Kitchen Garden Forum

Can't recall the last time we had a really thick and prolonged fog round here. I recall the bad yellow soupers we had in the late 1950,# before the clean air act was introduced. I would come home from school my face and outer clothes thick with grime.

I remember some weeks of fog in Dec' 1991....I had hatched a plan to fly in a light aircraft from Skegness Aerodrome to Dover and return to see the Radio Caroline ship Ross Revenge that had come in off the Goodwins..
The fog stayed put and my plan was a long time getting off the ground....eventually the phone rang, and it was on...
Hoar frost was swept off the Cessna 150 wings, the fire truck had a heater pointed at the pump to try to thaw it to make things square and legal for airfield operation...and off we went..... and back into Skegness as the fog was reforming in the late afternoon...
...all good fun.. Would I do it now.? .....maybe not

Much tamer today, worked with kneeler and hand weeded a few bits from round the raspberry rows, then tickled the ground around them and then worked along the middle of the rows, with border fork at low angle just turning over little 'slabs' of ground to about 2" thus staying above roots..lightly worked and tidy and sets the scene for a break out into digging the area back towards the house....but not by the weather forecast...maybe another vacuum cleaner house work day....

C.

I didn’t realise you were a Pilot, Clive….
I had a quick hoover round the house today, thought I had made a good job, but apparently not….

I was just fare paying passenger..Old H'.

.....Only thing I can pilot is a Flymo

C.

Now that made me smile, Clive…

Took the dog down to the plot for a mooch & a muck around; well to be more honest for her to disturb some of the rat runs & re-direct the gits elsewhere as the site is over run at the moment. The committee provide the bait for those who use traps & it is all getting taken but no difference to the numbers. I don't use bait as have the dog & the neighbour comes down daily & checks my plot for dead ones so they are also removed. I didn't think yesterday was too blowy but the evidence at the plot said I was wrong, so dragged the black plastic out of the compost bin & in the hedge row out & re-secured them where they were meant to be.

More garlic planted as I found a rose coloured one when doing the Xmas shop which had really nice bite so planted up one of the bulbs along with a couple of my small ones from last year that were shooting. Last of the flower bulbs gone in so hoping for a nice display next year; well if they are not eaten! Bubble & Squeak & a fried egg enjoyed for lunch.

Gales & heavy rain back tomorrow with a yellow warning in place so I will continue my clean up at home getting rid of more not used stuff! Did all our photo's last week, those 80's instant camera's that shot your pics out the bottom for you to wave around to dry do not keep the image this long so quite a dramatic reduction in the boxes of pics! Thinking clothes tomorrow, got lot's of coats & shoes that were the 'in' thing about the same time as the instant pics so the charities will get those & hopefully someone will be warm!

Westi, re rats.. I ,m beginning to think that over time rats develop an immunity to rat bait. We put it down regularly and it all goes but we never see any dead rats. Perhaps they go off and die elsewhere but we never see any evidence of this these days. Which we used to.

Does anybody know if the regulations have changed about the sttrength or toxicity of the product which is sold commercially? Am I correct in believing that professional pest exterminators are allowed to have access to a stronger product than is available to the public?

Happy Christmas one and all or too everyone which ever fits hope you all had a good time I can’t remember Christmas Day I drink very little alcohol these days so a few drinks then a few more and I was gone I do remember the Christmas dinner cooked by my eldest followed by the fantastic cakes she had baked was great hope it’s repeated next year

Hi Primrose,

My rat obsessed neighbour gives me updates & I think he has some credence as the site changed what they were using based on his advice. Basically the bait has to be those compressed square things to a size the rats can carry off. They will take these away generally into their runs/nests where they feed on it & die, along with any young in the nest. You will occasionally find a dead rat dead outside which will likely be a male. The rats we have are huge but he happily collects them up & black bags taking them to the tip for total disposal so other critters can't secondary feed.

Have a chat with your neighbours Primrose, if a fair few folk are infested then the council will send their team in to exterminate them down here. Has to be elderly residents, children, bed bound or disabled, not for everyone, but worth a chat as it does get expensive. If no-one else is doing something about their problem, then you basically haven't a chance to control them.

Primrose wrote: ↑Wed Dec 27, 2023 9:41 am Westi, re rats.. I ,m beginning to think that over time rats develop an immunity to rat bait. We put it down regularly and it all goes but we never see any dead rats. Perhaps they go off and die elsewhere but we never see any evidence of this these days. Which we used to.

Does anybody know if the regulations have changed about the sttrength or toxicity of the product which is sold commercially? Am I correct in believing that professional pest exterminators are allowed to have access to a stronger product than is available to the public?

I don’t know of the regs but I do know that the type of poison we were most worried about pets ingesting was the fine stuff, not the big blocks. Think it gets into the system faster and acts quicker. Rats have been known to become accustomed to poison, especially if they eat some but don’t get to lethal dose as there is another food source. Maybe best to mix it up?

I change the make of blocks every time I buy some usually once a month ,I put around 5 blocks on a wire and put them under both of the sheds I push them well under and peg the wire down nothing can get at them apart from rats and mice despite getting different blocks each time I buy they are all made of the same stuff if you have chickens you are going to get rats

Nice break in the rain today to survey & secure everything. I really don't think the net tunnel frame will stand up to many more gales as lots of the poles are bent now & it is basically only supported by the 2 wooden clothes props & lots of plastic covered wire. When/if the wind goes away for a decent length of time I will try to find alternative posts to replace the frame as the zipped cover is in good condition. (Idea's welcome)! I also have this stuff for securing posts that is like a resin as can't use concrete, so can use this to secure these wooden posts in, rather than let it sit direct in the soil to reduce future movement.

Other than this I just did a bit of weeding, staking things again & putting even more pavers on the covered beds as they are still determined to try to blow away & no surprise another yellow rain warning for the weekend.

I’m still not firing on all cylinders but, was determined to do something over the allotments this morning so, weeded around my 15 fruit trees, then it started raining again, just as I finished…..might have a little bit more of a tidy up in the greenhouse later!

Well soggy December has blown away let's hope we can get a bit of normal weather. Looking at the year with the recent memory of the awful December just reminds me how dreadful July was!