Preparedness for when

savingqueen

Get well wishes to you and your dear nan GQ


sq X ..... goes back to lurkdom

mardatha

Am absolutely struggling yet again with growing anything. The RV wont help as he says "why not just buy veg like normal people"... the ME has gone into overdrive and I'm left pouring with sweat, wobbling and staggering if I try to do any work at all. The soil is still not right as nothing is doing well at all, and I give up for 2014 here and now. *insert sweary words*

[Deleted User]

MAR it's ok to NOT do things when you can't and at the moment YOU can't so don't beat yourself up over what you can't change pet. This is just an idea to throw into the melting pot for the future if you seriously want to grow your own veg, if your soil isn't up to it for whatever reason would you consider having some raised beds built, import some decent soil which you can keep conditioned in the future by running a compost heap and digging it in each year. That shouldn't be too costly to put into place, you could perhaps find a couple of strong youngsters to do the actual construction and filling with topsoil, it would mean you not having to do the hands and knees gardening but be able to perch on the edge of the raised bed, so even if your ME is playing up you'll still be able to push a hoe through. The soil in raised beds warms much quicker in the spring that the ground so it would perhaps give you that little edge you need up in the cooler north to get your crops up and away. In the meantime my friend, buy your veg, rest yourself up, stop worrying about the garden and feel better!!! Lyn xxx.

[Deleted User]

sb44 wrote: »

Not sure whether I want to buy any now, I suppose there are dangers with anything that is flammable though.

That incident is much like those, involving people trying to get a faltering barbecue going again.

So long as you ensure the burner is extinguished and cooled down (enough for you to handle it), you will be fine.

You could equally start a fire, by not ensuring a match has been properly extinguished.

That's why I teach (and practice) breaking matches in half, before discarding.

Frugalsod

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I know there is the likelihood that there will be GM contamination from many sources but we can't just roll over and give in on something so fundamentally important to us can we? We must vote with our cash and NOT buy any products linked to the GM market and provide our own alternatives and feed ourselves!!!

I still do not understand why TPTB do not understand that the vast majority of people do not want GMO. If they were willing to make labelling mandatory they might see that the public do not like them. The problem is that the government will probably be stupid and sign up to the latest dodgy trade deal that abolishes sovereign states rights completely. Such deals will not come up for referendum yet they will be giving more sovereignty away than we have given to the EU yet that is likely to be voted on before long.

[Deleted User]

Probably, says the cynical me, because there's a lot of profit to be made from allowing it to happen. TPTB don't really consider whether it's wanted by the vast majority of people or not, only what is in it for them!!!

thriftwizard

mardatha wrote: »

Am absolutely struggling yet again with growing anything. The RV wont help as he says "why not just buy veg like normal people"... the ME has gone into overdrive and I'm left pouring with sweat, wobbling and staggering if I try to do any work at all. The soil is still not right as nothing is doing well at all, and I give up for 2014 here and now. *insert sweary words*

Oh dear, poor you! Have you enough strength to start up a compost heap? That way you'd be working towards improving your soil; good compost takes at least a year to mature anyway. My first (and best) compost bins were just 4 free pallets bound together with wire coathangers, with the sides stuffed with old carpet from the tip & another slice on top. They worked well for a good 15 years, with no wood treatment or anything, until OH decided they were antisocial & replaced them with horrible black plastic daleks that don't hold half as much and generate hordes of flies! :eek:

Another easy long-term soil-improvement project is a leaf-mould bin; can be as simple as a cylinder of old chicken wire. Come autumn you just bundle fallen leaves into it & leave them to rot down for at least 2 years. (So really you need at least two.) We've liberated old wire-cage bins from the tip, the sort with a black plastic flap-down lid that you put a bin liner in, to do the job for us in inconspicuous corners, and I take a carrier bag out walking & scoop up any convenient leaves to add to our home-produced ones.

That way you're working towards a time when you do feel up to a bit of gardening, and it should go easier when you do get there. Also, if you're anywhere where there's lots of comfrey, just pick some leaves (one from each of lots of different plants, to spread any damage) and lay them on your beds; it's full of mineral goodness & will suppress weed growth too.

[Deleted User]

Maybe we'd better lay some comfrey on MAR!!!!!

[Deleted User]

How neat is this? :cool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSjCY2kGyfI

sb44

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

That incident is much like those, involving people trying to get a faltering barbecue going again.

So long as you ensure the burner is extinguished and cooled down (enough for you to handle it), you will be fine.

You could equally start a fire, by not ensuring a match has been properly extinguished.

That's why I teach (and practice) breaking matches in half, before discarding.

Thanks very much, I will get some instead of the meths.

Whenever I have lit a match I always run it under the tap before I discard it, just to make sure it is def out.