Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

pink_poppy

Yes, I seem to remember MBE saying he got his latest recycling box from the tip.

Talking of Morrison's, they have a 20% off seeds offer on at the moment ~ not sure if it was just the Mr. Fothergill's seeds though. I bought Pepper (Sweet) Minimix to try so will be sowing them later

annie123

lemonjelly wrote: »

The only issue I did have with carrots, was last year I harvested them in late sept/early oct, & froze them instantly, thinking "christmas dinner!".:)
On Christmas day, I thawed them out & they were just like socks full of water :eek: - you could wring them out!:(

How do I prevent this from happening again?:o

Blanching:
http://pickyourown.org/carrotsfreezing.htm

You'll like the site I think, loads of useful info on it.

http://www.pickyourown.org/

mrbadexample

lemonjelly wrote: »

Drum roll.......

My toms have finally shown signs of life!:j In the space of a couple of days I had 2, then another 3, & now over half have sprouted!:T

About time too! Are you happy now? Eh? Eh?

mrbadexample

As for the tubs, it wasn't so long ago that it was what we were given for our recycling in Walsall and Birmingham. These were upgraded a while back for wheelie bins, and I knew a bloke that knew a bloke that knew a bloke at the council sort of thing.

As for the latest one, when I took my rubbish to the tip, a bloke walked up, emptied his tub and chucked it into the skip afterwards. I nearly fell in, as I dived straight after it. :rotfl:

The blue ones aren't as good as they have a smaller base area, and aren't quite so deep. They also degrade quite quickly in the sun - I've got one that I can barely touch without a bit breaking off it.

I've got about 13 in total now - guess I just got lucky at the right time. I wasn't going to use them this year, thinking I had enough bed space. I was wrong.

mrbadexample

lemonjelly wrote: »

PS Mr BE, seiving sand? Yow'm posh!

Ar. ...........

adelight

mrbadexample wrote: »

I've got about 13 in total now - guess I just got lucky at the right time. I wasn't going to use them this year, thinking I had enough bed space. I was wrong.

Lucky indeed, we still have tubs in my bit of Birmingham(the non walsall/sandwell etc part, just plain Birmingham) and they're always getting nicked! People walk down the road the night before collection taking out bottles and sometimes take the tub :eek:

My window sil plants hadn't been watered in 7 days and they're.... fine! I'd just repotted them and drenched the bottoms so guess that helped keep them going. I'm on the look out for nice cheap pots to put them in when I move, I don't want to be stuffing a nice new home with my cracked and mangled plastic pots.

Little_Vics

adelight wrote: »

vicks how big are your peppers? my over-wintered ones are tiny! They're banana shaped sweet peppers and about four inches long
:eek:

They weren't too small - probably 2/3 the size of supermarket ones.

Nematodes - my quince-tree-donor swears by them and is coming round with a bucket load (apparently).

Compost - I'm planning an adventure in turning it which involves a tarpauline, husband and coffee. Wish me luck.

As for everything else - no news!! I'm waiting for things to sprout and bluebells to come out before I show you more photos.

xLV

mrbadexample

adelight wrote: »

Lucky indeed, we still have tubs in my bit of Birmingham

When they change them (almost certain to happen, eventually), make sure you grab as many as you can.

mrbadexample

Little_Vics wrote: »

Compost - I'm planning an adventure in turning it which involves a tarpauline, husband and coffee. Wish me luck.

As for everything else - no news!! I'm waiting for things to sprout and bluebells to come out before I show you more photos.

xLV

Photos of your compost please! I've shown you mine...:p

Toonie

Can't wait to see your pond when it's done MBE. My Dad had two ponds in his garden, one with fish and one was a wildlife pond. They were both fantastic, though I'm not at all tempted in my wee patch.

I'm really pleased as one of the woody shrubs in my garden has put out some pretty red buds, once they come into flower properly I shall post a picture and pick your brains on what it is...as I have absolutely no idea.

The salad is coming along nicely in the Belfast sink, I'm just in from a slug hunt, found a few of the wee so and so's so they went plop straight into my saltwater bucket! As did the few snails I found. I put some copper tape around the sink today as well to discourage any visitors I may miss. Hope it works.