The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

maryjane87

cornishchick said:

I've had no joy with my veg growing, peas have gone mouldy, courgettes have not sprouted or died or been eaten, the only crop I have succeeded in is baby lettuce leaves grown in a window. two different lots and enough to give me salad leaves every couple of days. so will keep sowing them. so any suggestions for a green-leaved or another winter veg that I can try that is tough enough to survive but easy to grow lol 

You can still sow lots for winter! I would grow some Kales, they're very hardy and you can pick all winter. Same with chard, bright lights also looks really pretty. I would suggest "real seeds" website, they have a whole section on what to sow now. I found their giant winter spinach does well, sow later though (maybe late August / September) or it will go to seed in the summer heat 😊

VJsmum

THanks for that Maryjane, mine are not doing so well either.  Lots of courgette flowers but most seem to be male.  Only about 3 tomato flowers so far and certainly nowhere near a tomato.  The radishes were ok and spinach looks good, some carrots and a couple of swede are growing but some of my seeds were ancient so i chucked them in to see what would happen.  Interested in doing some winter growing.

I think no deal Brexit was always the plan - to make a lot of rich people richer on 'short hedge'...

maryjane87

I agree VJsmum, I feel like we've been bracing for this forever 🙄

Si_Clist

maryjane87 said:

 ... Has anyone else got a real feeling of dread that we're headed to a no deal/ second wave/ huge recession this winter?

Not of dread here, but of certainty.  And probably before the winter.  That's why we can't get our heads round folks kidding themselves that the worst's over and all that's going to be different now is plastic screens in shops.

But hey, let them get on with it.  We're still adding to the stashes here,and we'll continue to do so until we run out of house.  However, the current problem is we've lifted the Sharpe's Express, started on the Home Guard, and with one row of that dug up so far we've already got 2 full sacks of spuds in the coldest shed - and we've two more rows of HG plus two of Golden Wonder still to lift!

Going off on a slight tangent, after much thought we've decided that we now need the room and the money more than we need our beloved Atlas Plate Grinding Mill, which has ground all our flour since we bought it new in 1989, so alas it's going on Ebay shortly

Picture coming up for those who haven't a clue what I'm rambling on about ...

PS - seeing as how it's not obvious how big the thing is, it's 19" to the top of the hopper, the handwheel's 20" diameter and it weighs at least 50lb ...

maryjane87

That is a lovely thing! Wish we had the space to mill our own flour, I do a lot of bread baking but just buy bread flour in bulk. I've turned over the front garden into an allotment, got three big raised beds out the back, two greenhouses and a few hens. Planting out lots of cut and come again winter crops now, and growing lots of things to preserve. Hoping for the best, preparing for doomsday 😊

elaine241

Si_Clist Going off on a slight tangent, after much thought we've decided that we now need the room and the money more than we need our beloved Atlas Plate Grinding Mill, which has ground all our flour since we bought it new in 1989, so alas it's going on Ebay shortly 
Oh god why did you say this? I really want this wonderful piece of kit now!! It looks like something that you will find in a rural life museum in the future!
When we bought our farmhouse there was an old butter churn and a cheese press still in the dairy. I refuse to let my OH even contemplate selling them. If the SHTF in the future there is a rural life museum in the neighbouring small town, this is the first place I will be looting!
We had a lovely meal tonight consisting of potatoes, peas and courgettes from our garden. I am working on my OH to allow us to have pigs so we could in the future produce our own pork.
Today one of our ex battery hens managed to hatch two chicks, which is a minor miracle in itself. Unfortunately several of the chicks were dead in their shells which we put down to the exceptionally hot weather the other week. They seem to not have developed past week two :-(.
I too am stocking up for a winter where we do not know what is going to hit us. I am adding a few extra things each week to put in the stores. I have planted loads of veg which I will attempt to preserve in any way I can think of to avoid waste.
I am going to buy a huge sack of flour off Amazon as it seems good value and has good reviews. I have a vacuum sealer so I will weigh out 500g and then freeze in the big chest freezer I have added to my other two.

