Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

Karmacat wrote: »

Excellent advice, thank you!

Especially interesting about watching for the annual weed seeds, because whats happening in my garden right now is that underneath the big old quince bush (and because of my virus last year, I never collected the quinces ) there are dozens of little seedlets - nowhere else, just there. Do I have baby quince plants, does anyone know?

If I see a lot of identical looking seedlings under something else, I tend to think that they are its pups unless experience proves otherwise.

If they are quincelets, they won't be annual weeds. What I'm thinking of is all the tiny seedlings, the really fragile ones, which cover every inch of bare soil once it's warm enough. When you see them, you're good to go.

I plant potatoes (here in southern England) in about the 3rd week in March. I will have chitted them since mid-Feb and at that point they will have shoots on them about 1 inch long. I plant them and heave the baulk up over them as I plant. They will start to appear as early as 20 days' time, but the gap between the first appearance and all of them being up can easily be 2 weeks +. They do come through on the sunnier side of the baulk first, so obviously reacting to the warmth as well as the stored energy in the tubers. Then it's a stressful few weeks hoping they don't get cut down by our last frosts, which can come as late as mid-May.

I won't plant the tender beans, runners and french beans, out until past then although I may start them in pots in the cold frame. Peas and broad beans don't care about the cold and won't be harmed.

Gardening's a funny old business. A raw newbie can do something bonkers and get a better crop of something than a veteran, if the bonkers thing works out very well with a particular kind of weather. Not all kinds of crops do well in any given year, so it's a hit-and-miss affair even without what one of my lottie neighbours described as pests two legged, four legged and six legged.:rotfl:

One experienced prepper remarked that those preppers who think they'll be able to grow all their own food TEOTWAWKI, with zero experience of gardening, because they have saved seeds are in for a rude awakening. It's a series of interlinked skills and requires patience and observation, as well as hard work to get the soil into good heart and keep it there.

I guess that if the current flooding impacts into the growing season, we could easily be looking at increased food prices and veggie gardening, which might be a marginal concern now, could well be an important cornerstone of the household budget.

Just chillin' for a few mins between work and archery club. Going to practise an arcane and largely useless skill, for no better reason than it's big fun. If it comes down to hunting bunnies or pigeons to survive the zombie apocalypse, I figure I'll have a head start. I'd hunt FB pies for preference, as they're slower moving and don't need skinning, plus you have a useful tin afterwards.

[Deleted User]

Game pies made in FB tins would be most acceptable too GQ!!! I'm wondering if the very wet conditions will lead to more mosquitos and other pests this coming year? with the water table being so high and the weather forecast showing more of the same weather pattern for the forseeable future I just have a sneaky suspicion that insects of all kinds will thrive this year and that will have an impact on any crops we try to grow. It will also probably mean that sowing of cereals will be late due to not being able to get heavy machinery onto waterlogged land to plough and sow and any overwintering crops that have been under the floodwaters will be destroyed by now. I wonder what shortages and subsequent price hikes we shall be seeing in the shops by this time next year?

GreyQueen

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Game pies made in FB tins would be most acceptable too GQ!!! I'm wondering if the very wet conditions will lead to more mosquitos and other pests this coming year? with the water table being so high and the weather forecast showing more of the same weather pattern for the forseeable future I just have a sneaky suspicion that insects of all kinds will thrive this year and that will have an impact on any crops we try to grow. It will also probably mean that sowing of cereals will be late due to not being able to get heavy machinery onto waterlogged land to plough and sow and any overwintering crops that have been under the floodwaters will be destroyed by now. I wonder what shortages and subsequent price hikes we shall be seeing in the shops by this time next year?

A lot of modern people think of malaria as exclusively a disease of the tropics. It has formerly been here in the UK, at least in Southern and Eastern England. I'm sure I read that it was in the Romney Marshes and the Fens but it may have also been in the Somerset Levels.

Reading about the levels of bacteria reported in the water already, and it's pretty cold now, makes me wonder what the heck will brew up when it gets warmer, if the land is still awash, or substantially sodden.

Righty, off to play wiv pointy things. If you want to see something amazing look for "archer's paradox" on you tube to see slo-mo clips of what arrows do in flight. The physics is incredible. They look like they're just blamming straight down the range but they're actually swimming through the air like fish. Amazing stuff!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzWrcpzuAp8

[Deleted User]

Oh yes the marshlands were known to be unhealthy and he folk that dwelt therein were subject to the ague, Romney Marsh was particularly bad as were the Hoo and Cooling Marshes on the Isle of Grain. I suspect all badly drained lowlying wetlands have the potential to harbour gazillions of biting beasties and provide fertile accommodation for those newcomers that are colonising europe and the UK from the warmer places in North Africa and then there are things like the Smallenberg Virus which is midge borne and who knows what else to follow, don't we live in interesting times eh?

VJsmum

Yep, my home place of the isle of Sheppey has been known to harbour malaria, but as that isn't far from grain I guess it is no surprise.

It has also harboured tarantulas and scorpions off the banana boats :eek:

Karmacat

GreyQueen wrote: »

If I see a lot of identical looking seedlings under something else, I tend to think that they are its pups unless experience proves otherwise.

