Preparedness for when

DisreputableDog

GQ I've no light in my little bedsit either, in fact I have to switch the lights on if I need my eyes in the afternoon... sodding trees! On the plus side they drop huge amounts of kindling straight into my garden for use in the fire pit.

Now that I'm more settled I'm planning on applying for an allotment near here. My turn might come up on the list this decade if I'm very lucky

I've got a book sitting around with a lot of good DIY projects in, including a load of heat retaining stuff like solar showers, so will have a gander and see if there's anything in there that could apply to your cold frame. Off the top of my head I reckon thick wooden planks with liberal black paint would create a warmer box than slabs.

GreyQueen

DisreputableDog wrote: »

GQ I've no light in my little bedsit either, in fact I have to switch the lights on if I need my eyes in the afternoon... sodding trees! On the plus side they drop huge amounts of kindling straight into my garden for use in the fire pit.

Now that I'm more settled I'm planning on applying for an allotment near here. My turn might come up on the list this decade if I'm very lucky

I've got a book sitting around with a lot of good DIY projects in, including a load of heat retaining stuff like solar showers, so will have a gander and see if there's anything in there that could apply to your cold frame. Off the top of my head I reckon thick wooden planks with liberal black paint would create a warmer box than slabs.

Thank you.

Just in case we're at cross-puposes, the cold frame is thick wood, stained dark brown, it's just presently sitting on earth, and I was thinking of sitting it on slabs. G'night for now.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Frugalsod wrote: »

Have you bought your pitchfork yet? It looks like we will all need to use one before long. This government really do not care about the NHS. Privatising it will mean that they will personally benefit from NHS Contracts giving to private companies. I think that more than 50 Tories have links to private health companies. Clearly a conflict of interest.

funny you should mention pitchforks lol... I just bought 2 vintage garden forks for mucking out the pigs, as they are a better rounded shape...


Defo a conflict of interest, You can see exactly what they are trying to do, feather their own nest.. disgraceful.


this government are a right pharse sp? and they think we are going to believe them when they say they are doing things for the good of the country...

DisreputableDog

GreyQueen wrote: »

Thank you.

Just in case we're at cross-puposes, the cold frame is thick wood, stained dark brown, it's just presently sitting on earth, and I was thinking of sitting it on slabs. G'night for now.

I see how you mean. How deep is it? If it was deep enough you could fill the bottom with rocks or glass, and pop a tray on top. The rocks/glass retain heat. Or if you keep muck up there, you could store that under and around it, as the victorians did with their greenhouses. Its definitely not a bad idea to lift it and sit it on something that will absorb heat during the day though, even if it isn't deep enough for a layer in the frame itself

Cheapskate

Most of my edible crops look average, at best, this year. I've replanted my pea seedling, in the vain hope that I might get a few, but not hopeful. The blackcurrants number less than a dozen, might have a few pounds of spuds, but the brambles look stonking!

We're looking at new windows for the whole house, composite or wood, loathe plastic, as the heat loss from the old windows is beyond a joke now, as if energy prices continue to go up we need to conserve as mush as possible. Dh has finally come around to the idea that we need 'em - only 18 years after we moved here!:eek:

I've been learning to knit - have almost finished some fingerless gloves for me, then will try some proper scarves and blankets for us all. DD25 is expecting a baby early November, so will make some baby blankets, too, just to keep practising! I was given a ball of real wool and it feels so good, far nicer than acrylic, but it's expensive. Will have to source some cheaper, but I know real wool is so much better.

I have 2 garden forks, 2 rams and a hoe - is that nearly as good as a pitchfork? :rotfl:

Got a woolly question - do any of you who knit or crochet have any suggestions for real wool stockists, that don't cost the earth?

A xo

twiglet98

calicocat wrote: »

Next step is a years worth of cat stuff, especially litter..

I stock up with a year's cat litter when Z00plus have it on offer (go through T0pCashBack). I get it delivered to work so one of the lads can load it into my car, and DD's BF unloads it at home.

GreyQueen wrote: »

I'm pleased to report that the few square feet of potato patch which had a lot of ash in it from the bonfire last October grew especially good potatoes; both tops and yields were a good 20% above their non-ashy peers. I am drying off material now, and for the next few months, to burn in early October, to reap the benefits next year.