-taff

Kales and stuff sown now will stand over winter, as will cabbages, spring and winter, as will a lettuce variety called Reines De Glace. I found some  online so a google might turn some up for you. Fennel can be sown now to, it doesn't like paticularly hot weather otherwise it bolts, so can kohlrabi, radish, spring onion, and dont forget the herb pots..

thriftwizard

I'm having mixed luck on the gardening front; the two courgettes here at home are doing nothing, basically, just like last year, but the ones at the allotment are going bananas & I picked 10 today. My chard's doing well up there, and the little plants in the raised bed are flourishing too. The multicoloured stripey beetroot (& the golden courgettes) have entranced my daughters' friends on Facebook & tasted pretty good too; more seeds have been bought! A couple of little pumpkins have appeared & the squashes are flowering. Some of my kale is fine & some's been nibbled; they are attempting to get the rabbit situation under control up at the allotments, but it's up to us to sort out the caterpillars apparently. The sweetcorn's looking really sturdy; it's done exactly what it does in Oklahoma & shot up several feet in one week, so now I need to keep an eye out & cover the cobs from marauding rodents as they develop. My beans here are galloping round the poles but have only just started to flower; the ones at the allotment, which I lost first to the frost & then to the rabbits, are flowering well but not yet very far up the poles! And the small handful of peas that survived the rabbit attacks are absolutely lovely.

Stocks of non-perishable & frozen food here have remained high & will continue to stay that way, partly thanks to DD1 working in a supermarket. But I still need to replace the ancient freezer; wonder if there's more availability now than there was at the start of lockdown?

RAS

-taff said:

Kales and stuff sown now will stand over winter, as will cabbages, spring and winter, as will a lettuce variety called Reines De Glace. I found some  online so a google might turn some up for you. Fennel can be sown now to, it doesn't like paticularly hot weather otherwise it bolts, so can kohlrabi, radish, spring onion, and dont forget the herb pots..

Plant mangetout outside in August and harvest til New Year as long as you keep the wind off them, they are frost hardy.
Mizuna, all the mustards from basic to Giant red via golden streaks, leaf beets, land cress, Chard, winter spinach, mache/lambs lettuce, Welsh onions , chicories and endives, some winter lettuce. Many are viable to minus 19 degrees, or were here in 2010.

If you've got a greenhouse or polytunnel, hanging baskets of peas, mangetout or sugar snap escape mice. All of the above grow better. Plus radish.

In a house, grow peas for sprouts, beets, mizuna, mustards, lettuce, kale, Chard and spinach, mustards and chicories as cut and come again. Pick over up to 4 times. Obviously plant little and often, maybe one pot every week with something different?

euronorris

I'm happy to share some mangetout seeds. Have already saved a fair few, and have more drying on the side as found some more hidden, swollen, pods round the back.

Now harvesting two handfuls a day from the 4 seeds I sowed earlier in the year, and finally exceeding the amount that DD can eat in a day. So have begun blanching and freezing them every few days.

I'm not having a great growing year either. Had to dig up one lot of main crop potatoes, much much earlier than I would like. Blight! It had spread. Still, the bounty wasn't bad all things considered. One lot of potatoes left, in the ground, at the other end of the garden. No signs of disease as yet. So fingers crossed. Tomatoes all now showing signs of Blight. Am trimming affected foliage and treating the plants, but not sure if I will be able to save them. Last courgette plant also pants. Going to get rid. Other veg in the trug has stalled growth. Think the tomatoes and the mangetout sapping all the energy. Strawberries slowed down. Due to the lots of dull weather I think. Maybe. I don't know. Cucumber plants seem OK, only one cucumber growing so far. It seems to be getting fatter, rather than longer! Haha. Beans are taller than supports, but still have an aphid problem. And a pollination issue. I have some beans forming now, but I think they are only because I was hand pollinating some with a little paintbrush.

DDs birthday tomorrow. She is very, very, very excited. Lol. Me too. Going to visit MIL for first time in months!! And last day of work for me, for a week. It has been a busy one too, so am pleased to have a break.