Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

been thinking and talking to a friend about what to sow, etc, and she suggested I get the peas that grow tall(climbing peas), she did mention Alderman, but I have just gone onto the real seed company and there are a few rare ones etc..


Just wondering if anyone has used this company, and any of these peas??


http://www.realseeds.co.uk/peas.html

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Has anyone tried growing onions from seed?

You have probably forgotten but I have a few hundred of the Real Seeds 'Bijou' peas for you. I was going to send them in the New Year when I send out the non-seeding comfrey to anyone who wants them......but I can send 'em earlier if you want.;)

If they have a fault, it's that they don't grip on to what they're climbing especially well, and they do get tall.

I've been growing onions from seed for a couple of years. They've been OK, but I've not had keepers like the old Sturon from sets we used to grow 20 years ago. This year they were especially bad, so they're finished already, half going to waste.

If you are growing from seed, go for smaller, tighter onions, not the big beggars like Ailsa Craig.

I feel a bit of a fraud on the storm front. We had a windy, wet day, and around tea time it was fairly howling in the chimney, but when we went into town at around 17.45 to a late chiropractor appt for DW, it was almost over. There was just a lot of surface water and some pieces of tree to dodge. When we went out again to a local get- together, things were calm. I didn't even wear a coat.

Here's hoping those in less substantial accommodation are OK this morning. T'was obviously much worse elsewhere.

RAS

Davesnave wrote: »

You have probably forgotten but I have a few hundred of the Real Seeds 'Bijou' peas for you.

Ooooohhh. Could I scavenge 20 seeds?

Could swapsie some purple flowered oldies like Commander (purple podded) or Carlin (drying pea) or maybe Golden Sweet?

Davesnave

RAS wrote: »

Ooooohhh. Could I scavenge 20 seeds?

Could swapsie some purple flowered oldies like Commander (purple podded) or Carlin (drying pea) or maybe Golden Sweet?

Sure. I still have your address from the time you sent the Sharks (which I still have a few of as well!)

I will have to look at those 3, but off the top of my head, Golden Sweet sounds good.

I could do all the swapping in January when things are quiet.

Davesnave

Just selected our Christmas tree. As usual, we had the owner cut it for us on the spot. Lovely, and no one will get fresher than that, unless they grow their own.

Despite driving half a mile, passing through a small pine wood, dropping about 300' and then crossing a river which is running hard, I could still just hear Mr Dog's dogs over the noise of the water! :mad:

I don't think I can kid myself that growing a few Leylandii, Western Red Cedars or Laurels behind their cages will make a huge difference, but I suppose it could be looked upon as some sort of public service.

lostinrates

Did you grow those Christmas potatoes davesnave? I think that long weather prediction wasn't too bad.

For what its worth, my finger tips are burning a bit to not, in accord so the forecast, but still m primary cold indicator is not in full mast, so although its obviously much colder and ip don't doubt we'll freeze tonight I cannot get too excited about it yet.


For the first time today the horses are eating the hay put out....latest ever, but then there are half the number this year.

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

Did you grow those Christmas potatoes davesnave? I think that long weather prediction wasn't too bad.

It was Christmas tomatoes, but I thought I'd reported they weren't going to make it. Maybe I just told someone in RL and thought I'd said it here.

Whatever.... the Floridity cuttings taken in July and grown through the autumn were a dead loss. If they'd been Gardeners' Delight I'm sure they'd have been fine, but I scrapped them. Floridity is a wonderful tomato, but it is demanding. We'll have Christmas Oca and Yacon instead.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

It was Christmas tomatoes, but I thought I'd reported they weren't going to make it. Maybe I just told someone in RL and thought I'd said it here.

Whatever.... the Floridity cuttings taken in July and grown through the autumn were a dead loss. If they'd been Gardeners' Delight I'm sure they'd have been fine, but I scrapped them. Floridity is a wonderful tomato, but it is demanding. We'll have Christmas Oca and Yacon instead.

Wow, tomatoes? I cannot even imagine the delights of a poly tunnel! :rotfl:

lostinrates

My taste has left.

I cannot tell is this is nice or awful. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brass-And-Cast-Iron-Fire-Basket-Grate-in-Carmarthenshire-/121236335722?pt=UK_HG_FireplacesMantelpieces_RL&hash=item1c3a3fac6a

Its too far or me to get, but I like the colour.


Tis one wouldn't suit my house at all, but I love the idea of something mythological
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/hand-forged-wrought-iron-fire-basket-wood-burner-stove-Dragon-Design-/181267020516?pt=UK_HG_FireplacesMantelpieces_RL&hash=item2a345b3ae4

RAS

lostinrates wrote: »

Wow, tomatoes? I cannot even imagine the delights of a poly tunnel! :rotfl:

I have one solitary remaining tomato left that probably needs eating before I go away. Had the rest last weekend.

Just the trusses grabbed quickly from the outdoor plants when the first signs of blight showed on the leaves and ripened indoors. Lost a few but about 95% were fit for salads when they ripened.

In blight-free years in the past I have done even better.

What I cannot get is Dave's early ripeners withot a tunnel or greenhouse.

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

Wow, tomatoes? I cannot even imagine the delights of a poly tunnel! :rotfl:

Ooooh no! Not in the polytunnel until Christmas! :eek:

The poly has been down to -4c already this autumn, although that hasn't killed any of the green salad leafy things in there. I think it might have bumped off tomatoes though. Those were safely removed to the ramshackled conservatory on the back of the house, which adjoins the living room and gains much warmth from it.

It rarely hits zero in the conservatory before Christmas, so that's where I keep the few very temperature-sensitive plants I have, like pelargoniums, an alyogyne

http://www.grevilleanursery.com.au/kbm/products/Alyogyne-West-Coast-Gem-150mm.html

and a few others.

The thin skin of a polytunnel in the countryside isn't much defence against frost, but it keeps plants in pots from getting both cold and very wet; that's the combination that kills.

In the city, we had a 30' x 6' cold frame, just high enough to crouch inside, set to the south of a leylandii hedge. We used to keep all manner of tenderish things in there. It was open to the air at the back, so there was ventilation aplenty and everything was kept very dry. It worked there.

One day I might build a kind of greenhouse inside the polytunnel to do the overwintering, but DW tells me I'm building a separate one of those from the glass we recover from the conservatory.......:think: