It was getting tough in 2006 and the workhouse still threatens us in 2011

ginnyknit

Got a huge piece of whoopsied pork in Mr T yesterday, I had a choice 1 kg for £7.00 or 2.5 kg same price. So you guess right! I cooked it right away and have sliced and bagged it - there are approximately 12 meals for the 2 of us including 23 chunks for chinese or to pop into a sauce.

Am going to get of my lazy rear now and go and check out the blackberries. I hope they are nice and sweet.

mardatha

Re guerilla gardening etc - in my experience as soon as you tell the council anything they immediately put a stop to it! and therefore ruin it for everybody. What that lot dont know doesnt hurt them
My tatties have blight. We lifted half and cut the tops off the other half. I want to put a note through a door two houses down, asking if I can pick some of their weeds for my chickens. They have a jungle and dockens going to seed 5ft high among other lovely things - but the RV is horrified. Apparently it's "not done" in Edinburgh where he is from. LOLOL !

GreyQueen

3v3 wrote: »

Well I discovered another tomato and potato plant on today's round - so yes I think nature is absolutely fabulous LOL @ cannabis plant, how amazing is that!!??? (Glad it has happened to me though ) Now, if nature would just sow a money tree in the garden ....

It's all quite humbling really, because I'm only just dipping my toe in the water for fruit and veg growing, now I'm wondering what all my worries were about when nature is quite happily doing her own thing and being generous enough to provide a little harvest all of her own!

Right, need to find a recipe for chilli jam.

Wishing everyone a good and joyful day

Growing things is great, isn't it? No matter how often I do it, I always feel a sense of wonder when stuff actually germinates; I'm like a big kid!

I heard a wonderful term for useful plants which pop up where you least expect them; volunteer plants. You and I have volunteer tomatoes, I have several potatoes which have volunteered themselves in ground which was tattie patches in previous years and there's even one half under the compost Dalek which must have grown from a scrap (I don't peel my own spuds so it didn't grow from a peeling).

I operate on the principle that everything WANTS to grow, it's what it's genetically-programmed to do, so given a halfway chance, it'll make it. Of course, this striving for life is also true for insects, molds, fungi, blight etc etc.;)

One of the geezers on the lottie described gardening life as a constant battle with "Pests 6 legged, 4 legged and 2 legged!" *

I think it helps to chill a little and accept that some years you do the same kinda thing and forces beyond your control affect your gardening and you have to roll with the changes. My peas were a disappointment and the strawbs virtually non-existant; last year I had more strawbs than I could handle and only just finished the h.g. frozen peas this May.

Re tatties, if you cut off the tops and get them away from the plant, they should be safe from blight. Some authorities recommend not composting tattie haulms but getting them off-site as a form of general hygiene. If they get blighted, deffo get them outta there.

It is 29 degrees in my office, 31 degrees in another office and 30 degrees in the offices of one of our contractors. Phew!

I shall go to the lottie but I think I'll leave it until after 7 pm or I shall just wilt and sunburn.

Mardatha, did you know kittie's growing stabor KALE and she's planted extra seedlings just for yooooo........:rotfl:

* And not forgetting the legless hell-spawn known as slugs and snails.......

ginnyknit

Went and did a recce of the blackberries (did I spell that right?) they are amazing, sweet and huge. I think I may be melting now but am very happy. Got 750gms in about half an hour. but I forgot my stick so there would have been lots more. With the cheapish sugar from Mr M this should be a good year for jam!

jackel

Mardatha Wonder if you'd mind sharing the names of your American sites please ? The people sound so busy I'd love to have a read. Thanks jackel x

trifles

TAURUS-sending you best wishes for getting well soon:A
I like wearing perfume very much-for me it's a great morale booster.I used to ask for some in presents,but now I feel it's far to expensive to do that:oNearly finished what I have.
I was checking L*dls website for their offers when I noticed their own brand perfume'Suddenly Madame Glamourous' had received excellent reviews on a test done by (I think) the Daily Express.It came top compared to a Ch*n*l perfume and costs only£4 compared to the at least 10 times more expensive' Mlle'. I bought a bottle after chatting with a lady in the queue who raved about it and was buying several bottles for presents. It is LOVELY and has lasted me since this morning when I squirted it on,and doesn't smell at all 'cheap' or alter completely like many cheapie perfumes do after 10mins!Will definitely be buying some to put away.
Is it too late to grow potatoes or maybe carrots for this year:o I have no experience of growing anything except windowbox herbs.I haven't had a positive response form others about growing stuff in bags in the back green'I'm afraid,but would have a go myself.Any advice on how to do this-or websites I could try-would be very gratefully received.Have also thought about growing mushrooms in a kit?anyone tried this.
Off to start knitting some more handwarmers as they will come in useful for friends,are very easy to knit,and much cheaper as stress relief than glugging wine:D
Hope everybody has a pleasant evening.

flowertotmum

Hi all..i'm going to be missing for a while..my dad is very poorly and my mum needs a bit of help..
take care of yourselves see you all soon
love ftm
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

jediteacher

flowertotmum wrote: »

Hi all..i'm going to be missing for a while..my dad is very poorly and my mum needs a bit of help..
take care of yourselves see you all soon
love ftm
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sending you lots of hugs.

I know not everyone likes it but I will keep you and your family in my prayers tonight.

Kittikins

FTM - sorry to hear your news, will be thinking of you all x

Phew! Finally found you, I'm more of a lurker than a poster as I'm not particularly OS, try my bit but.........was on holiday (yippee!) last week and came back and wondered where the thread had gone. All this talk of blackberries is making me want to get a couple of carrier bags and DD and go for a wander after dinner!

Butterfly_Brain

GreyQueen wrote: »

These price rises are shocking. I cannot recall having seen the like in my adult life; buying several of everything seems to be a rational response when prices can jump 20-30-40-50 % between one day and another. Reverbe, that tip about putting the price in pen on the top of the can is one I've been doing for a few months now, not to educate the OH (haven't got one) but so I can track the price hikes and I also put the purchase date so I can do rotation faster without squinting at tiny BB dates. I'm sure supermarkets take advantage of the fact that price stickers are obsolete. I have heard that in the last round of galloping food inflation, back in the days of price stickers, some naughty people would scratch the newer ones off to reveal the older ones.:cool:

I worked in Mr T in the 70's and 80's and they always scratched off the stickers and changed the prices if they had gone up, but it only happened once a week when the price change sheets came through ( no computers in those days and hand operated tills that we could operate really fast, with very few mistakes) Nowadays it seems like the prices rise every day and by more than 1p or 2p rises that we had back then.