost something (most days then ) and wants help finding it. I know people call me Clare on here but that's not my real name brouhahaha....

Ahem! I digress! Yes, there are lots of really good ideas on here - I've just found out that I have a local food co-op which was news to me, so will be checking that out very soon.

gillst, yes, it's true that potatoes are very prone to blight, so if you have tomatoes near them then they'll "catch it" if the potatoes get it. I actually get an email from blightwatch or some such which tells me when there may be problems with blight in my area - I think it's really meant for farmers who presumably go out and spray with Bordeaux mixture at that point, but not much use to me Anyway, I had outdoor tomatoes where I used to live with no probs at all, but I'm obviously in a blighty area in my "new" house, so into the greenhouse go the tomatoes. Any potatoes can take their chances, LOL...

kezlou

Gill - Yes thats true, of potatoes have blight then it can transfer over to tomatoes and likewise. Apparently its because they both from the same family.

I tend to have mine separate form one another to stop contamination.

Charis

gillst wrote: »

I also had blight with my tomatoes last year - lost the lot :mad: However, I do not know how true it is, but I was told that it could have been that I grew them in close proximity to some potatoes I was growing! Anyone else heard of this? I am determined to try tomatoes again this year, and hope things turn out better

I had blight too, and mine were next to potatoes that had self-seeded, probably from tiny ones I'd missed the year before. I put the fact that both crops were affected down to them being similar plants, both from the nightshade family. Unfortunately some of the earth from that area was transferred to the raised beds we had made, so this year there will be strawberries growing in those beds. Someone told me that once you have blight in the garden it takes years for it to go back to normal even if you rotate your crops. Don't know how true that is though.

kezlou

Well been on a mission round charity shops today, it was packed, so many people from ALL walks of life were in them.

Which is good as now hopefully the stigma of second hand stuff will reduce. Of course it also means over peeps will get the bargains but share and share alike.
Also got the boys two t-shirts for £1.75:D. Got some books for the boys and some games. So been a good day for bargains, especially a pair of school shoes for coddy £10 out of shoewarehouse.

Just repaired a couple of holes in coddy's jacket, looks good so he can wear that tomorrow. I've cut up an old tiny woollen blanket which used to the boys pram cover. I felt guilty cutting it up, but as we don't need it anymore decided to turn in a tea cosy and caffetierre cosy. In the hope that the contents will stay warm. Hey its better than paying £15 for both!


Kittie don't run off chick, i need your help ! Especially with gardening and solar heating!

Looked outside today and gooseberry is flourishing so pleased with myself, its first time i've kept one alive in three years:o.

Well better carry on with sewing. I want these ready for Monday.
YEah, like that'll happen:rotfl:

Former_MSE_Andrea

Hi guys

Please try to remember to keep the thread on topic. If you don't, as some people have said, it's not going to be any different to the other chat thread, but more than that, it's not going to help you all for the purpose it was intended.

And a reminder to anyone getting involved in disagreements between (supposedly) adults, please just let it lie. The bigger person is the one that stops bringing the subject back up!

Now my tuppenceworth to keep the thread on topic, hopefully!

I'm really hoping to live off as much of our home-grown produce as possible this year and launched well into it when I've had a chance between all the bugs going round the family.

Currently growing either in my kitchen on the window sill, in the heated propagator, in trays or in the garden are:

Potatoes, tomatoes, leeks, spring onions, carrots, strawberries (actually survived the winter from last year!), raspberries, gooseberries, coriander (raspberry bushes were from Poundland).

Not yet started but will be in the next few weeks hopefully (if I'm remembering the right planting times):

Courgette, sweetcorn, cucumber, asparagus, onions, shallots, garlic and probably quite a few others in my seed basket I've forgotten about. Oh, plus the pumpkin my 4 year old's looking forward to growing. She keeps asking if it's March yet so we can sow the seeds

I kind of lost my way with the gardening the last couple of years but now we've moved house, and have a blank canvas of a garden hopefully by getting going now I'm starting as I mean to go on.

As well as reducing food mileage and fuel costs going to buy it I'm happier knowing exactly where the food my family's eating came from.

Anyway, that's my wee contribution.

Have a good evening everyone.

Andrea

ChocClare

Good luck with the planting Andrea - you probably already know this , but for any fellow OS-ers who are just starting out on growing their own, Andrea's post reminded me that Sally A on the Greenfingered board does a really useful what to plant and things to do in... each month.

For those who are interested, here is March's one (yes, it's March on Tuesday chaps, where is the year going?).

grandma247

Jolaaled wrote: »

That is so useful! Thanks. I've been using Google map directions for a while now, but hadn't noticed the petrol costs bit. Basically, google is telling me that it costs me 19p per mile to run the car. Gotta cut back!

Dh drives just short of six miles to work and back so nearly 12 miles and it costs us £5 a day or about 41p per mile. It is a big car and he has a heavy foot but I can do the same journey in my micra for half that easily. He did suprise me today though when I heard him talking to sil about getting a cheaper car:T I think I may be getting through at last.

I finally bit the bullet today and arranged to get rid of the cable tv and phone. We are just going to have the broadband so we will be saving £40 to £50 a month. It has taken me a long time to convince dh but even he is disgusted at the amount of rubbish on tv now so is happy to go to a freeview box and we have a freesat box in the other room which has a few different channels to keep him happy.
They are coming next month for the box etc.

I am going to set up skype for some phone calls and we will still have our mobiles. It means i will finally HAVE to learn to text so will get ds3 who is 11 to teach me:rotfl:.

stiltwalker

Well started my first knitting project tonight. MIL gave me my destructions a couple of weeks ago and now I've got my first OU assignment out of the way and marked I thought I'd get going - all going to plan so far but not got to any complicated bits yet! Hope with a bit more practice I've added to my OS skill set and DD will get at least this one cardi out of it!

Think DD is going to be really interested in the garden this year. Frst thing every morning while I'm toasting her crumpet for breakfast she crawls through to the dining room to look at the seedlings and says "mummy, plants growed" bless! I've told her as soon as she gets her derierre into gear and starts walking she can have her own bucket in the garden to grow things in. Which fingers crossed may not be too far off now as we've had the very first bits of cruising this week with the help of her new high boots which stop her ankles wibbling.

Please remind me how much I want her to walk when I'm run ragged chasing her all over the place lol!

Not seen many free seed offers this year but I'm keeping an eye on the freebies board as I got loads last year (mind you still got quite a stash left). The coinks rewards one looks good if you're just starting off (10 packs for 1.99 postage) but I've already got all the ones in the offer that I would use already.

Hippeechiq

redlady_1 wrote: »

By the time I got to Lidl, they had sold out of the belly pork so will be camped on their doorstep tomorrow morning at 10 am to get it! Its only on for Saturday and Sunday I believe.

Not in my area. The offer started on Thursday and runs up to and including Wednesday next week. In my £idls, there was no weekend offers this week, just the weekly one, which includes the belly pork

If you go here http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg//SID-3EA24809-6FE3241A/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/4222.htm and fill in your postcode, it will tell you what's on offer at your local store