Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

jk0 wrote: »

My galvanised steel mop bucket is so heavy, I can't lift it out of the sink when it contains water. I have had to install a 'hosepipe tap' in the utility room, so I can fill the bucket on the floor.

Aaaah, but if you don't let 'er rust, it'll see you out and be good for another few decades.

If you do have a galv pail with the bottom rusted out, you can bury them in the soil to contain plants which have root systems which run all over the place horizontally, like mint.

Just checked - bucket is holding water, yippeee!!!

DawnW

GreyQueen wrote: »

:
If you do have a galv pail with the bottom rusted out, you can bury them in the soil to contain plants which have root systems which run all over the place horizontally, like mint.

What a good idea - I am sure to have a rusty bucket around here somewhere!

short_bird

https://twitter.com/DaveThroupEA/status/510534337809637377/photo/1

ArthriticOldThing

Oooh! All this talk of galvanised buckets has taken me back to childhood. My father used to grow rhubarb in an old coal bucket once the bottom had rusted away. Very nice it was too.:)


I didn't realise you could buy rhubarb until A LOT later in life.:rotfl::rotfl:

GreyQueen

ArthriticOldThing wrote: »

Oooh! All this talk of galvanised buckets has taken me back to childhood. My father used to grow rhubarb in an old coal bucket once the bottom had rusted away. Very nice it was too.:)


I didn't realise you could buy rhubarb until A LOT later in life.:rotfl::rotfl:

What a co-incidence, Mum mentioned when she saw the bucket (am at theirs today) that you can grow rhubarb in them if the bottoms rust out.

I've had half-an-eye on something suitable to contain mint. I used to grow herbs to sell as a very small side gig and some of my stock is running around the parents' garden, so can retrieve some plants any time but don't want it in a pot on the allotment as dries out too quickly, but want it in open soil but contained.

Mint spreads like billy-o but it's only shallow so you don't need to have a very deep barrier to contain it.

If I ever get on top of the horsetails at the top of the plot, I intend to have a permanant planting of fruit bushes and herbs. Aaah, dreaming and scheming, there' an ancient proverb about if you want to be happy for a few hours - get drunk. Happy for a few years? Get married. but if you want to be happy for the rest of your life, get a garden.:rotfl:

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I have mint in part of the garden at the smallholding, which has 'run' wild, BUT I must admit I do love the smell when I walk through the grass where the mint is, it also covers the smell of my boots, especially when I have been in the pig pen lol...


how long ago did you used to sell mint/herbs GQ?? and how much did you used to charge??


I am looking around the land/garden to see what cuttings etc I can take when the time is right to get stock to sell on...

GreyQueen

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I have mint in part of the garden at the smallholding, which has 'run' wild, BUT I must admit I do love the smell when I walk through the grass where the mint is, it also covers the smell of my boots, especially when I have been in the pig pen lol...


how long ago did you used to sell mint/herbs GQ?? and how much did you used to charge??


I am looking around the land/garden to see what cuttings etc I can take when the time is right to get stock to sell on...

Almost 20 years ago and I used to charge 50p for a bit of mint potted on into a wee pot/ yoghurt pot. A bigger plant was £1.

Small herbs at small prices, cheap enough that people just have them if they want them. Did used to get ticked at people who'd just bruise the leaves to smell the scent and then walk off with no intention of buying; imagine how much damage a few of them can do to your stock!

ETA; strawberry runners planted on and grown on from one year to another sell well. Strawbs pup like spider plants but sell for a lot more; the trick is in the time they take to raise to market, which is why they're the price they are, not any degree of difficulty. Pot some runners on about now and flog 'em next Spring.

Mint is very very easy but you can get added value for the more exotic mints which people may not have at home. Foodies/ gardening nuts can get a bit happy about pineapple mint and eau-de-cologne mint. Only one which ever gave me grief was pineapple mint (varigated) which didn't enjoy the usual vigour and ease of the other mints. B*gger would disappear at the drop of a hat.

Another trick to make easy money is to sow trays with french marigolds*. They make a lot of seeds and you can easiy harvest them, sprinkle them onto a tray of wet compost and sell on the point of flowering. Good for adding to bootsale stock/ garden gate sales.

A rellie of mine sells plants at the garden gate and also propagates stuff to sell at the booters. Winter pansies are always a hit but you need to be able to have them under cover as their big beautiful velvety faces get bashed by rain and don't look at their best.

This rellie admits sometimes buying something for 50p from someone else's garden gate tablesale and selling at their own for £2-£3.

They're sly in the countryside. Or some of my people are, anyway.

One of my distant rellies is deriving great amusement in his overly-gentrified village of posh incomers by keeping a tractor in his front garden. Not using it, just keeping it around to rile the rich Lunnoners. It's a tough job but someone has got to do it.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

* I got my original stock of french marigold seeds from a municipal flower-bed which had gone to seed in the business district. Went up there and pulled off the dead flowerheads and put them into a bag. At lunchtime. No one batted an eyelid; a day or so later all the gone-over marigolds were ripped out and the beds replanted.

Oh, and other marigold species and tagetes are similarly easy-peasy and freely seed. People seem to like to buy stuff that they can see is on the cusp of flowering and just bung in.

elona

We have estate agents arriving on Wednesday so we can put the house up for sale and spent yesterday emptying all the kitchen cupboards, throwing out stuff, washing shelves down and reorganising.

Had fantastic news on Friday when we found out DH will be suitable for radiotherapy - and even better - they are going to aggressively treat the tumour and use chemo as well :j At least they have stopped using the word palliative which makes us feel there is a fighting chance.

The next seven weeks should be interesting to say the least. Our house up for sale. dd buying a house of her own in the next few weeks, another DD getting married in November and youngest now in final year at uni as well as daily hospital appointments for out patient treatment as well as the task of finding a bungalow we like.

Just moved bedroom furniture around and cleared up a bit and will try to get as much done as I can before hospital treatments start on Tuesday.

Hugs to all

ArthriticOldThing

Great news Elona.

[Deleted User]

ELONA, that is the best possible news you could possibly share with us petal, thank any deity you want to but I'm thanking them all!!! Good luck, Lyn xxx.