As penniless pensioners; we eat as much from the garden as we can. We moved last year and our new landlord cleared around 1/4 acre for us. We save seed and spend little this. Cheap seed from LIDL is good, but it is the seed saving that makes a difference. About ten years ago we joined Irish Seedsave...

We have been given permission to pick apples in an abandoned and neglected orchard. Two of the trees have unusual fruit and we found online that these are Catshead, a very old variety. Very heavy crop; the ground is littered and shaking gently brings down a rain of perfect fruit. The same day, a nei...

Last week I was stung by a sleepy wasp; bare legs. so it got me inside the knee, and was crawling up inside my thigh when I evicted it. It had left the sting in. The pain was incredible; we think it hit a nerve. And the swelling. Tried vinegar, bleach etc. The only thing that helped was ice packs ie...

They don't need beer; anything fruity will do and jam that has fermented is perfect; add water in eg empty cat food tins...

NB this has not worked for us this year as a visiting badger loves anything fruity and sweet and empties the traps

Fascinating thread... We are over in South West Ireland and started picking blackberries late July. Still picking and a very abundant and generous crop, far, far better than last year.

Shelter varies so much which accounts for the long-picking season, The freezer is full now.