THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

[Deleted User]

Had a look along the footpaths and lanes this afternoon when I walked Cookie and saw chick weed, young nettles, dandelions, plenty of succulent daisy leaves, some violets the flowers of which are edible, I have primrose leaves and flowers on the front lawn both of which are useable and hairy bitter cress in the beds in the back garden even saw some young yarrow fronds which are used to make a tea. Soon there will be Hedge Garlic, hop shoots, mallow, ramsons, bistort, celandine tubers (before the flowers open they are edible), sea weed on the shore and purslane and later on seakale and sea beet, even bracken 'fiddlehead' fern sprouts are edible along with young hawthorn leaves that used to be called 'bread and cheese' so many things to supplement what is available in the shops during shortages of any veg.

mardatha

I pay a fortune for violets and they die every winter, I wish we had wild ones growing here.

mardatha

Interesting post on another forum today re the *lettuce crisis*
Somebody quoting figures saying we're entering a cold spell, world wide. Apparently it snowed in Iran and many places it never does,,, etc etc. I know we've seen it all before and it might or might not be true - but what do you think?

elona

mardatha

I saw a newspaper photo of a small snowman made in the desert somewhere, seemingly temps dropped to below freezing in a day.

There was some theory about sunspots and the lack of them and a "Maunder minimum" leading to mini ice ages like the "frost fairs" several hundred years ago and rivers icing over completely.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the wettest day in "whenever" - just hope it is not snow.;) It has only snowed here about three years out of the last 28.

karcher

lobbyludd wrote: »

In fairness I don't know anyone who is even the slightest bit concerned about the lettuce/broccoli/courgette "crisis". I didn't know it was a thing until I read it on here, and the only people I know who are talking about it are those mocking the newspaper hype.

I've read quite a few posts on here saying that yesterday their local SM had scant supply of fresh and frozen veg...There must be some reason why people are emptying the shelves? Didn't go to any shops yesterday so don't know if that's the case here but does seem a bit of a coincidence.

mardatha

Snowed here this morning elona

westcoastscot

Don't really understand the bigger picture of climate change, tbh. Here it has got milder the past few years but wetter - My garden has always died right off in the winter, even though we're by the sea and don't get a huge amount of snow we have lots of frost, but only a few days this year. My garden is still fairly green, straws still have their leaves, daffs are through and the weeds are coming.

We've always had the best weather in spring, but the past couple of years we've had our only dry sunny weather in April/May, and then wet and mild all summer, wet and cooler in winter. We have shallow soil so lots of surface water, and it's this that has proved most challenging the past couple of years with growing - things make good progress in spring and then drown in the summer. I've tried lots of ways to cover, but we have strong winds too, and little in the way of anything to anchor cover too. Coupled with the short growing season, its difficult!

Not sure what's happening really, but do know I'm redoubling my efforts to grow more food this year, and thinking I'll try containers too as they might prove easier to rain-proof?

mardatha

What about wee tubs WCS, and a lean-to shelter maybe one of the sons could make you. Drag the tubs out on dry sunny days and stick them back under the roofed bit on wet ones ?

[Deleted User]

Would you have room for some raised beds WCS? Not massively raised but with sides of maybe 12" high, you could line the bottom of them with stones for drainage and fill the tops with topsoil and keep it fed from a compost heap and at 12" high you should be OK with the wind. It might give you the wherewithal to grow leeks to stand the winter without their feet in a puddle and perhaps some winter greens to see you through the bleakest days.

westcoastscot

We've tried lean-to's Mar, but they get blown away, and one of them was bolted to the house!! we lost the cover, and the frame just collapsed in on itself - pathetic!
Mrs L we have two raised beds which I use for square foot gardening - they're at about 8 inches now and growing slowly. Would be lovely to have winter greens - might try and bring some on in big pots to put in when the summer stuff is out? Worth a try eh?? I haven't bought any topsoil as it's very expensive here, as has to come a long way!