the non-political thread

Blighty, hanks I'll give that beet recipe a go. I'm trying to go back to gluten free now so probably will try and find a gluten free vinegar, white wine vinegar maybe?

Apparently the too much manure thing is a bit of a myth and there's a guy on youtube who thinks that it's not the manure per say it's the digging of the ground, or digging manure into the ground prior to planting which causes root veg like carrots and parsnip to fork. I honestly can't wait to trial the theory and find out for myself, and I don't want to pretend I know better until I've tried it myself. I've dug heavily over the years so the soil is light in rocks and stones and I'm hoping for nice long and thick carrots, so fingers crossed.

Your corn is lovely and nice beans as well, hopefully with the rains incomming now they will put a lot of weight on fast...It's been wet here last 2 days and some of the veg has doubled in size, the beets especially. You've done well with the lack of time and planning!

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Done well on the blueberries, these two plants were put in last year and so far I've had a combined 2 and a half punnets of blueberries and they are still cropping. I think I may take out my redcurrants and blackcurrants and replace them with annual crops and then plant a few more blueberries in close proximity to the existing ones. Very low canopy and relatively little foliage compared to the currant bushes. The flavour is stupendous, I like how they go from light blue to dark blue once picked. A very soothing and sweet taste, much better than the ones in the shops which always seem to be very bitter. I'm glad I listened to the person in the garden centre about these because they've done very well.
 
How I grow carrots normally in water tanks:

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Look great from above but on closer inspection hardly any development at all because of the heat. Tried loads of different soil mixes over the years and always a poor yield. I'll be glad to be able to empty this out and move it elsewhere once these carrots are done disappointing me the one last time.
 
Let me know how you get on with the manure.. be interesting! It's got to rot down for a while tho hasn't it - I had read and been told that a year is best. I've always played safe but I see folk at the allotment cover the stuff with it with little ill effect.

Pickling vinegar, sorry, I should've been clearer, I did mean white vinegar. Tesco and sains sell it really cheap and just as good as Sarsons imo for a third of the price :-) Have you pickled much before?

Your carrots do look good. I find every year carrots are a pain!! Seems a lot of effort too that costs about 40p a bag to buy. I find that they come along nice and then the slugs munch the top of them off and they stop growing. And they're a pain to store as they go soft really quick unless wrapped in soaking wet kitchen towel. I do wonder what the supermarkets put on them for them to stay crunchy for weeks.

Blueberries look nice - not a fruit I like but your recommendation makes me want to try over the next couple of years :-)
 
It's all spent mushroom compost that you're seeing. The horse manure is fresh and I added it to a heap I've got going on. Yes I wouldn't use the manure fresh on the ground because it's not biologically active to the plant for at least a few months.

Never pickled before so look forward to having a go :)

Yeah true about the carrots, although recently my local tesco hiked the price of carrots by 50%, so they may start becoming a bit of a cash crop.
 
Oh cool! Your kitchen is going to look like you've murdered a small animal :-)

Not sure if you know, once your beets are cooked and ready to be pickled, sterilise your jars (we use milton tabs) and heat the pickling solution until it's boiling. It's best the to spoon the mix over the beets and seal the jars while still hot as it seals the lid tight and then they keep for a couple of years. Have fun!
 
good post/ thread/ subject

nice to see that u both have a common interest , swap ideas , advice etc (y)
 
How's the allotment going Hawk?
Lost all my cherry toms to blight, pulled em up today. Sad as hadn't even had one! Bloomin lack of summer. My french beans blew over, so pulled them up today too. And my small cucumbers are just being eaten by slugs. Gherkin ones ok tho! Corn is fab and my carrots this year have been the best I've ever managed to grow. It's all swings and roundabouts this malarkey.

This afternoons pickings.. :-)
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NICE!!!

Although don't get coy about the marrow I'm sure that was unintended lol,,.. am I right? I've had two or three that size this year only because I didn't get up to pick the courgettes when I should have!

Your produce is wonderful mate in honesty, very nice indeed.

I was away this weekend but have been pulling plenty of stuff. Will get some of the latest pics up tomorrow.
 
Cool, looking forward to seeing what you've got!

And the marrow, yes, I bought marrow seeds (so it said on the packet, lol) at the request of my father in law. One marrow later he decided he didn't like em after all, the git! So I've 3 lovely plants and only so many marrows and courgettes a person can eat. Luckily this one was taken by a neighbour who likes em :-)
 
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These are some rosso lettuce. I know now to have salad crops in their own bed, there are one or two slugs hiding in the beets next door working away at them.

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I have high hopes for these.

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good cropping from the 3 different types of kale

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corgettes are still cropping

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This is interesting, my fist attempt at sowing spuds at end of july for a targetted september/october finish. Not sure how they will cope with the frosts, but I suppose they should have matured by this point.

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salad and carrots harvest. I did well on carrots I've got about 40-50kg left in the soil ready to pull so leaving them there to keep fresh until I need them.

Still got the water tanks to sort and the guttering.
 
