Preparing for Winter V

weenancyinAmerica

Laura Elsewhere - Thank you for letting me know the author. By the way, you are one of the people I admire most.

PipneyJane

jozbo said:

Popping in to say hello. Appreciating everyone’s tips and am avidly making notes.
been sowing some kale and onions this afternoon in our little raised bed.
put a couple of bits on eBay.
Need to do a stocktake of all of our household and food preps, has been dwindling this month as I’m between pay packets so it’s been a case of dipping into our stores quite a bit.
Need to apply for the working from home tax relief linked to above, I’d forgotten about this but should be possible to get the discount through my paye.
Have a bit of renovation work to do on the stairwell, was let down by plasterer who was going to skim but now thinking about either insulated plasterboard or a thermal paper both on a diy basis. It’s a very cold external wall. Any ideas? 

We have insulated plasterboard on the external wall in our dining area.  It makes a massive difference.  I can directly compare it to the hall/stairs, which didn’t get insulated plasterboard applied but are on the same external wall and are much colder to the touch. 

HTH

- Pip

PipneyJane

3secondmemory said:

Check out the millets closing down sale! 

They have the small .7L wide neck food flasks and the slim 1.4L flasks reduced atm. 

The food flask keeps food hot for 15 hours - long enough to cook a stew! I found recipes for porridge, soups, pasta, noodles grains and even bread and butter pudding! 

The larger water flask will be ideal for reducing the number of times I need to boil the kettle (and in case of power cuts) 

I’ve dusted out my trusty old camping gas cooker but it’s worth noting that the camping gas canisters have been delisted in many stores as ‘seasonal’ - online places are charging silly money. 

Just thinking ahead 

Also, I usually buy the barista style coffee in tins when it’s on offer (£2.50 for 100 g) I saw that Tesco’s have 1kg jars of Dowe Egberts instant for a tenner. I’m tempted to get a couple just because of the jars! I’m not advocating panic buying - one for now and one in the cupboard. I’d hope that would last me into the New Year. 

Wait a minute!  Millets have gone bust?  Or is that just the regular “JD Sports Sale-That’s-Not-A-Sale”?

I am a big advocate of Douwe Egberts coffee jars as storage jars.  All my spices are in them. The really big ones make great cookie jars for presents (filled, of course).  The coffee is very good, too....

- Pip

PipneyJane

This may be the wrong place to ask this question, but what are you planting for winter veg?  And what would you suggest for me?  I have two beds to clear this weekend - one held peas, the other sweetcorn - and haven’t a clue what to plant in their place. Both raised beds are a square metre in size.  My preference is to sew directly into the beds.  (I’m lazy.). We’re in outer London, if that helps.

We already have a smaller bed planted up with 6 broad beans, which are now 6 inches in height.   That bed was started from seed 2 weeks ago.

- Pip

Primrose

Pipney Jane   - have you ever tried growing Swiss Chard?  It's like a more robust version of spinach and if you sow now or can get some seedlings from a garden centre it's a valuable winter hardy crop.   We use the young leaves in mixed green salads all year round and the good thing from our point of view is that the pigeons and other birds seem to leave it along.

If you can sow now in punnets under cover to give the seeds a good chance of getting going you might get a winter crop later this year.  It's pretty frost hardy - may droop a bit in a heavy frost but always recovers. 

Grabs39

Normally I don’t grow over winter, but I’ve lost all faith in our Just in Time reliant society.  I’m not exactly out hoarding loo roll and pasta, and don’t think we’ll ever starve, but I don’t think it’s beyond the realms of possibility that we might go a few days or a couple of weeks without fresh produce in the supermarkets.

I’ve just started pea shoots in the conservatory and if all goes well I’ll sow more every few weeks which should at least give me some greenery through winter.

I have two ropey kale plants - they really didn’t do well this year but I’ll try and give them some TLC.  I’ve sown some more which should give me some baby leafs at least.

Ive also sown some lettuce for baby leafs.

I’m digging another veg bed this weekend - I’ll put some cauliflowers in for early summer veg.

Jellytotts

I've just planted out some cauli for spring, I've got winter hardy spring onions in, they've been sewn in weekly batches so the first lot will be ready next week.  I've got beetroots in which should just about get there before the frosts hit.  Broad beans went in this morning for early spring too.  I put chard in a raised bed around 4 weeks ago and it's now at the "could pick the small leaves" stage. Love chard it's such a good all rounder, baby leaves in a salad/sandwich and thicker stemmed leaves steamed or added to slow cooked meals. The plants tend to produce for a good couple of years too if you cut them back well.

cornishchick

PipneyJane said:

This may be the wrong place to ask this question, but what are you planting for winter veg?  And what would you suggest for me?  I have two beds to clear this weekend - one held peas, the other sweetcorn - and haven’t a clue what to plant in their place. Both raised beds are a square metre in size.  My preference is to sew directly into the beds.  (I’m lazy.). We’re in outer London, if that helps.

We already have a smaller bed planted up with 6 broad beans, which are now 6 inches in height.   That bed was started from seed 2 weeks ago.

- Pip

I have some swiss chard growing in my hall window in a small house plant self-watering trough, there are about 5 plants in there and they have been in there since last summer, looks pretty and I snip off a few leaves every few days for salad or cooking.
There is mostly just me to feed but it's been lovely. the year we had the problems with salad and peppers? I had quick growing salad leaves in there and had been experimenting with growing peppers in the same window as it gets sun all day.  

Laura_Elsewhere

@weenancyinAmerica, good lord! Thankyou... I've been enjoying your posts too

@PipneyJane - I was all behindhand and didn't get my winer veg sown in time - BUT I popped into B&Q two weeks ago and they were selling off very feeble, weedy, overgrown, leggy vegetables for a quid a tray instead of three quid, and I talked hem into 6 trays for a fiver (always worth trying!), and although I know I won't get eg a cauliflower head planting them out this many months late, they are already putting out new leaf in just one week in the ground, so at the very least I should get plenty of leaves to use for soups, or as leafy veg - cauliflower, brussels sprouts, red curly kale, green curly kale, and purple sprouting - all planted in closer than they 'should' be and weeks and weeks later than they 'should' be, but for a late-starting winter-bed it should be worth doing! 
Plant brassicas really really firmly into the ground, really lean on the soil with both hands, and lay twiggy branches over the top to deter cats and squirrels and pigeons... 

pollyanna_26

Laura_Elsewhere said:

@weenancyinAmerica, good lord! Thankyou... I've been enjoying your posts too

@PipneyJane - I was all behindhand and didn't get my winer veg sown in time - BUT I popped into B&Q two weeks ago and they were selling off very feeble, weedy, overgrown, leggy vegetables for a quid a tray instead of three quid, and I talked hem into 6 trays for a fiver (always worth trying!), and although I know I won't get eg a cauliflower head planting them out this many months late, they are already putting out new leaf in just one week in the ground, so at the very least I should get plenty of leaves to use for soups, or as leafy veg - cauliflower, brussels sprouts, red curly kale, green curly kale, and purple sprouting - all planted in closer than they 'should' be and weeks and weeks later than they 'should' be, but for a late-starting winter-bed it should be worth doing! 
Plant brassicas really really firmly into the ground, really lean on the soil with both hands, and lay twiggy branches over the top to deter cats and squirrels and pigeons... 

  We get some pigeons but also a lot of sea birds here who are real scavengers. I used to put twiggy branches down until I noticed the cat who ruled the house had started sitting on them hoping to bag himself a rather large bird. One of the uses of holly is replacing twigs with prickly holly bits. He sulked for weeks until he forgot it had ever happened.

pollyx