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Vegetables / Re: Perennial vegetables

« Last post by Fleecewife on Today at 12:23:29 am »

It's inspiration I'm looking for too, a slightly different way to do things.  I get the impression from online talk and you tube clips that perennial veg is more of a US thing, where they have many areas with a milder climate than we have here in Scotland.  I think weather will be the drawback to many things I could try, and I don't have the spare energy to fail, so I'll try the nine star broccoli first, also see if my white chard survives more than a year before I try anything else.
I love globe artichokes, which my Dad grew in Norfolk, but they simply don't survive the cold here, even inside the polytunnel, wrapped in fleece. 


Good luck with your perennial garden when you get it up and running - keep us informed of how it turns out.


@Anke I would love to have asparagus, but I fear any bed here being overrun with weeds. I would love to know in a couple of years if your bed is successful 

2

Sheep / Re: Help with bringing sheep in

« Last post by tommytink on December 13, 2019, 11:02:50 pm »

Thank you all for the input and encouragement. Especially the sheep psychology which I am applying from now onwards.

We tried Wednesday, set up the hurdles. Learnt from previous experience to either set another hurdle in an opposing direction or tie very tightly! No luck. Fields were water logging. Tried a bit of bucket work and got a few come over. Think they were hungry.

Thursday tried again. Got the bucket ones penned successfully (led into end of funnel area and pulled loose stock fence around we’d set up. Husband said didn’t think we’d get the rest but I said we should try and it worked. They came in two more batches, and we moved some off in between, but going on the theory that they’d want to be with the others seemed to work. We didn’t chase. Just walked at a distance and calmly blocked the direction we didn’t want them to go. I think having some penned as “bait” really helped. Then we had the fun of getting them in the quad trailer and moving them a few at a time but that’s a different story!

The worst thing was realising the extent of the damage this scab has done (we’re convinced it is scab, could see no crawlies at all). One in particular has lost wool down to her skin and has a small lesion which we sprayed with AB spray. We’ve kept her and another and put them in a small paddock here as I want to keep an eye on her. 

It breaks my heart that I have failed these girls. Two weeks ago she was not like this. It was a 2ml dose of Zermex 2%, and I watched the guy do it properly. He wasn’t rushing it and they were all marked off as done. It just hasn’t worked, or if it has only for some. When I checked them I genuinely thought they were itching less. The ram didn’t seem to be rubbing at all (although in the end he was almost always separate from the ewes, at opposite ends of the fields) and I sincerely thought the girls weren’t so bad. Whether the wet weather dampened the symptoms, I don’t know.

It seems general consensus here is that injectables and pour-ons are useless and dipping is the only way to cure it. It’s not going to be until after Christmas and is kind of weather dependent, although the guy asked if we had somewhere to house them if it was raining, which we do. Anyway, I’m worried about them in the meantime.  And to top it one of the Radnors has started pulling a bit of wool. Of course as sure as I was that they didn’t share fence lines I discounted the hay feeder that we wheeled from the Badger field to the Radnor field... that our visitor loved to run against. Just so naive...

I am reticent now about bucket training and spending time with them. The two we have here and the others. They all came today when I rattled and whistled. Some go for the cake and some don’t. But they all followed from the same direction. Just need to put much more into building our relationship. We’ve been non-stop busy trying to get things straight in this new place, the days don’t last two minutes, and they always seemed so content.

Thank you for all the comments, advice, and understanding. I am sure some people may read this and are kind enough not to say what they think. No one is going to punish me more than myself, believe me. If I’d only took action a week earlier... A steep learning curve indeed.

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Coffee Lounge / Re: Amazon and unordered stuff

« Last post by Scarlet.Dragon on December 13, 2019, 09:59:40 pm »

We wait with bated breath for what may come next...  bags I any:
1) tractor
2) hay making equipment
3) field shelter
4) 4x4
5) muck spreader
6) chainsaw
7) garden shredder
anything else that might be "useful"!

Have you thought that maybe the courier just fancies you?

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Vegetables / Re: Seed orders for 2020

« Last post by Scarlet.Dragon on December 13, 2019, 09:57:00 pm »

The heritage seed list is now out with the Organic Gardening website.  You can download a copy https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/join-us?fbclid=IwAR3hKw20CTKCODGNHETxTdrKaRSlK61z0dF7n-F2XSD0SoFmUx9uIXW4jX8

I think you have to be a member to order though!