If they are quincelets, they won't be annual weeds. What I'm thinking of is all the tiny seedlings, the really fragile ones, which cover every inch of bare soil once it's warm enough. When you see them, you're good to go.

Gotcha, thanks. I like that tip about the annual weeds and as for the quincelets (I like that too :j) I might wait a bit and pot them on. Difficult to believe such tiny little things like such heavy soil, but there they are ...

One experienced prepper remarked that those preppers who think they'll be able to grow all their own food TEOTWAWKI, with zero experience of gardening, because they have saved seeds are in for a rude awakening. It's a series of interlinked skills and requires patience and observation, as well as hard work to get the soil into good heart and keep it there.

I think I saw that conversation :eek:

Just chillin' for a few mins between work and archery club. Going to practise an arcane and largely useless skill, for no better reason than it's big fun. If it comes down to hunting bunnies or pigeons to survive the zombie apocalypse, I figure I'll have a head start. I'd hunt FB pies for preference, as they're slower moving and don't need skinning, plus you have a useful tin afterwards.

And a fine appreciation you have of the FB pies :j

VJsmum wrote: »

Yep, my home place of the isle of Sheppey has been known to harbour malaria, but as that isn't far from grain I guess it is no surprise.

It has also harboured tarantulas and scorpions off the banana boats :eek:

I'm in southern England too, and if I get s*dding tarantulas, I'm off up north, as far as I can!

siegemode

GreyQueen wrote: »

Oh happy day, seigemode, and may you and Ken have a long and happy working relationship.

Know what you mean about not missing the microwave. I was given one by somebody who moved, spontaneously as it wasn't something on my wish list. I did use it, but not very much, and it hogged 50% of my available counterspace in my tiny kitchen, thus making everything difficult.

I rehomed it, and a goblet-style blender, via a giveaway board at my workplace and have a stick blender for those occasional jobs like smoothing a soup, which was all I ever used the goblet for.

I think with appliances, it's very much horses-for-courses, isn't it? I bake bread rolls by hand once a week, it's no biggie, but SuperGran got my a humungous breadmaker thingy, size of a footstool, left unsold after a church jumbly. No way did I have space for it so it went via Freecyle, as did the slow-cooker. They were things I thought I would use and didn't, or didn't enough to justify their space in this tiny home.

It was OH who said wait awhile before thinking about replacing the microwave and he was right. Although the space cleared has now been utilised by Kenny My Slow cooker is now permanently out and so tend to use it more. The breadmaker was so bulky and to be honest the only good results I had from it was jam when I got YS fruit:rotfl: So that's boxed and in the spare room.

My Braun handblender is used for soups etc and is tucked in a draw with several attatchments. It was the first gadget I got about 30yrs ago and is still serving me well.

westcoastscot wrote: »

Missed the talk of Kenwoods - am I too late to put in a vote for my favourite?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kenwood-Prospero-Compact-KM265-Litre/dp/B001HZVZQK

It's a brill wee thing - I was always a fan of my old panshion and wooden spoon but arthritis has seriously cut down the amount of baking I can achieve. The Prospero is fab - as well as a mixer it has a great dough hook, a blender and a food processor as part of the package and has really saved me in the kitchen! Cheaper than the usual Kenwood too, and a bit more kitchen-friendly in a small kitchen as it sits in a corner.

Edited to add it has a metal bowl too
WCS

Thanks, I've had a look and a think, but decided I'll stick with Chef Classic since the blender and food processor are not things I think I'll use enough to justify their storage space. I did like the look and stainless steel bowl though.

Frugalsod wrote: »

I think that the point is will you be able to use it enough to justify it. I have an expensive version and use it most days. Tomorrow I will be making soup in the liquidiser and crumble mix in the processor. In the next week I will be making some bread, pasta, some pizza bases and grating some parmesan for my mince meals. I reckon I use it between 4 and 8 times a week. So even though mine cost me £700 and I spent more on accessories I reckon it will have paid for itself in another 18 months or so. Work out what you can do with it and then work out how much you can save if you make various meals and bits from scratch. It will be a lot more than you imagine.

I'm sure once me and Kenny are well aquainted I will be using him plenty. I just get very anxious about spending so much and making the right decision. I think my OH is going to get interested in more baking too expanding his role of chief quality tester and house breadmaker
He fancies the meat mincer and sausage maker attachments. Do you have these ? We prefer to make everything from scratch and eat organic so that we know what we are consuming and avoid certain commercial ingredients for health reasons. Which attachments do you get the most use out of please ?


Thank you GQ for reminding me it is indeed a preptastic tool .
I shall be able to stock the freezer with more yummy things for those days when ME prevents me from spending time in my kitchen.

[Deleted User]

Wind is getting up around here.

armyknife

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Wind is getting up around here.

What did you eat?



.....

I'll get my coat.

maryb

I use the mincer and sausage maker and I think you'll like them. It still gets gummed up unless you trim the cubes of meat really well, though. It helps if the meat is half frozen - stick it in the freezer for half an hour