Preparedness for when

moneyistooshorttomention

Kezlou,

Is a mood stabiliser something you feel that strongly in need of to put up with the side-effects it is causing you?

It must be very difficult for anyone on drugs like that to work out whether the moods are caused by having inherited poor genes in that respect (ie the low moods would be there regardless and have physical causes and even if someone had a Perfect Life - if there is such a thing:cool:). On the other hand, whether the low mood is caused by life problems and, if those problems resolved, then the low moods would no longer be there or what?

Thankfully, I've been aware during recent months (ie where moods have been sometimes zooming downwards from one hour to the next) that it was basically down to My Life, rather than anything to do with me personally iyswim. Now my house is a recognisably modern/functional house and the NFH has stopped doing her darndest to be nasty and/or awkward at every possible turn - then the self-medication I went in for during that period pretty much stopped on the dot of when the NFH stopped her stuff. I expect she will still have "a bit of a go" at intervals (as that's just how she is), but now she has scaled back a lot on the full scale war she was waging then my alcohol consumption has shot down and I'm no longer having it, except when out socially (just as I anticipated would happen in fact).

Whilst she was still Waging War then I wasn't going to beat myself round the head about needing help to keep my moods stabilised until such time as it stopped at last. Sometimes needs must...and maybe at last I can get my figure back to normal (another thing I've been waiting to do until that episode was over:cool:).

So, if the moodswings are down to how your life is (and I wouldn't blame you a bit for feeling like that, from what you've said about your life) then is there anything else you can use instead of drugs to try and even them out a bit?

kezlou

Thank you so much mitstm I really appreciate your advice regarding medication.
One of the reasons im trying the prescription medication route is that I feel it is right to do at this point in time. Normally yoga, medatation and the homeopathic for have sustained me. But recent developments have made me reassess my current situation.


I'm still doing everything I normally do, I find meditation is very beneficial and really helps. I have to admit if the side effects have not calmed down I'm coming off them.
Its so hard finding a balance with which to function.

kezlou

Ooo GQ, thank you for the info, I knew about peas and nitrogen pockets but never about runner beans and peanuts. The soil here is terrible and quite strange. Majority clay, then other parts sand and a heck of a lot of bricks.
We lifted up a part of paving slabs so just mud underneath I've tried growing grasses on the patch and no luck so far.
Couldn't leave the slabs as they far too unsafe.

Have you tried the three sisters system? Squash, peas and corn?
Can peanuts be grown in the uk?

One thing which I found worked well was strawberries, basil and tomatoes grown together. Smell was to die for but for some reasons the bugs went for the two and left soft fruit alone. Never figured out why though

[Deleted User]

Our surgery are allowed to let you have 3 months worth of meds but normally only give 2 months. I put in the request when I start my last pack and the prescription is to the chemist the next day. I've had a couple of strength changes so I've been able to build up a little stash and can take 2 rather than 1 tablet (at the GPs suggestion) rather than dispose of them. That's how I've got and maintain 6 months worth.

GreyQueen

kezlou wrote: »

Ooo GQ, thank you for the info, I knew about peas and nitrogen pockets but never about runner beans and peanuts. The soil here is terrible and quite strange. Majority clay, then other parts sand and a heck of a lot of bricks.
We lifted up a part of paving slabs so just mud underneath I've tried growing grasses on the patch and no luck so far.
Couldn't leave the slabs as they far too unsafe.

Have you tried the three sisters system? Squash, peas and corn?
Can peanuts be grown in the uk?

One thing which I found worked well was strawberries, basil and tomatoes grown together. Smell was to die for but for some reasons the bugs went for the two and left soft fruit alone. Never figured out why though

Sounds like you have an interesting set of soil problems there. My allotment gardening constantly turns up glass fragments, rusty nails, brickbats, 1950s lino, carpet underlay, neolithic flint tools, random bits of mystery metal, plastic, baatteries, orange binder twine, cutlery, bits of shoes and, taking the prize of Weirdest Sh*t Ever - a plastic pretend cut-glass sugar bowl, with one of its three legs missing. Quoi? :rotfl:

Soil isn't a static thing and amazing modifications are possible. You really want the bricks outta there (new build home?) and then add lots and lots of organic material.

I do know about the three sisters but it's really part of another eco-system, that of the Americas. Corn is on the edge of its eco niche in the UK, our summers aren't really long enough between frosts and hot enough for it. Some squash are possible, but they don't seem to do particularly well; I have tried them. They're great fun and run all over the place.

Erm, the vines they grow on run all over the place, I mean; the squash themselves are pretty sedentary. Squash take up a lot of space.

There was a fad in the 1970s of children growing peanuts in flowerpots indoors, I don't think they like our climate, too cold and damp.

