A new 'tougher' thread... and so it continues

meme30

Ginnyknit:- Yes I agree with you on prices, things are getting worse!

I first tried to grow carrots and parsnips years ago. I got very excited when I got greenery and after a few weeks decided to pull one to see how they were going. It was thin of course but about four inches long. I could not understand why it was so pale, the picture of the packet showed very orangey ones. It took DH to say 'perhaps it's a parsnip' before the penny dropped! :eek: Honestly! this was before my brain started to crumble as well!:o:)

mardatha

Kidcat my frost-free date is the 1st June and we still have tons of time to plant stuff. I always get suckered by all the southerners on here to go too early and everything vanishes into a black hole. This year I'm covering my ears when I read their posts

maryb

Thanks everyone for the advice - Annie, I promise I will pay you a visit on the greenfingered board.

Have to second the advice about pneumonia. When I was working in the City in a very demanding job I had a cold that went to my chest but I was too busy to go to the doctor until I could hardly crawl. He asked me how long I'd had it and when I said 6 weeks he nearly fell off his chair. That was when I first heard of ambulant pneumonia. Antibiotics got rid of the immediate infection but I was told in no uncertain terms by work I was not allowed to be ill so I carried on with my silly hours and it took MONTHS to recover properly. Two years later another chest infection went straight to my lungs. We were due to go away for a week and I sat on the sofa the night before too ill and exhausted to pack. We ended up staying at home and I got better much more quickly that time just for a relatively short period of decent rest.

Victorian invalid is right - people knew instinctively in the days before antibiotics that rest and good food was the only way to allow the body to heal naturally though thank goodness we do still have antibiotics. (That and cleanliness to keep infection at bay - our grandmothers would be horrified that nurses have to be taught to wash their hands)

grandma247

((hugs)) again kidcat. I too am a great believer in sleep being a healer. My dd's always insist their kids sleep a lot if they are ill and they have had very few antibiotics as a result.

Rosetta92

mardatha wrote: »

Annie I tried 4 in pots on windowsills and they all vanished, it was just an experiment when we had that hot spell, didnt really expect them to do much I will try them much later on, ty annie!

Mardatha - I'm a bit further north than you and wanting to try some veg this year. How much later are you waiting before you start? I too will cover my ears to southern posts :rotfl:

kidcat - sending you lots of healing vibes. I agree with earlier poster - your Dad should be paying for replacing food he wasted. And also apologising to your DD!

I'm trying to combat rising prices and do the required resting for post-op recovery by experimenting with online food shopping. So far its saving lots because I don't get tempted with fancy extras on display and if I'm not sure if I need something I'm checking the storecupboard rather than buying "just in case". I've always taken a list to the shops, but its amazing how OH asking if we need something always puts a doubt in my mind:o I know it means I'm missing out on whoopsies but from reading other posts it seems these are getting very rare.

Hugs to everyone who needs them.

R

annie123

GreyQueen wrote: »

I've read lots of books on companion planting and the distilled wisdom seems to be this; you can never have too many marigolds. I have allowed English marigolds from saved seed from my Nan's garden to escape onto the lottie and they're everywhere and the bees love 'em. I have also sown some little shrub-like bushy Tagetes "Golden Gem" and may even try some other marigolds. They're bright, sunny and fairly idiot-proof which is all an unsophisticate like myself requires in a flower.

Calendula (pot marigold):
http://www.herbexpert.co.uk/growingcalendula.html
Loved by bees, self seeds if you want to it to (my self seeded are 9" tall so far) or not, so easy to grow and I have no green fly since I've been planting them every year..........and they're edible
Rather than French marigolds that the garden centres sell

mardatha wrote: »

always get suckered by all the southerners on here to go too early and everything vanishes into a black hole. This year I'm covering my ears when I read their posts

Rosetta92 wrote: »

Mardatha - I'm a bit further north than you and wanting to try some veg this year. How much later are you waiting before you start? I too will cover my ears to southern posts :rotfl:

Rosetta you may not be behind her time wise as mardatha lives a few thousand feet above sea level too! But she can grow great kale;)

Rosetta92

annie123 wrote: »

Rosetta you may not be behind her time wise as mardatha lives a few thousand feet above sea level too! But she can grow great kale;)

I like kale - helps with my low iron levels :rotfl:

Might try a few seeds and see how I get on. Also read somewhere that if you can sit on your soil with your bare b** its warm enough to sow seeds - not brave enough to test that though:eek:

R

mardatha

_pale__pale__pale_ Stop saying bad words!! Not the K word !! :eek::eek::eek:
I'm just under 1000ft feet up and I'm a month behind Edinburgh which is at sea level, and nobody here is planting anything yet Rosetta. I'll wait until I see the neighbours starting then I will give you a shout.

debbym

Moved back to the UK after DS1 was (finally!) diagnosed with autism. No job for me and barely made our budget last month after having a car boot sale (£179 raised!) and selling our old music cd's on Music Magpie (£23).
We can't squeeze much more out of our budget and have just had a shock with the latest garage bill (nearly £1000 ish its had to stay in overnight) so a loan for a car may have to be on the horizon as we are not within walking distance of OH's work or kids school or DS2's nursery and the nearest supermarket is about 8 miles away. That will serve us right for living in a beautiful part of the world in rural Somerset.
We have planted some seeds here (in a plastic greenhouse) and the salad leaves are already peeping (kids are v. excited, bet you they still won't eat 'em though!) but our plans were nearly scuppered when I discovered that DS1 has split all 3 watering cans by jumping on them to see which would make the biggest pop:mad: this post on making your own watering cans saved the day.

Byatt

Hiya Debbie, I'm on the Devon/Somerset/Dorset borders. Sorry to hear about your car expense, I'm still recovering from last August's MOT and we are hurtling towards the next one!

My DD is autistic (adult now), well done on getting a diagnosis. My DD was 12 before she was disgnosed and that was after I took her out of school to home school, and many written reports from me.

All the gardening tips are so useful, thanks to all that have posted.