THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

GreyQueen

fuddle wrote: »

Thank you, you've both given me a new idea to research. Suddenly garden planning is that bit more exciting.

Is it possible, do you think, to grow elder but keep it in check sizewise while still enabling it to produce berries?

If I were you, I wouldn't bother cultivating it as it is so freely available as it grows like a weed on waste ground and in hedgerows. The tree can easily be about 15ft tall and spread quite a way and doesn't produce that much fruit per tree in terms of the space it occupies.

I'd regard cultivating it on the par with cultivating a nettle patch - you could do it if you wanted to, but there are far easier ways of obtaining the goods and better uses of the land.

Plus the foliage smells rank and cat-pi$$y if crushed - I've been known to stuff in down the tunnels of moles if they're being a pest in the lottie's soil.

It's a nitrogen-lover, as are nettles, so where it proliferates, there's a good drop of soil.

greenbee

fuddle wrote: »

Thank you, you've both given me a new idea to research. Suddenly garden planning is that bit more exciting.

Is it possible, do you think, to grow elder but keep it in check sizewise while still enabling it to produce berries?

have a google for information on vertical gardening - there are some very creative things out there including herb/veg/soft fruit grown in old plastic milk 'jug' cartons hanging on canes secured horizontally across a fence.

There are lots of other ideas too - pallets against the fence, filled with compost and plants in all the gaps. You just need to think where your space is....

maryb

The trouble is finding elder bushes/trees that aren't surrounded by a cordon sanitaire of waist high nettles!!

GreyQueen

maryb wrote: »

The trouble is finding elder bushes/trees that aren't surrounded by a cordon sanitaire of waist high nettles!!

Walking sticks are a useful aide to this and also for hooking down out-of-reach bramble canes. Failing that, chest-high waders solve the problem nicely......... :rotfl:

I've thought that, if I had to hide out in the wilds, a nettle or bramble patch would be a good lurking spot. Gorse clumps also often have little inner sanctums where you can crawl into - you might have to share them with foxes and bunnies, tho.

greenbee

GreyQueen wrote: »

Gorse clumps also often have little inner sanctums where you can crawl into - you might have to share them with foxes and bunnies, tho.

Foxes OR bunnies surely? They don't usually cohabit peacefully

GreyQueen

greenbee wrote: »

Foxes OR bunnies surely? They don't usually cohabit peacefully

Only if the bunnies aren't alive, I find.

Have mercy, I haven't had my morning cuppa yet..... :rotfl:

Karmacat

kittie wrote: »

karmacat, I sprout seeds all through winter and to the end of the hungry gap. I have done many varieties in the past but alpaca is far and away the easiest and very nutritious, lovely on peanut butter, in a salad or with cheese in a sandwich. There is a sprouting thread somewhere, gives all the basics. I use a very clever yet simple system that does not need rinsing after the first soak and rinse. Best I have ever used, however you can get decent results with a kilner jar but that needs rinsing 2-3 times a day
https://www.juiceland.co.uk/easy-sprout-sprouter

Thats an interesting link, kittie, thanks for that. The rinsing is the reason I don't do regular sprouting myself, I've only do it to learn the method, so to speak. It seems far too dependent on big supplies of clean water. I've downloaded the manual for that product, I'll have a proper looksee now.

Karmacat

Look at this page, from the American developers: https://sproutpeople.org/easy-sprout-sprouter/. When I'm home, I'm going to try sprouting again, and if its labour/water intensive, as I'm sure it will be I'm going to go for this. Very easy way to "store" fresh food.

[Deleted User]

karmacat, I put a flat tbs of alfalfa in on top of the special insert for small seeds, a flat tbs as there is only me. I soak for a few hours, drain, rinse, leave out for a couple of days when growth will be well underway. I use the lid with holes, just keep it on the sink area as it is handy for me. One more rinse, loosen with a fork, then it goes into my fridge and continues to grow. I eat over a week or so.

I am so prepared for the rest of the season, all planting is done and I have cleared and cleaned everything. I even have about 1/4 tonne of stove fuel left for the following winter, wood pellets in 10kg bags, all covered in polythene sheet in the garage. I think I am all prepped up, cannot see what else I have to do

[Deleted User]

I chuck a tablespoon full of 'alpaca' seed(sorry) into an ordinary jam jar on the window sill and cover it with water then rinse it once a day and re cover it with water until it puts out rootlets, I cover the top of the jar with a piece of J cloth held on with an elastic band (saved from spring onions etc.) then I drain the water off, lay the jar on its side and rinse twice a day, draining well each time and wait until the sprouts have developed the two tiny dicot leaves and then eat them. It's known in this house as 'Tickly Salad'. No need for special equipment of specialised knowledge it grows itself. Mustard and cress is even easier as I save a carton from a veg pack, line it with damp kitchen towel and sprinkle the seed in then just keep it damp, not soaking and a small forest very quickly grows which can be cut with scissors as you need it. Again I leave it on the window sill and it's fine.