Let me know how you get on with the manure.. be interesting! It's got to rot down for a while tho hasn't it - I had read and been told that a year is best. I've always played safe but I see folk at the allotment cover the stuff with it with little ill effect.

Pickling vinegar, sorry, I should've been clearer, I did mean white vinegar. Tesco and sains sell it really cheap and just as good as Sarsons imo for a third of the price :) Have you pickled much before?

Your carrots do look good. I find every year carrots are a pain!! Seems a lot of effort too that costs about 40p a bag to buy. I find that they come along nice and then the slugs munch the top of them off and they stop growing. And they're a pain to store as they go soft really quick unless wrapped in soaking wet kitchen towel. I do wonder what the supermarkets put on them for them to stay crunchy for weeks.

Blueberries look nice - not a fruit I like but your recommendation makes me want to try over the next couple of years :)

Picked up a book on pickling and due to order some apple cider vinegar. It's by Valerie Aikman-Smith.

Result on the corgette soup. Recipe as follows:

  • fry onions in large pan with olive oil until light brown
  • add chopped courgettes and fry
  • add 2 tablespoons or so of veg powder
  • fry for a bit more and turn, and then add water to cover all
  • cook for about 35-40minutes with lid on
  • blend everything with one of those handblenders
  • add a bit of herb and spice of necessary e.g. corriander

Ingredients :


Promise you it will be lush and very easy to make.

I suppose those marrows would work but you'd need to remove a lot of the outer skin because it doesn't boil soft once it gets to that size, not nice.
 
Thanks so much for the recipe, appreciated! Have a couple more courgettes ready to pick and quite a few more flowers so will have plenty to make soup. Good too as will miss out on my tomato soup this year as no crops!

Your plot is looking very good - results on the salad - the old pigeon is a rotter for eating lettuce i hear.. Good on ya! And pleased to see your carrots are class - delighted this year with mine. As you say, left in the ground until need them too. Kale looks great. I was thinking of growing some Kale as well as lettuces & rocket for the tortoise next year. Be nice to be able to pick as needed and not worry about pesticides.

Good luck with the spuds, am sure will be fine. You'll be eating fresh spuds for Xmas dinner before you know it :-)
Cheers Hawk, it's been good fun seeing what another allotment holder grows.
 
Clean it up, apply rust proofer, and throw some body filler in the hole. otherwise, anlarge the hole, and put a blanking plug with a ruber seal through it.

I like the blanking plug with rubber seal idea


Thanks. Although does it look like the right stuff for a round hole? I've never used it before so had a look on youtube for tutorials but couldn't find any hole repairs, only crack repairs.


An old galvanised tan k is pretty certain to have BSP fittings.

A half-inch BSP is very close to 22mm in diameter, but will not fit a metric thread
see https://www.castrads.com/frequently...-iron-radiator-renovation/what-are-bsp-sizes/

so I bet that's what you've got.

IIRC it is called a Cap Nut
this is a quarter-inch example
http://www.plumbase.co.uk/westco-blank-nut-bsp-14-brass-100008028-2228648

edit here you are
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_...sp+blank+nut.TRS0&_nkw=bsp+blank+nut&_sacat=0

You could screw something similar through the additional hole.

they are sold for plugging unwanted holes in WC cisterns, e.g. if an external overflow is no longer needed when you have an internal overflow. I only remember seeing them in white plastic with a rubber sealing washer, but it suits your need.
http://www.plumbase.co.uk/westco-cistern-blank-off-plug-100007814-2228684

edit
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_sop=15&_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=cistern plug -sink&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=1&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

A nut and bolt with rubber washers both sides will do you.

I'm going to see if this works : https://www.toolstation.com/shop/p32757

OR

this : http://www.screwfix.com/p/fluidmaster-blanking-off-plug/65267

I'm going to take the advice of having washers both sides.

I'm a little uncertain about using plastic at all because it is going to have 100+ litres of water sitting on it, and also in winter the water freezes (not completely frozen solid). I sense this is going to cause problems with the plastic eventually so perhaps a brass fitting may work better?




What about this : https://www.toolstation.com/shop/p90735

screwed into this : https://www.toolstation.com/shop/Plumbing/d20/Compression/sd2697/Brass+Flanged+Plug/p71545

with 2 washers attached on each one ?
 
Marigold is brilliant stuff.

One of my favourite soups is Pistou. It is a filling soup you could have on a cold winter's night with some crusty bread and butter and a glass of something.

Fry 1 onion in olive oil, add a can of drained haricots. Add two diced carrot, 3 leeks or courgette (I go for bust and use both!), sliced and diced, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1 can of chopped tomatoes, salt & black pepper, freshly ground.
Add 1 litre of veg stock. Cook for 20-30 mins then add 50g of small pasta shapes and cook for a further 10.
Add 1-2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil at this point. You can use dried basil (1 tsp) but if you do, put it in at the early stages of cooking.

The great thing about recipes like this is you can't really f it up.
If you have no haricot beans, use cannellini.
If you have different veg to those listed above, bung them in instead.
And the best bit? Marigold is fantastic for the stock!
 
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