It sounds as if your soil will need a lot of work (i.e. digging with a fork) to loosen it up. Would it be possible to get some of that sand into the very clay-y areas? The trouble with clay is that it sets like concrete when it's dry and doesn't have enough space between the different bits of the soil for rainwater to find its way down easily and for plant roots to grow. You can also have the phenomenon of a buried layer of hard-panned soil, which is fairly likely if it was a building site and has had heavy machinery on it.

My allotment site has been allotments since between WW1 and WW2, prior to that it was farmland. The soil is silty (i.e. has some clay in it) over pure yellow sand. I can always tell where the moles have been as they drag the different-coloured subsoil up into the upper soil layers. In geological time, what is now at the top of a slope above the river was actually the river bed.

I haven't kept an exact tally but on my plot, I have added about 20 tonnes of manure and a similar total of spent barley grains from the organic brewery (can't get these any more, regrettably) and that hasn't even covered the whole 300 sq m of the plot. Soil is hungry and needs lots of stuff.

Dunno if you like broad beans, they're one of the veg people love/ loathe, but they're great to grow, pretty deep rooted, fix nitrogen, are beloved of bees and can be planted about now. Poke a hole in the ground with a stick and drop a bean into it, very easy crop.

Karmacat

My soil is very clay-y ... I *do* like broad beans, so I'll take you up on that tip, thanks GQ.

GreyQueen

Karmacat wrote: »

My soil is very clay-y ... I *do* like broad beans, so I'll take you up on that tip, thanks GQ.

Broad beans are a very polarising crop, people who like them really love 'em and people who don't screw up their faces in disgust. No one I've ever heard comes out with Oh broad beans? They're OK, I suppose, not my favourite, but....... *shrugs*

Personally, I think this broad bean prejudice needs to be overcome. I go botanising among the beans, there's usually at least 4 species of bumble bees, plus honey bees, in there. The perfume of the flowers is rather lovely. Plus I can grow them taller than many a person, and eyeball height on myself. The autumn sown ones have been sitting peacefully around the 5 inch tall mark for about 3 months and will soon start to accelerate towards the heavens.

Proud gardener moment; my broad beans have been the subject of green-eyed envy from fellow allotmenteers and the cause of wonder in some passers-by. About the easiest thing you could grow, other than tired.

[Deleted User]

Part of prepping is being on good terms with your aquaintance, a much more helpful state of affairs than being at loggerheads with people. It becomes more apparent to me as time goes by that there will be individuals who grate on each other not to the point of open hostility but to the point of personal exasperation. This will be the case in any disparate group that find themselves united by the same event and poses a big problem. I find it very difficult sometimes to understand that other individuals might have a very different take on things from me, I like to think I'd listen but I know myself well enough to know it will be very hard. Relationships are not easy and would be made more caustic by the stress involved and might see some members of the group actually leaving to chance things alone rather than stay in the safety of numbers with folks they clash badly with. It leads me to think that perhaps in a situation of that kind some things are very much best left unsaid and keeping the peace is as praisworthy an occupation as proving yourself right. I would however keep in mind that there are usually as many sides to any story as there are prople involved and that there will be some people who will try to impose their will over others in any group. I guess that's just humankind. What would be needed is strong leadership from people who can be resilient enough to stand against dominating people but flexible enough to actually listen and act for people who are less pushy. You might stand a chance of coming through an event if you had someone like that in charge. More likely 'somones' rather than just a single person who could stop a group from factionating and forming little enclaves of discontent within the larger group. It's an odd thought that perhaps some folks would get satisfaction from stirring up bad feeling but I guess that's human nature too. I'd not really had cause to think of it before but I'd think it would be an uncomfortable feeling to be pulled up for having an opinion of my own by any individual and I don't know how I'd react in a sutiation under stress, food for thought perhaps?

GQ I LOVE BROAD BEANS!!!

greenbee

GQ - in my last garden I dug in masses of sand, compost, manure etc as it was solid clay. I also mulched with bark which then broke down and could be dug in to the soil.

This garden is somewhat variable - the plot used to have watercress beds on it, and before that was part of a civil war battle field. My neighbours have been finding bones recently... some areas are good topsoil, but most have bits of slate, brick, rubble etc not far from the surface. And at the moment, the water table is about half an inch (if that) below the surface...

I'm still at the landscaping stage (i.e. ripping out trees/hedges/shrubs to find the underlying structure of the garden so I can work out how to plan it. Hopefully it'll start to resemble a garden at some point this year.

[Deleted User]

Your rhubarb awaits you when you are ready for it!!! also more raspberries and DD1 has some thornless blackberry 'sets' frpm her plant and will pot up one of those for you if you'd fancy one?