Preparedness for when

mardatha

I read Hovel in the Hills but she was in the west, which is warmer than where I am. There was a better book about a wee farm above Loch Ness, but I forget the name of that one. I agree the secret is cover from the wind, and banks or terraces to retain the soil. I know how to do it lol I just haven't got the energy though

AnimalTribe

NUATHA thanks for the reminder about blaeberries – a woman who used to live in this house as a child came back a couple of months ago to reminisce, and told me where she used to go collecting as a child. I’m guessing late August/early September is the best time to go looking? I should have asked her.

RAS I’ve bagged a second-hand copy of the book on A..zon, and am looking forward to reading it (thank you). We used to have some decent hedges, but they were eaten by my pet goats who managed to get at them when a gate was left open accidentally. I’ve replanted some stuff as a windbreak but they’ll take a while to grow.

MrsLW – thanks too. I’ve found a copy of that book second-hand as well so I’ve ordered that also. Fat Hen was one of the ‘weed’ seeds I ordered so I’m pleased that I might be on the right lines.

MARDARTHA – Yep a lot of foraging books are heavily weighted to plants that only grow well in the South, but I still like to read them as I’m interested in all forms of economic botany (use of plants for food, medicine, manufacturing etc). As long as I don’t pay full price I don’t feel cheated.

GreyQueen

Morning all.

I've read the Hovel in the Hills and the Kitchen in the Hills and they were in a cottage on a mountainside in North Wales. Very interesting, although I did wonder what exactly Mr had done to get sacked from the day job at the mill - Mrs felt obliged to quit also. Although it makes for good reading, I think he might have been classifiable as an awkward cuss IRL.

Mardatha, I'm sure I've read that the traditional Scottish veg patch was a kaleyard with a earthern turf wall around it for shelter. Maybe something like that could be engineered by some offspring for you? You wouldn't have to grow kale in it, if you didn't want to.

I'm Dahn Sarf, and we are totally parched atm, but my site is also plagued by strong winds, so I have an ongoing tussle each year to keep runner bean structures in the vertical position. Have learned not to form them into a row, at whichever orientation to the prevailing wind, as they get hammered. Wigwams are a bit better as the wind can go through the gaps between them, but last year two wigwams required additional bracing with more poles and even pegged guylines to hold them up.

I also grow dwarf beans and broad beans but runners are my fave, so I shall continue with my (un)civil engineering * to keep them upright.

Going to the lottie this morning to prep a small area of rough ground which is currently not part of the main veg patch. Intending to dig the contents of the compost Dalek into it and reserve it for growing courgettes which I shall start off in pots today.

Even this far south, latest frosts are circa 20th May, so need to bear that in mind. This is a stressful time of year for me, as tatties will be poking out of the ground any minute and frosts are still happening occasionally.

* Thus called due to the amount of swearing under my breath attendant upon this activity.:rotfl:

nuatha

AnimalTribe wrote: »

NUATHA thanks for the reminder about blaeberries – a woman who used to live in this house as a child came back a couple of months ago to reminisce, and told me where she used to go collecting as a child. I’m guessing late August/early September is the best time to go looking? I should have asked her.

It depends how far North you are (doesn't everything) I've picked them on Dartmoor in June, in Northumberland, end of July beginning of August is about right most years. I can't remember picking them in the Highlands, but I've rarely been there over the summer months.
The good news is you have a idea of where to start looking.

daz378

enjoying some annual leave ... been to pictures today to watch latest avengers film (im a big kid) got my letter saying i will no longer work for council after June .....heres hoping for a few more years (Tupe) pay terms and conditions .... the posts about foraging as persuaded me to go into town tomorrow to look for books on the subject


take care

Ryanna2599

daz378 wrote: »

.... the posts about foraging as persuaded me to go into town tomorrow to look for books on the subject

Since starting googling about foraging I came across this free foraging book may be of interest to you and others:

http://www.wildfoodschool.co.uk/urban/wfsURBANGUIDE.pdf

thriftwizard

GQ, the rain is on its way to you... the clouds have been building all day, the drops started to spatter gently down about an hour ago and now there's that lovely smell of fresh rain on parched earth. High time, really, but I for one am sad to see the back of the sunshine & hope it's back again soon.

Crossing my fingers that the wind will stay down; our apple trees are blossoming & I don't want to lose the crop, like we did last year; high winds just stripped all the blossom from the trees. Not that we'd seen any bees anyway. But this year there have been bees (albeit not nearly as many as before) and hoverflies, so I'd just started to look forward to having some apples again when the weather turned. Ah well! Doesn't need to be warm, just not frosty or excessively windy...

GreyQueen

Yeah, we've now clouded over, the temp started dropping mid-afternoon but the clouds didn't come until much later. Must go shut some of my windows, got all 4 open to some degree as am drying laundry indoors. I could reasonably be described as a fresh air fiend, plus have an abhorrence of damp and mildew, and determined to continue to have none chez moi.

I think we'll have your rain within a few hours, gawd knows it's needed. Was talking gardening with Dad on the phone this aft and as the spuds are now up, we're hoping for more overcast weather in the next few weeks, to minimise the late frost risk.

Rang SuperGran a couple of hours ago but alas no gossip; the neighbours haven't done anything appalling that we know about for simply days. But it's a Friday night in the steaming heart of the city and I expect something exciting will happen. Hopefully it will not involve battering rams, police dogs, armed response or the polis' helicopter.

Shoebox Towers, where even the staffies are nervous..............:cool:

[Deleted User]

We clouded over a couple of hours ago and it's so cold by comparison with the temperatures of the past few days. I'm sitting here swathed in a thick throw and only just warm after a hot supper and a cup of coffee!!! Bring back the sun, I miss it already!!!

GQ He Who Knows came home from the lottie a couple of days ago and he'd had to earth up all our spuds too, they weren't there one day and all green leaved the next. Hope we don't get frosts or high winds and heavy rain to knock the blossom down either.

DawnW

GreyQueen wrote: »

Morning all.

I've read the Hovel in the Hills and the Kitchen in the Hills and they were in a cottage on a mountainside in North Wales. Very interesting, although I did wonder what exactly Mr had done to get sacked from the day job at the mill - Mrs felt obliged to quit also. Although it makes for good reading, I think he might have been classifiable as an awkward cuss IRL.

You might also enjoy Elizabeth West's other two books, Garden in the Hills and A Patch of Forest

I did have / read Kitchen in the Hills but never made anything from it, so got rid of it. I have a bit of a cookery book 'habit' and have made a rule that, if I don't make any of the recipes within a reasonable time, they have to go - after I have read them of course. Most come from charity shops anyway, so can go back there