THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Margaret54

GreyQueen hi I thought of you while slug hunting this morning. I must have picked up 8 of the little pests. Was looking to pick some of the strawberries, and sure enough some of them especially the fat juicy ones were eaten through .Arrrrrr! So cross. My dd hast started to grow strawberries recently and is so proud of the crop she has now. I have bought her a little book on **azon very cheaply about growing fruit vegs in a small space so she will be pleased to receive it. The little grandson s 2 and a half and he helped her plant the strawberry plants at the time and she wants him to understand where some food comes from. I am so pleased that at least one of the children have followed in my footsteps She gets so much pleasure from it. I am only learning too I go out to check on the plants every day and it is like caring for little ones:)

GreyQueen

Good on ya for slug-catching, Margaret.

When digging through the area where the giant chards had stood yesterday, I found a ball of either slug or snail eggs, like little pearls glued together in a lump.

Aww, baby gastropods, how cute. I put them on the bird table up there, which is what I do with soil-dwelling pests like leatherjackets etc. Birdies know to keep an eye on that and have nabbed some things in 2 minutes. I expect they had those slug eggs away as soon as I'd left.

I'm very much into organic gardening; cold steel and birdies all the way.

maryb

You can't live and let live with slugs!

GreyQueen

maryb wrote: »

You can't live and let live with slugs!

I have explained this to fellow gardeners. Whilst digging, I carefully removed two beetles from harm's way and allowed a centipede and some woodlice time to scarper out of the active area.

But slugs and snails are a whole 'nother kettle of fish and quarter is not given. Which is why, although I garden in a mare's nest of derelict plots, my veggies are mostly slug-free. It isn't accidental and I fought hard to make my plot a no-go area.

Very happy when I get a cache of their eggs as there's often about 40-50 of them and it's a great way to thin the population.

maryb

I'm quite surprised to hear you have derelict plots around you. Round here allotments are nearly all half plots because there is so much demand and some have even been divided into quarters (though it's a remarkable thing that those gold dust quarter plots are often taken by friends of the secretary in addition to the (full sized) plots they already have)

moneyistooshorttomention

...and the latest update on the breaking news. Theresa May will be our next Prime Minister on Wednesday.

The other Parties are calling for a General Election. Unsurprised - but seriously wouldnt be a good idea only about a year after the last one and with Brexit to deal with and the Labour Party in chaos currently. A Government of National Unity would be much more appropriate right now than a General Election. Anyways - I cant see an Election coming for quite some time - just as well:cool:

GreyQueen

Even the allotment officer, in response to my email complaint, acknowleges that there is a problem around my part of the site. These are tenanted plots, the gardeners are just bone-idle and/or totally incompetant. And their plots are half plots, too, whereas mine is full-sized. Because of how the plots are laid out, and where the divisions are, I have five neighbouring plotholders and four of them have brambles, nettles, grass and greater bellbind growing into my plot. Grrr!

I'd have words, but I never ever see the other plotholders.:rotfl:

I'll be up there in a while, clipping back the brambles coming over the fences. And I'll throw the clippings back over, can't see why they should have space in the precious two IKEYA bagfuls which is all I can transport on the pushbike when I do a tip-run.

moneyistooshorttomention

So that just leaves the question as to whether Theresa May is prepper enough that her bags are packed and removal van booked already...

Hmmm....personally....the second Andrea Leadsom made that comment about children I'd have started packing and provisionally booking the removal van I think in her position...

greenbee

GreyQueen wrote: »

The trouble with crises is that they don't line up tidily one at a time, they will insist on happening all of a rush. No consideration, really.

That's what I keep having to explain to my clients. They can plan for this stuff, but they can't schedule it. Ideally they could do their jobs properly and then they wouldn't have the issues in the first place, but maybe I'll keep quiet about that bit

maryb

I do think it is shocking that if the papers are to be believed the Civil Service hadn't made any very detailed plans.

Any private sector organisation that didn't do proper risk assessment would be torn apart by the non-exec directors and the auditors.

Even if you think it's in the low probability quadrant, if it's high impact you need a plan