Preparing for Winter V

PipneyJane

squirrelgirl said:

boultdj said:

We had our flat roof done 2 weeks ago, was warmer when we had the couple of cooler day's last week, hope it's the same for you as well squirrelgirl.

Thanks boultdj!! That's really encouraging news! 😊 
I've just been on a few gardening sites and discovered that you can use vinegar to make soil acidic (I honestly thought my friend was winding me up! 🙈) - as I already have some multi purpose and plenty of vinegar, I'm going to try it -  it will save money 😉 

I'll be interested to hear the result of your experiment.  I had three blueberry plants delivered yesterday, too, probably from the same place as you did. (Their initials are T & M.)  DH is heading out to B&Q tonight to buy ericaceous compost.

- Pip

MingVase

Do blueberries need special compost or soil?

missychrissy

That’s a useful fact to know that you can add vinegar to compost to make it ericacious.
 I thought I was on a roll with jobs today: fed the dog, myself and the birds; walked the dog; washed the dog’s bottom (don’t ask, dog owners will know); racked off 15 galls of wine - I have to run a bit off to test the SG (specific gravity) and rather than unscrew lid of the fermenter and pour it back in I drank it. I record everything in a book, taste,clarity, SG and whether it’s still fermenting. I worked out that the alcohol content of one was 13.26 but still fermenting and another 15.9 per cent. After that I needed a sit down and fell asleep until my youngest son arrived and woke me up.That will teach me. Even just 30 mls of 15.9 per cent is pretty lethal. I must exercise more restraint.
It was me that suggested steri strips squirrelgirl. I have 9 grandchildren so they are an absolute essential in my medicine and first aid cupboard.
The rest of the day has gone to pot but I did manage to set up a hanging basket of cherry tomatoes for my son.  I still need to set one up for myself. I’m going to float through the rest of the day now and leave the home brew alone!

[Deleted User]

Sounds good to me missychrissy! 😂 
Just to be clear - you dilute the vinegar in water and then water the compost with it 😉 (I don't want to be responsible for anyone's plants dying! 🙈)
Pipney, yep - same place! 😊 I ordered a deal they had, blueberries, strawberries and clematis a while back - still waiting for the clematis though...Ming, they like acidic soil so ericaceous compost is normally used. 
I made a pineapple, chilli and chocolate mint 'jelly' last week (or possibly the week before - I'm getting really bad at remembering since lockdown! 😂) and it just hasn't set - I was looking through my cupboards to find out if I had any pectin (I don't!) and when I saw my agar in there I decided to find out if that will work 🤔 quick search on the internet suggests that it will! 🙌 As I have loads of agar it will really help with my winter preserving preps and keep the cost down so double bonus! 😊

[Deleted User]

Well it's the middle of June and reading 28degrees in the sun at 9 in the morning! so it's a really good time to think about winter! It's a small thing but one that I love to do and that's to start collecting seed heads and dried grasses to have in a vase in the colder months when flowers are so expensive.  My neighbour has self sown 'honesty' (lunaria) all through her side border and I love them so I'm going to ask her if I can harvest some to dry properly, they turn into cream papery discs when they are dry and are beautiful and I've been keeping my eye out for wild poppies for poppy heads, the balloon heads from 'niger' that is always bird sown and dries beautifully, if we get onions or leeks go up to seed in the garden they make a lovely 'bobble' skeleton when the seed has formed and they all go together in a big vase and are very pretty and FREE! lots of other things make nice dry displays and you can spray them to your colour scheme, or gold/silver for Christmas for the cost of a can of spray paint. I always pick up pine cones, conkers, acorns etc and have them in a bowl too and again it's all free for the taking, cheers up a winter room as does a vase of wild berries if they stay on the bushes and later on some old mans beard (wild clematis) with its fluffy white seeds.  So much out in the countryside that doesn't cost a penny but brings much pleasure.

Laura_Elsewhere

I read somewhere to pop the collected pine-cones on a baking tray and stick them in the oven when you've turned it off, just to make sure you aren't bringing any little 'visitors' into your home!  

I love Honesty - pretty purple-pink flowers very early in the spring, and the lovely silvery seed-papers in autumn... when you prepare them, keep the seeds and scatter them next time you go for a walk! 

Oh and NEVER bring a bullrush home for display - I knew someone who did that and overnight in the warmth it exploded and the whole sitting room was covered in tiny fluffy seed-fluff stuff next morning  

missychrissy

When I was walking the dog yesterday I noticed what a lot of wild flowers there were. I’ve decided today to take a bucket of water and some scissors and collect enough to do a small flower arrangement. The were also lots of different grasses and foliage so should be interesting.  I know it’s not preparing for winter but I’ve got some pedestal bowels (£1 each in CS) that I do Christmas arrangements in. I too spray fir cones, acorns etc as well as baubles, flowers and candles in them but they might look good with something in the rest of the year not just at Christmas.

silvasava

Very interested about diluted vinegar for ericaceous plants. I've 2 blueberries that I've had for about 6 years, both of them crop heavily and need very little attention apart from plenty of water as they are a sort of bog plant. My soil is clay so they are in pots, same as my azaleas and rhododendrons......I'm a glutton for punishment lol. 

I had trouble with my climbing beans germinating, finally got some and they're happily zooming up the bean mesh now  

alfsmum

boultdj said:

I've just been gifted a slow cooker, same brand and size of the one I already have.  Said to other half I'll use that one for doing sweet stuff/ bread in. Which should fill us up in winter as well as helping heat the place up.

If we get power cuts, we'll be going to bed, I'll grab the furry one and take her with me, seeing as the heating uses gas and electric, so we will lose both, we do have a gas fire but why stay up watching that burn, especially at the price of gas.  

Plus side, we now have a big 3 litre pump action flask, so we tend to fill that first thing in the morning and use it through the rest of the day. 

boultdj could I ask what brand of flask you have? I’m looking for something that will keep water really hot, hot enough for numerous cups of tea during the day

boultdj

Crystals is the name on the flask, got it off Amazon, and they do different sizes, the one I've got hold's 3 full kettles worth of water, any left over in the evening goes in the wash bowl for washing the pot's with, this weather we are using it for cold water, for the dilute pop. hth