The highs and lows of growing your own dinner 2015

Bee70

I'm going to try to finish the last of the potato bed this week - I have the same problem of couch grass, mixed with docks. It has taken me 3 weeks to nearly get that bed dug over.
The pond is neerly full now though, so I've ordered the plants and I'm picking up some logs at the weekend to make a lovely place that frogs will want to live. Plenty of slugs waiting to be eaten!

unrecordings

Had a satori moment on the peas front - growing Blauwschokker (my favourite) with Ambassador is a complete mismatch - they grow to different heights. I think I have the mice to thank for helping me on that one. I've had some carrot seed in a bed since the end of February, at the weekend I officially gave up on it and planned a replacement crop (a shed load of spring onions seemed a good idea) - since then a neat little line of something or other has popped up - think it could be my carrots around a month late. In other news Cat has fallen out with the squirrels finally (they did kick over and smash my potted Bergamot this morning). Sweet Woodruff Schnapps almost ready to taste - if it's good I'll be picking yet more Woodruff this weekend

Happygreen

unrecordings wrote: »

Had a satori moment on the peas front - growing Blauwschokker (my favourite) with Ambassador is a complete mismatch - they grow to different heights. I think I have the mice to thank for helping me on that one. I've had some carrot seed in a bed since the end of February, at the weekend I officially gave up on it and planned a replacement crop (a shed load of spring onions seemed a good idea) - since then a neat little line of something or other has popped up - think it could be my carrots around a month late. In other news Cat has fallen out with the squirrels finally (they did kick over and smash my potted Bergamot this morning). Sweet Woodruff Schnapps almost ready to taste - if it's good I'll be picking yet more Woodruff this weekend

unrecordings, tell me more about the woodruff schnapps - I just discovered some in my garden!

Mice seem to be bad around here this year, I'm about to give up on beans as I find them dug up and half eaten each morning :mad:

Dizzy_Ditzy

Another one here who is sick of digging. No matter how deep you dig, no matter how throughly you remove the soil into the wheelbarrow and sift through it all by hand, removing the roots and crushing the big claggy bits into the finest soil you have ever seen, you STILL end up with bindweed and couch grass springing up. Always in between stuff you've already planted too :mad:

I've got one more tray of maincroppers to go in, but that's at the other site and it's much, much better in terms of weeds in the beds there.

But on the upside, I'm getting 3 eggs every 2 days from my lovely girls so far, but im impatient for two more to start laying :rotfl: one is still way too young so I'm not expecting her to start for at least another month.

tootallulah

Bind weed is a real problem in my garden I dig and sieve too but it comes back however planting Mexican marigolds really does help eradicate bindweed I have planted it everywhere where I cant dig and sieve because of planting. It takes a couple of seasons but it is effective. You still get a bit of bindweed but nothing like it was before.

Kantankrus_Mare

My sympathies with the bindweed and couchgrass.

Have had my allotment for 10 years and its looking the best its ever looked at the moment as I am on a weeks hol and managed to get all my raised beds weeded and the gravel in between them.

I still have two areas though that probably are a quarter of my allotment with lots of couchgrass. Have been trying for the last few years to get on top of it and while its better than it was......I am reluctant to plant anything knowing the horrible shoots will take over.

Will persevere.

Happygreen

Mare's tail here that's another back breaker... the roots are so fragile that each bit left in the ground grows a new head and they lodge under the heaviest stones deep down...

zafiro1984

Fortunately no bindweed but mares tail is a problem ever since I got a load of topsoil delivered - should have known better.

OOps almost forgot docks - loads of them and they are deep rooted

I have my main potatoes to go in and I find it backbreaking work I've read about a no dig method for potatoes - has anyone ever tried it and what was the outcome? The main potatoes are Sarpo Mira.

The method:-
2ins of compost on ground
cover with cardboard/thick paper - wet
put potatoes on cardboard
cover with 2ins straw/hay/hayledge
cover with 2ins compost
Add more layers (straw/compost) as plants grow.

Delivery of ballast and cement for the footings to my polytunnel has just arrived this am - excited :j:j

Dizzy_Ditzy

I don't know about that method Zafiro, but my maincroppers are going in in hills this time. Previously i have just planted them flat but I saw others at one of my sites doing them in hills and figured if it was good enough for them...

My way of thinking is that when the time comes, I won't have to do much foraging for the potatoes, just flatten the hills.

Time will tell :cool:

unrecordings

Happygreen wrote: »

unrecordings, tell me more about the woodruff schnapps - I just discovered some in my garden!

Mice seem to be bad around here this year, I'm about to give up on beans as I find them dug up and half eaten each morning :mad:

It's my first attempt at this, and there's only vague information out there (that I've found so far)

I've started with 400ml of vodka to 8 wheels of woodruff leaves
Wash the leaves if necessary and pat dry
Remove leaves from the stalk (the stalk will add a bitter taste)
Use the upper leaves only and beware the dangers of adding too many leaves the Coumarin in them is toxic in high doses

Let it steep for a few days, sloshing the jar around every so often

Strain out the leaves (& bits) and drink - no need to let it sit for three months

That's the theory anyway

http://www.danish-schnapps-recipes.com/sweet-woodruff.html
http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/miscellaneous/fetch-recipe.php?rid=misc-sweet-woodruff-schnapps