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Preparedness for when

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  • jk0
    jk0 Posts: 3,479 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    This thread I posted on Landlordzone might interest any of you guys with Everest windows: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?72666-Everest-spares&p=585616#post585616

    I needed a new gearbox for an Everest window. Everest quoted me £220 to replace it. What a rip off eh? With a bit of trial & error, I found a similar gearbox on ebay for £4.91.
  • nuatha
    nuatha Posts: 1,932 Forumite
    NewShadow wrote: »
    Don't be silly! You're not even middle-aged yet! - Remember TPDB recon you're going to live to be atleast 120.

    That's why they're putting the retirement age unto 80. It's supposed to be 1/3 of you're life retired.

    The fact that I started working at 14, and therefore recon I'm owed 6 years on the other end of the balance sheet disregarded.

    Double checking your ancromym TPDB, gives a Google result of Termination Problems Data Base. Presumably an Actuary's hit list?
    I'm 20 years plus beyond life expectancy, does that mean I should have retired a while ago? :)
    NewShadow wrote: »
    Can anyone give me advice on what I can grow on a 6x6 patio?

    It's currently got a (very old) bike on it (which is going soon), and I need to allow enough space for the door to open (where'd that roll eye emote go anyway?)

    I'm really, really lazy.

    I've currently got a blueberry bush - it produced around 20 blueberries last year :D

    And anything I add will need to be something that's 1. happy in a tub, 2. needs effort once to prep/plant and then again to harvest.

    I was wondering about potatoes (for next year now I think?).

    Or alpine strawberries - I used to see them growing wild in mid wales.

    Blueberries require an acidic soil, might be worth feeding yours with Fish, Blood and Bone Meal along with coffee grounds. That should boost the number of berries.
    Wild (Alpine) strawberries like a slightly acid soil, so you could try them in the top of your blueberries. I used to grow them in a piece of gutter attached to the wall below my kitchen window - unfortunately the current cat herd decided that was where they'd sit to attract your attention and be let into the house.
    I originally moved the strawberries up there because they were the slugs favourite food - copper tale around your pots should solve this.
    Apart from playing with producing new potatoes out of season (my dad did this for Christmas dinner, blame him) I don't have the space to grow spuds, while they are cheap and readily available. I now concentrate on herbs, salads, soft fruit and the like. Things that are relatively expensive to buy, easy to grow and make a real impact in our diet. (I'm planning on winter squashes this year)
    Anything grown in containers will need watering (even the Welsh aren't likely to get enough rain to mean no watering) but soft fruits do well on some top dressed manure and a light prune. Currants are fiddly to harvest/prep but are delightful, gooseberries are gorgeous and raspberries are divine - brambles will take over any space (raspberries will try, but containers should solve that problem).
  • NewShadow
    NewShadow Posts: 6,858 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    nuatha wrote: »
    I'm 20 years plus beyond life expectancy.
    You're 140? :eek:
    does that mean I should have retired a while ago? :)
    I get the impression you're not the retiring type.

    Luckily I enjoy my job, but atm I'm sat here trying to avoid starting anything new. Been like this all week - one of the dangers of working from home.

    There are a few things I need to finish by Tuesday, and I just really can't get into them - think I'm a little burnt out - but, I'll get this done, and have a long weekend next weekend I think.
    along with coffee grounds.
    I have to drink more, real, coffee you say? Well, If you insist :A
    copper tape around your pots should solve this.
    Ebay?

    Thank you kindly for the advice good sir.

    So, if a couple of alpine straws go with t' blue bush, that's one pot.

    I'm thinking mint and lemon balm for a herb pot. Also musing with sage, but I know it's not as vigorous as the others in Welsh weather. That would be three plants I really like as teas.

    If I were to grow spuds in another - 40cm dia tubs, about calf hight and about half a big sack o'compost, I could probably make space for one more.

    I kinda want another vegi I think.

    Anyone know how beetroot feels about being in a pot?
    That sounds like a classic case of premature extrapolation.

    House Bought July 2020 - 19 years 0 months remaining on term
    Next Step: Bathroom renovation booked for January 2021
    Goal: Keep the bigger picture in mind...
  • nuatha
    nuatha Posts: 1,932 Forumite
    edited 1 April 2016 at 6:35PM
    NewShadow wrote: »
    You're 140? :eek:
    At 24, I was told I wouldn't live to see my 30th birthday, I'm still managing to confound medics.

    I get the impression you're not the retiring type.
    I'd love to be able to retire, spend more time on the things I really want to do. Though I'll admit I've been fortunate to arrange enjoyable work that funds the way I wish to live rather than do a job I hate. Though that may need to change, since there seems to be a drought in my usual line of work.
    Luckily I enjoy my job, but atm I'm sat here trying to avoid starting anything new. Been like this all week - one of the dangers of working from home.
    There are a few things I need to finish by Tuesday, and I just really can't get into them - think I'm a little burnt out - but, I'll get this done, and have a long weekend next weekend I think.
    I recognise that one. Sounds like time for a break.
    [

    I have to drink more, real, coffee you say? Well, If you insist :A

    Ebay?

    Thank you kindly for the advice good sir.
    I got 2 inch wide adhesive copper tape from a hardware shop - no idea what they carried it for. I also crushed some used 22mm copper tube (left over plumbing materials - from replacing central heating system) and nailed that to raised beds, both seem to have been effective in reducing the number of molluscs - unforunately not eliminating them. I'm planning on adding nematodes to the beds this year.
    Ebay should be able to supply copper tape.
    So, if a couple of alpine straws go with t' blue bush, that's one pot.

    I'm thinking mint and lemon balm for a herb pot. Also musing with sage, but I know it's not as vigorous as the others in Welsh weather. That would be three plants I really like as teas.

