Late Autumn Bits and Bobs.

[oldherbaceous]

I love this extra free hour….now what shall I do!

[oldherbaceous]

Well I ended up picking carrots, beetroot, french and runner beans, courgettes, tomatoes and lettuce….and I have now just come back from picking a large crate of cooking apples…..so a good day, all in all!
The chickweed is growing like fury but, I will dig that in after Christmas and treat it like a green manure.

[Clive.]

I can't match that list...but I did find some beetroot for a sandwich or four and some Yellowstone carrots followed me home. I'm a big fan of yellowstone , I'm sure they retain a baby carrot flavour even when huge.
..and I did start the day by bagging up some Bramley's Seedlings and some Newton Wonders.

...and for tea I picked a beef chow mein....

C.

[oldherbaceous]

I’ve never grown Yellowstone carrots, Clive, might try them next year…

And definitely not grown beef chow mein….

[Westi]

Not enjoying the wind that is hanging around still. It hit 115mph at the Needles & I think the same at my back fence as it has blown the fence panels right out of the slide in thingies. Quick DIY job on them to keep the critters in but slides are totally warped & some of the vertical boards that hold it have broken but hoping the neighbour has some wood to replace these.

Then off to lottie to find the walk in net tunnel wrecked. The aluminium poles had bent (one even snapped) in the anchor things, netting is intact but looks like I have some more plant supports. I think a job for my plot neighbour to build me a more reliable structure. The wind was helpful as well, blew down the majority of the asparagus fronds so didn't have to cut many off.

[retropants]

my plastic tomato shelter, which under normal circumstances would have been taken down in Ovtober, had collapsed in the storm. some poles bent and a plastic corner snapped. Thankfully the cover is intact, so we can make a new frame next spring. I now have a large quantity of variously ripe tomatoes to deal with!

[Shallot Man]

HELP.
Unable to receive or send Emails . After 1/12 hours yesterday trying to contact a human being at Virgin. My computer bod after the 1/12 hours yesterday gave up the ghost. Should anyone know someone at VIRGIN, tell them I am a very unhappy bunny.

[Primrose]

My sympathy Shallot man. I have so many ongoing unsolved technical issues these days it,s a wonder I function at all. I find myself gradually being squeezed out of all things technical because of this and sadly there,s a whole older generation of us who seem to be being pushed out of modern life because the help just isn't out there, to support us.
Its a heartless world out there with the commercial,organisations !

I'm sure, despite all its advantages, we never had these stress levels before the arrival of the internet, guess I,m having a touch of the autumn blues! How sensible of bears, hedgehogs and other creatures to hibernate through the winter months and only emerge when Spring arrives!

[tigerburnie]

Sadly the world is leaving us behind, my bank keeps insisting I bank on line, I won't tell you what I keep insisting they can do with themselves, electrickery supplier keeps sending me emails telling me I have to have a smart meter, I DON'T WANT ONE.

[Primrose]

Tigerburnie
Congratulations on introducing a new word into the English language! "Electrickery" whether by design or simply an accidental typo delightfully seems to explain many current energy supplier tactics!

[Stephen]

I'm sorry to hear that several people have suffered damage in the garden/allotment. It has been so wet that I haven't been up to the 'lottie.

[Westi]

That's interesting Shallot Man as my computer died yesterday & I am Virgin. Fortunately I was able to steal the Mr's laptop to continue on & just turned mine off. Tried it again this evening & even though it took ages to load everything back on it seems back to normal now. What's the bet they did a KG & updated something? (Mind I suspect they will blame it on the amount of rain that infiltrated the boxes).

Good luck when you go down again Stephen that all is intact. If it helps reduce any worry wait until you see the amount of leaves you will have to rake up - so much leaf mulch compost for next year!

[tigerburnie]

Tigerburnie
Congratulations on introducing a new word into the English language! "Electrickery" whether by design or simply an accidental typo delightfully seems to explain many current energy supplier tactics!

I worked with an old fitter many years ago, he didn't like electrics as he said you couldn't see it, he coined the name "electrickery", I've used it ever since.

1.9 degrees inside my greenhouse last night, it was bitter cold when I was out with my camera looking for the Aurora, it's only 3.9 now!

[Primrose]

A while back I signed up to a Composing website (cant remember what it was called) which was asking people questions about their composting habits.
The main findings are;

* Home composting is not currently a viable effective or environmentally beneficial end of life option for compostable or biodegradable packaging.

* The compostable and biodegradable plastics that are currently being sold in packaging applications do not fully degrade in home composting conditions (including those that have been certified as home compostable).

* Although people are attracted by the idea of compostable plastics, they are confused about appropriate disposal routes. In particular, the distinction between items that are suitable for home composting versus those that require industrial composting is lost on many people.

* Where people make their own compost at home, they typically use it for growing food crops. This means that there could be an impact on the food chain of any substances put in to a home composter. We need to know more about the potential environmental and health impacts of microplastics and the inks and glues used in compostable packaging items.

I doubt any of us are composting on a scale large enough to make much difference but obviously large Council run composing facilities will help to make a difference.

[Colin2016]

"I doubt any of us are composting on a scale large enough to make much difference but obviously large Council run composing facilities will help to make a difference."

It would make a major difference to me as all my veg is grown in homemade compost, I have 5 pallet bays on the go.
Any plastic looking bags that say 100% compostable is used for dog poo and go in black bin.

I get the feeling that when it comes to recycling/composting I am being told porkies on some of the packaging.

It is never mention which composting is being done Hot or Cold.