Spring Bits and Bobs.

[Clive.]

Rhubarb was stewed for pudding here today

At home the Rhubarb, said to be Champagne, that has been in the garden here of old, is thin stemmed and short but very red (1955 on, I suspect, as it came from my mum's childhood home and in turn from Mr Bourne from whom my grandfather bought one of his fields) ...whilst the same and it is exactly the same in the other garden is in good order producing good stems.

Here is sandier soil and very overdue for a split and move whilst..there.. it is heavier rich soil with a move to a new location about 6 yrs ago.

C.

[tigerburnie]

Raining up here too today. I gave up trying to grow rhubub in my thin coastal sandy soil, I used to make wine with it years ago, made a lovely Rose type too, it has adverse effects on my joints now, arthritis setting in so I don't eat it now.

[Westi]

Drizzle today but I had to go to town to get some bits & bobs for the critters, fortunately it cleared while in the first shop. It was quite a weird experience as I've not seen so many folk in the shops for ages, all the shops I went into were pretty much struggling to keep the shelves full, not to mention the little bit of trolley rage. Judging by the amount of stuff in the trollies I'm wondering if the folk from the New Forest were doing their monthly shop or something. I just kept my head down & grabbed what I needed on my list which is written to match the aisles the things are in. I think my list is going to be redundant soon as overheard a conversation by some staff about extra staff coming in to work tonight, which can only mean another shelf re-shuffle! That does create a huge rant from me when they do this, but at least does generate conversation when you spot something in someone's trolley you need & have to ask where they found it.

Back to the plots tomorrow, hoping I can get more ticked off the list as supposed to be sunny, then a couple of rubbish days until a proper spell of warmth end of the week.

[oldherbaceous]

I’m starting to get arthritis is many joints now and i’m sure it’s certain foods that make it worse!
Turned out nice now but, many large puddles still laying about…..at least it’s going to warm up next week, so at least the weeds will take off….

[Westi]

Funnily OH, certain foods do make it worse. Worth a wee trawl online, try to find NHS sites for proper advice. Also some off the shelf meds also help. I take Glucosamine Sulphate (£1 shop), which encourages collagen to form & line the joints a bit. Recommended by my therapist friends, but the vet even prescribed it for the old dog so must have some credence.

[Myrkk]

Day after I planted some seeds in the new cloches…. Hailstones…. Honestly! It’s deffo taken a turn to the chilly side here recently.

As an aside… came home after 3hrs out to find someone had tried our key safe by the back door… the downside of having nothing but fields behind you.

Anything in the nightshade family can make arthritis / joint issues worse. Some people find tomatoes cause them an issue, others it’s potatoes. Not everyone is affected however.

[Primrose]

I took glucosamine for years then gave it up yet still have a crippling arthritic knee. Perhaps I should try again. Tomatoes form a huge part of our diet in various forms. Mr Primrose who,s the full time cook now would be really lost without them. Can't think of anything savoury yet non aciditic which can satisfactorily substitute. We have them in soups, stews, casseroles, Spag bol variations, Ragus, curries.

Can anybody think of a suitable alternative?

[Primrose]

Myrkk
We have a keysafe too and find that in heavy winds the covering flap which fits a little loosely often gets accidentally blown open so check whether yours is loose. The first time it happened to ours we thought it was an intruder then in a storm we actually heard it blow open and start flapping. We have a larger size one in regular use so perhaps the fitting has worked a little loose.

[tigerburnie]

Apparently it's the Oxalic acid that cause the problem with rhubub, though I do have a recipe for wine where you use a crushed Campden tablet to nullify that, but just don't bother now.

[Myrkk]

Primrose, acupuncture is really good for arthritic knees. Search the British Acupuncture Council website for a properly qualified acu near you. I see a lot of pre-replacement knees and keep the pain at bay until they get the op.

That’s what we thought at first Primrose but when we tried the flap we found it was quite snuggly clasped, also, there was no wind yesterday. With all the storms we’ve been having recently I would have thought it would have done it before now. The clinching factor however was all the numbers were nicely aligned, I know I didn’t leave it like that after I’d put the key in, I’d just sort of jumbled everything up.

I’m quite surprised as no real crime has been committed but the police are popping out tomorrow. Compare that to when our house got burgled in Wales, properly burgled, and they didn’t give the proverbial brown stuff. Even phoned them up with some new intel when a burgled item turned up via a friends son and they still didn’t give any brown stuff.

[Westi]

Being lazy with the sows of beans, squash & pumpkin by sowing them directly into larger pots so I can leave them alone without potting on numerous times. Yep, will be digging bigger holes when time for them to go out, but it's still about catching up now. First hurdle is the staging is still inside so creating it's own shadow on the pots on the lower shelves & the humungous broad beans are also cutting out light, they are forgiven though as loads of pods maturing!

So today I went for some direct sows of the Kales & PSB with an abundance of Sluggo to protect them which will be repeated, although original intent was for them to be in bigger pots also. All fine despite the dogs best attempts to strangle herself in the netting which I thought best to put on now or would forget & the birds would have them. Fingers crossed. Spuds earthed up, Rhubarb tidied as some critter looks like it had a nap on it but an opportunity to dig some more of the nuisance little unidentifiable plants out. Chinese veg bed looking fine & most up, but quite slow to show, but looks like the mice found the 2nd sow of peas as some big gaps - only I could have mice who like the smell of camphor!

I'm currently sulking as weather report has once again fibbed & we have lost the couple of good sunny days that were showing, back to drizzle then but better than storms & high winds....just got to remember to take down some more clothes to change into before getting the bus home.

[Myrkk]

I’ve yet to sort the beds that the PSB and peas have to go in and was considering putting them in the flower bed. Good to know they can go into big pots Westi. Might try that instead.

My Papa used to soak the peas in paraffin. Not sure how that affects the plant but even then some would get eaten by mice. I’m beginning to wonder if they have taste buds at all.

I’m pleased that I’ve not lost any of the leeks I planted, and the little mini plastic greenhouse seems to be protecting the kale / cybees / carrots that are planted both in and outside it. Think it may be deterring anything from going near it.

Really need to get the last two beds sorted as the conservatory which we’re using as a makeshift greenhouse is really starting to heat up and I’m having to keep a really good eye on the water levels of everything.

[Westi]

Myrkk what are cybees?

[Westi]

Been doing some more looking into Electroculture & found some wood stakes already prepped with the coiled cooper wire around them. As the price was reasonable I decided to buy them. Those that know my DIY skills will agree it is the best option for me! Pack of 8 stakes £16 so I have extra's to continue my experimenting, so thinking pumpkins, peppers, PSB & other brassica's.

I'll try hard to keep measuring stats, pics & the like & we'll see! Oddly the weather report for tomorrow afternoon is for thunder & lightening - a sign maybe??

[Geoff]

Well there's a surprise! Checked my year to date figures 2015 to 2024 and this year the first four months have registered the highest rainfall and the lowest solar generation.

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