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Coffee Lounge / Re: Kitchen cooking equipment rethink

« Last post by sheeponthebrain on December 13, 2019, 08:26:54 pm »

get a pressure king pro.  half an hour and pretty much any meat will fall off the bone.  although the dish in the middle can be a nightmare to scrub

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Vegetables / Re: Seed orders for 2020

« Last post by Terry T on December 13, 2019, 07:44:50 pm »

We have got our seed orders in. I prefer not to keep seed for more than two growing seasons as it’s a lot of work for poor quality crops. I’m gradually increasing the amount of seed I save to reduce the costs.
If you want larger quantities of seed  - often the commercial distributors like Moles sell 100 x the amount for the same price and you can then swap leftovers.

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Vegetables / Re: Seed orders for 2020

« Last post by pgkevet on December 13, 2019, 07:12:45 pm »

The year before last I chucked out all my old and unsown seeds to start afresh last year.  There's still lots left of last year's seeds for most varieties but increasingly seed packets don't have all that large a seed count - 5 x cucumber seeds, 10 x tomatoes etc.  I have spent years narrowing down what I try growing but each year I like to try a couple of new things and that way I've found some 'keepers'.  Things like brassica and salad seeds last for several years and like you I hold them over, but I do love reading the catalogues, both paper and online, and dreaming the winter away.  Spring is always so hopeful, then the reality of summer pests and diseases and bad weather hit and there's always disappointment 

Again I find that ebay usually allows me to buy things like packets of 50 tom seeds of the variety i want, 50-100 pepper seeds and so forth..and usually cheaper if you punt about. I rarely pay more than £1 incl postage per packet. 1,000 french breakfast for instance. But as said not into it as much now what with pheasants and stray sheep getting into stuff and back problems re weeding.

A few years ago I did something a bit like you intend, sowing everything from old packets, including lots of flowers, brassicas etc amongst a newly planted coppice area, specially for the wildlife.  The little Bs couldn't wait and just ate all the seeds before they could germinate 

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Coffee Lounge / Re: Kitchen cooking equipment rethink

« Last post by pgkevet on December 13, 2019, 07:08:48 pm »

I mentioned refurb 'cos a local farmer mate was chatting in't pub and his gas/electric range cooker had been acting up - also of some vintage and an expensve brand (can't remmeber). He told me he rang up to make enquiries re repair or new and got offered a choice of taking out a monthly insurance on it and that it would cover the repair. He went with that and engineer rocked up - new thermostat, rings all cleaned and new igniters etc. He was happy.
For me, here, cooking mostly just for myself ( 'cos V is vegan) I find I can boil spuds just as quick in ordinary saucepan by putting water on while cleaning them and often cooking my veg in same saucepan to save washing up as it would take to bring pressure cooker up to temp etc. And less cleaning up after. But it's horses for courses - big family etc makes a difference. Also less to go wrong if just a pressure cooker on ring rather than a separate.
If I did have a new oven and worked away from home then I'd likely think about casseroles and remote access systems to tell it to start while I was driving home. Not sure I'd trust a straight timer system that much.

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Vegetables / Re: Seed orders for 2020

« Last post by harmony on December 13, 2019, 06:41:03 pm »

As an aside, I find the 'free seeds' that come pouring into the letter box with magazines are really frustrating - if they are what I want then I've already bought them, but most are for varieties I don't grow, or want to grow.  What a waste!  Any ideas on what to do with them? I used to send them all to my brother, but he's 'resting' from veg growing this year.

Give them your local school and encourage them to grow something. Put them in a nice box and give them as a raffle prize.

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Vegetables / Re: Seed orders for 2020

« Last post by Fleecewife on December 13, 2019, 05:28:35 pm »

The year before last I chucked out all my old and unsown seeds to start afresh last year.  There's still lots left of last year's seeds for most varieties but increasingly seed packets don't have all that large a seed count - 5 x cucumber seeds, 10 x tomatoes etc.  I have spent years narrowing down what I try growing but each year I like to try a couple of new things and that way I've found some 'keepers'.  Things like brassica and salad seeds last for several years and like you I hold them over, but I do love reading the catalogues, both paper and online, and dreaming the winter away.  Spring is always so hopeful, then the reality of summer pests and diseases and bad weather hit and there's always disappointment 


A few years ago I did something a bit like you intend, sowing everything from old packets, including lots of flowers, brassicas etc amongst a newly planted coppice area, specially for the wildlife.  The little Bs couldn't wait and just ate all the seeds before they could germinate