I love gardening. It's a challenge in space and in time, and you get to eat the winnings.:rotfl:

That's interesting GQ, thank you for the tip. I have never specifically targetted the potato patch with wood ash and will do so this winter.

I'll harvest mine when there are a few dry, sunny hours forecast to lay them out to dry. Some are in the ground, some (earlies) in bags. Stupidly I labelled the bags very inadequately and delicious or not, bountiful or otherwise, I have no idea which of the four bags was which. Failing to label properly WHEN SOWING OR PLANTING OUT at the start of the season and failing to record the harvest properly BEFORE EATING IT at the end are glaring errors that I repeat year after year, ever confident that my memory will serve me well. I hoard countless bits of paper with 'useful' stuff and have no excuse. I shall have a notebook in my pocket instead of thinking I'll remember to fill in my (largely empty) spreadsheet. Ditto the freezer inventory, dry stores inventory... it dawns on me ridiculously late that reliance on computerised records, even if I DID complete them properly, would be useless if the power went off. Pen and paper, but I've already a bumper haul of raspberries has gone unrecorded. "Potatoes (variety ??)" doesn't look so great but at least I'll write the kg down as I weigh them!

pavlovs_dog

not sure if this will already have been shared as I only ever dip in and out of this thread. But I found an American blog on the topic of emergency preparedness that I thought you might like. Her store room is impressive!

tessasmum

We have had a bit of a SHTF moment this last week in that my husband has died, and with it, virtually all our income has stopped apart from CTC and Child Benefit. Thank God that we had seen this coming years ago and made preparations for it - whilst short term benefits are being sorted out, the girls and I are able to eat from the storecupboard, and freezers, so grocery shopping is cut to a bare minimum. We also have months of TP and laundry powder, there are vegetables growing in the garden too, and we have savings in the bank for the funeral and expenses there. There are several months worth of logs in the store for the winter heat, which will keep us warm this coming season.
Our elder DD will be off to uni in the autumn, so it will just be DD14 and I here so it will make sense to downsize to a smaller property and in doing so, cut costs further.
Years of preparation for this time mean that although we are all devastated by this, we are not going to fall apart financially right now. I have been reading this thread for ages, and taking note, and have long been a fan of the OS board, and it is a great deal of help.

jk0

tessasmum wrote: »

We have had a bit of a SHTF moment this last week in that my husband has died, and with it, virtually all our income has stopped apart from CTC and Child Benefit. Thank God that we had seen this coming years ago and made preparations for it - whilst short term benefits are being sorted out, the girls and I are able to eat from the storecupboard, and freezers, so grocery shopping is cut to a bare minimum. We also have months of TP and laundry powder, there are vegetables growing in the garden too, and we have savings in the bank for the funeral and expenses there. There are several months worth of logs in the store for the winter heat, which will keep us warm this coming season.
Our elder DD will be off to uni in the autumn, so it will just be DD14 and I here so it will make sense to downsize to a smaller property and in doing so, cut costs further.
Years of preparation for this time mean that although we are all devastated by this, we are not going to fall apart financially right now. I have been reading this thread for ages, and taking note, and have long been a fan of the OS board, and it is a great deal of help.

So sorry to hear that Tessasmum. My only comment is perhaps wait a year or two before making the decision to move, as both you and your girls don't need any further upset at the moment.

If the place is mortgaged, will insurance perhaps take care of future repayments, and alleviate the need to move?

[Deleted User]

GQ we have very successfully overwintered things outside, we've grown land cress, endive, mizuna greens, radiccio, chicory,japanese mustard, rocket and they all survive very well outside on the plot here in the south of england. In the polytunnel we overwinter beetroot, hispi cabages, parsley, which is nice for the vitamins in January/February,and even carrots so you might find that pots of carrots would 'hold' in the coldframe for harvesting in the late winter. The other way you could store crops it have a go at a clamp, grow beet, carrots etc and harvest and clamp them on the lottie? and parsnips, winter cabbage, kale,purple sprouters and leeks will all stand out in anything the british weather could throw at them.