Daydream fund challenge part 4 4 October 2014 at 10:37AM edited 4 October 2014 at 12:24PM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 10.4K replies 816K views

Rummer

Great photos Dave! 

I have now finished all the preparation work in the garden and am waiting patiently for it to be warm enough to get things planted out. The window ledges and greenhouse are filling up nicely with seedlings and we will soon run out of space. The children now just sigh when they see more things being sown!
As usual I got bit carried away in February and planted my tomatoes, some of them are now starting to flower, oops. Maybe they will give me a very early crop! There are plenty that will come into their own later in the year. How many cucumber plants and aubergine plants would  you grow to supply a family of 3?

Davesnave

We manage on 3 or 4 cucumber plants and have surplus to sell/give away.

Sorry, I don't grow aubergines, as I'm the only one who would eat them, but with courgettes, 4 give us more than we need. I have been banned from growing more than 6, although Pete's pigs loved the ones I let turn into marrows last year.

This year I will try Achocha.....Someone gave me the seed. I think they'll probably be rubbish, but I won't knock something I've not tried....must Google!

RAS

RAS said:

Re the orange tips, haven't seen any this year. .. Just it's cold right now.

We obviously had a frost last night, as the young foliage on several plants in the garden is damaged. Went out to get some potted plants in the ground and saw the first male orange tip of the season. Haven't seen a female yet but heading over to the allotment after lunch.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

We've had the occasional Red Admiral and Peacock Butterflies fluttering around outside here over the last week [smug grin].

Davesnave

The Red Admiral is a migrant, but the early Peacocks have overwintered, like the ones in our hen house nest boxes, which have all flown now. I don't expect the Red Admirals to get down this way yet, but with our barmy weather, anything's possible.

Still only 2 swallows sticking around here

Pete has negotiated some more fishing for me on an interesting wiggly stretch of the river  I've lusted after since I was about 12 years old....So, almost 60 years to gain access, and now the Covid regs mean I shouldn't go!

A heads up for anyone that uses them: Premier Seeds should be back on-line this week or early next....

Rummer

Thank for that Dave, I have used them since your recommendation a few years ago, I also have used Moreveg quite a bit as they have smaller packets which lets me try more types.

Davesnave

It was DW's birthday yesterday, so after she'd dealt with about 5 hours worth of phone calls, I decided she needed a break. Took a chair down to the mini-woodland, where she could be out of signal for a while and just bird-watch in the sun:

 And what did we see there, besides one of those pheasants with a new wife? A red Admiral!

Davesnave

Oh dear, I was worried that we hadn't seen choille here for a few weeks, so I checked her profile and she's been banned!

That's better than being struck by Covid, because at least you can return from the dead on here, but without her and alfie around it's going to be quiet.

Update: there are 4 eggs in the goldfinch nest now and here are some blackbird youngsters even lower down in a mixed evergreen hedge around the nursery stand-out area. Mum and I have been exchanging looks at close range every time I've watered, but I obviously didn't put her off.....

RAS

Ratbags about choille. I do hope she is OK. It's not the easiest part of the world without the added complications of CV19 including loss of income and fluctuating supplies.
Dave, your birds are luckier than ours. I'm amazed anything survives the magpies and crows here. Not a lot of shelter  either since people started tidying things up for the in Bloom campaign.
Must get moving.

Rummer

Oh dear, what happed to Alfie?