No T Words mentioned at all - a fresh start

[Deleted User]

Bless you KITTIE - you are a really responsible world citizen. I think it is a case of roll with the punches as we must all make preparations as best we can. You would be the first one to offer help to those in need but to do that you must look after you and yours and make sure you are fit and well and then you will be there in an emergency. The best help is the knowledge and practical skills you have, these will help others to help themselves, you can't do better than that. You are such a good person. Sleep well tonight Lyn xxx.

maryb

Kittie, what is worrying you particularly? I'm not saying that to suggest there is nothing to worry about but it sometimes helps to try and pin down the cause of a general feeling of impending doom.

If Greece crashes out (and it may not be long now, it looks as if some Greek banks are running out of money and the ECB has just announced it is no longer supplying them with funds directly, plus it's not helped by Tsipras's election pledge to confiscate bank deposits over £16000) that would certainly cause upheaval, but most currency upheavals have historically been shortlived. There will certainly be contingency plans behind the scenes, unlike 2008 when everything caught the powers that be unawares.

Why is it making you worry about a shortage of food?

[Deleted User]

june will be soggy (and worse) almost throughout :eek:

wind breaks are up on the allotment and I`m going to have a good think on how to protect certain plants. More big cages I think

boultdj

Kittie, am I better off drying carrot's as slice's or cube's? Seeing as I only got my dehidrator at the back end of last year and I only got round to doing my late strawberries.

VJsmum

Hello, may I join your lovely chat?

kittie wrote: »

june will be soggy (and worse) almost throughout :eek:

What happened to the "june, july and august will be hot and sunny"? Have to say, your forecaster has been dead right about May. Seriously fed up with it. We are off to the states for 3 weeks in July / AUgust so I desperately hope we have nice weather then. I am also saving for a New year break somewhere sunny. THe thought of going through another long cold winter with no warmth is seriously depressing me - I am very much a warm weather person. I have been saving all the "additional bits" of money I get - saving coppers, odd pounds here and there, the kids dinner money if they don't have it one day, I do the odd book review for work and have saved the fee for that, got a tiny bonus from work so that's gone in the pot, my fee for being an external examiner, anything from quidco, also my cleaner has left so we have taken that on ourselves and are saving her money. I think we should be able to do it - on about £800 at the moment (despite what my sig says )

We are at the start of 5 weeks of GCSE's - DD is doing french today, she did another french paper on Monday and drama last week. They go on until 18th June :eek: but at the moment she is calmness personified. She was more het up about her mocks. I think it has helped that she has got into her 6th form of choice as long as she gets 5 C's, and I'm pretty sure she is guaranteed those from previous results she has had.

My problem will be what to do with her for the 4 weeks after her last exam until we go to America. I think tidying her bedroom might be on the agenda

I was hoping to plant some beans, tomatoes peppers out today but it is pelting with rain again and I am away for the weekend, so they may have to stay in their pots until Monday. THe mother in law is here soon so she and I will go to our local farm shop cafe for lunch - I am supposed to be marking, but what the hell, it'll still be there next week.

The euro thing is worrying - Kittie, I know where you are coming from. The freeze on bank assets is worrying and, whilst I think it wouldn't happen here, if the Euro goes down who knows what it will take with it? We took the bulk of hubby's pension a couple of years ago for long involved reasons that are boring (basically we took a chance on a bit of a legal loophole - nothing dodgy (honest guv!) - but it paid off). We have invested ours in a couple of student houses that we let. Even that isn't straight forward though, as one of them is let for next year but the other still isn't and time is running out. We only got the second one a few months ago and, as it is occupied, we can't get in there and paint it and sort the furnishings out. We are hoping when the current tennants leave in June we can get in and paint like mad and sort it out to a standard where someone will want it. Worrying though as we can't really afford it to stand empty for a year.

maryb

VJsmum, the GCSEs go on for EVER don't they? Because my DD2 is doing German her last exam is on 27 June.

By contrast, DD1 starts finals at university next Monday and it will all be over in two weeks. She has 9 exams the first week - five 3 hour exams and 4 2 hour exams. It's pretty brutal but then she has the whole summer before her

maryb

Kittie you've got me thinking trying to pin down for myself what are my own fears for the future. I think my big concern with the uncertain times is the risk of hyperinflation. And as we are coming up to retirement (I am already retired) that is a big worry for us. I remember so many people in the 70s who retired on what were then good pensions reduced to poverty. They are already effectively taking money from savers by making it impossible to get decent returns - in fact, after tax it's a negative return.

But at least we don't (yet) have to face the possibility that our savings could be legally confiscated. Can you imagine the fear that ordinary Greeks with modest savings must feel when that is all that stands between them and the penury they see so many reduced to? And for Alexis Tsipras to threaten to confiscate anything over £16000 worth... well it's not surprising there are a lot of lumpy mattresses in Greece.

I'd also like to start growing more - but NOTHING is germinating or growing. All my onions are rotting in the soil. The bad news is we had a frost the night before last and normally at this time in May it would have wiped out all the potatoes. The good news is that so few of them have any foliage above ground that they have survived. I have sown some salad leaves THREE times (using fresh seed after the first time)and NOTHING has germinated. Carrot seeds - nothing. Cabbages - weak and spindly seeds not doing anything.

This sort of weather led to famine in medieval Europe. At least for us it will "only" mean yet higher food prices

prepareathome

Nearly everything I have out in garden,apart from flowering bulbs, fruit trees and fruit bushes, are under fleece still and I cannot see me ever removing it this year. Whether they are in the ground - carrots, cabbage, spinach, onions, leeks or in pots - lettuce, tomatoes, peas, french beans, cucumber, courgettes they have fleece over them. Most of the things in pots apart from the lettuce is in my grow house which is big enough for them just now but if they ever grow will have to buy another couple but even in there I have fleece over them.

This is my first year of actually growing in the ground, up till now I have just grown a few vegetables in pots but with the way things are going in the world I thought growing my own food would be sensible as health problems stop me working so this is a way I can help but weather seems to be totally against me.

Raining again today - only plus is ground I am using to grow is in side garden ( back on a steep slope and tiny) and is higher than front garden - you have to go up steeps or hill to reach it, but its level there, so rain thankfully will drain down and end up in my front garden - left side has spent more time filled with water than not for months now. My soil is heavy clay but I have taken out a lot for each bed and filled them with newspaper, manure, top soil and compost so hoping that gives a good growing medium for the crops before they hit the clay.

So just got to hope I have not wasted my money on everything and will get some return for my money. Not expecting miracles as a beginner I know I will make lots of mistakes, but hopefully will learn from them so if things really do get worse I do have the knowledge to keep us fed if nothing else.

I have put in fruit bushes in back garden - side garden might be to tempting for passers by but although most have started to grow my gooseberries are still looking like dead wood so not sure if they will grow but will leave them for at least a year in fruit cage - had to get fruit cage as always feed birds and they would think I am treating them like royalty if I get fruit on the bushes.

I offered the turf I removed to make the beds on Freecycle and was surprised at how many people wanted it, as side garden has been grass since the war when crops were grown in it ( old neighbours told me).

Well stopped raining for a bit so want to go and thin out lettuce some more - maybe just have two per pot.

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[Deleted User]

Afternoon toughies, I have just harvested the first picking of salad leaves from the polytunnel and they were delicious. We have peas nearly ready for picking, radishes and lettuces that will be ready next week and have put in 4 each of Roma, Sungold and Gardeners Delight Tomatoes intercropped with more radishes and salad leaves. We have planted out a second row of beetroot as well, the first row is now showing leaves although it took them a long time to germinate. We have a second row of peas in as well and they are starting to climb the netting. I think the decision to put in the polytunnel was the right one. DH has cleared more turf and the outside beds are getting much bigger, he has also dug over the patch that the chicken run is going on. The asparagus crowns we put in earlier on have all produced shoots and look healthy, the only thing not putting on growth are the apple trees, both the established one and the new ones have buds and small leaves but, haven't moved for three or four weeks. I guess it is just not warm enough yet. The rhubarb on the allotment is producing well but, that is about all we are harvesting down there as yet. I hope we get some warmth soon or the apple harvest could be wuite sparse this autumn. Cheers Lyn.

[Deleted User]

boultdj, I did slices last year. A quick steam and then straight into the dehydrator, I never bothered to cool after steaming

The important thing, re gardening to eat, is to go with the flow and this morning I have been repotting lots of brassicas for the allotment but I am not putting them there too early as the slugs are out in force. I have some spares and I was going to get rid but I have popped them in planters, under net, instead. Brassicas are easy going and like cool and damp.

There are hardly any pollinators around so I have been walking around the strawberries, at home, with a soft brush. Mrs LW, I am also finding that beetroot, carrots and celery are taking ages to germinate. They won`t have much of a summer to mature. Has anyone put their courgettes out? Mine are big enough but I know the skugs will target them as they won`t take off very quickly this year

I don`t know what will happen re the euro but I had a fair few euros, which I cashed in several months ago.

All in all 2012 is turning out to be quite some year