    Mint will take over just about any container and is very vigorous. I'd go for a plant pot (or sawn off pipe, in a larger container) to try to constrain the mint. Sage, rosemary and thyme would grow fairly well together (light, very well drained soil) though sage may be better off on a windowsill if you have a suitable one. I find basil does badly outdoors here but thrives on my kitchen windowsill (where I remember it needs watering more regularly than I do in the garden)

    If I were to grow spuds in another - 40cm dia tubs, about calf hight and about half a big sack o'compost, I could probably make space for one more.

    I kinda want another vegi I think.

    Anyone know how beetroot feels about being in a pot?

    I've grown beetroot in a container, it might help that I tend to want them fairly small for roasting (Herself doesn't like beet) so plant closer than the various guides recommend.

    Have a look at square foot gardening for ideas about what will grow together in a relatively small space - its an eye-opener for someone who grew up seeing endless well spaced regimented rows of veg. (Father was an excellent gardener and fed the whole family from a 60 foot veg garden and three greenhouses. Unfortunately I have nothing like the amount of space he had.
  • mardatha
    mardatha Posts: 15,612 Forumite
    I can't grow basil at all, sage clings to life but never comes to much, and my rosemary dies every winter. And I love herbs too.
  • GreyQueen
    GreyQueen Posts: 13,008 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 1 April 2016 at 8:29PM
    :)Mar, you're planting Mediterrean herbs up a Scottish hill, that's cruelty to dumb plants, no wonder they don't thrive.

    Nope, what you need is a sturdy traditonal brassica plant with a long history of growing in Scotlandshire. I suspect k*l* might by just the ticket.:p

    I'm growing spuds among other things on the allotment because I've plenty of space but I am establishing soft fruit brushes which will gradually take over more room. It will be a few years before they will be very productive, but you've gotta start somewhere.

    I agree with nuatha about growing things which are a premium price bought (berries and herbs) and which are verging on impossible to buy very fresh, such as runner and french beans.

    Heads up to all gardeners - Wilko have their veggie seeds at 50% off which means for their own-brand stuff, it's as cheap as 20p for a pkt of lettuce or 40p for other things. They also stock Unwins brand which I consider a bit steep even half-price so have bought some Wilko brand but will scope out Liddly this weekend as I fancy growing some of those bright yellow courgettes again this year. They're no harder to grow than bog-standard green ones but are a darned sight easier to find under the leaves.

    ETA; nuatha, when kayaking around Lake Taupo, my guide was a young man in his twenties, who was a champion kayaker back in N Ireland. He told me that when he was a young teen, a consultant cardiologist told him that if he was very careful and didn't exert himself, he might just live to see 20, but he'd be lucky and couldn't expect to live any longer. His response to that was to become a sportsman and win prizes.

    He's only one of the examples; I know someone else who was supposed to die shortly after her birth according to the medics and who is presently drawing her pension.

    Keep on keeping on, is my philosophy.
    Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
    John Ruskin
    Veni, vidi, eradici
    (I came, I saw, I kondo'd)
  • nuatha wrote: »
    I'm 20 years plus beyond life expectancy
    NewShadow wrote: »
    You're 140? :eek:

    You might want to check out the definition of life expectancy. :D
    Wikipedia wrote:
    Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of their birth, their current age and other demographic factors including sex.
  • nuatha
    nuatha Posts: 1,932 Forumite
    Bedsit_Bob wrote: »
    You might want to check out the definition of life expectancy. :D

    Medical condition that had and has a very poor survival rate. There is a difference between general species expectancy and definable expectations based on the same conditions in other members of that species.
    When I was 24 the prognosis was wheelchair bound within two years and not expected to live till 30.
    I'm stubborn, though I was dependent on walking sticks for a while I resisted using a wheelchair and am still around.
    Admittedly I could be in better health and have had several other near misses, as well as another non related limiting condition, but generally I get by on stubborn.
  • GreyQueen
    GreyQueen Posts: 13,008 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    :) Good for you, nuatha. I should have died in the 1990s, if nature had been allowed to take its course instead of modern medicine supplying me with a few tablets a day.

    Just think, you lot could have been spared 'meeting' me online. That's one of the reasons I get a little testy IRL with the dippy-hippy element who've not known real illness and think you can survive on rescue remedy, green tea and pure thoughts.

    I like green tea. I also like stuff which works in double-blind trials without a placebo effect in sight.:rotfl:
    Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
    John Ruskin
    Veni, vidi, eradici
    (I came, I saw, I kondo'd)
  • nuatha
    nuatha Posts: 1,932 Forumite
    GreyQueen wrote: »
    :) Good for you, nuatha. I should have died in the 1990s, if nature had been allowed to take its course instead of modern medicine supplying me with a few tablets a day.

    Just think, you lot could have been spared 'meeting' me online. That's one of the reasons I get a little testy IRL with the dippy-hippy element who've not known real illness and think you can survive on rescue remedy, green tea and pure thoughts.

    I like green tea. I also like stuff which works in double-blind trials without a placebo effect in sight.:rotfl:

    I'm a big fan of modern medicine and you've just given me another reason to sing its praises.
    Every few years I read that they are real close to a breakthrough and one of these days they'll be right. Meanwhile I'll plod on.

    I know exactly what you mean regarding the dippy-hippy types. One got forcefully evicted from my home when he told a friend who was dying with an untreatable cancer that he only had to wish himself better - fairly sure the green tea was optional. If wishing could have done the job my friend would still be around (and the dippy hippy wouldn't be).

    I've always thought that impure thoughts were better for my morale, and morale by and large is what keeps me going - it fuels the stubborn.

    Not sure if I did actually say it - been a bit distracted lately. Really good to read you news earlier this week, though you are still left sorting out the real cause, good luck with that.
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