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Re: Late Winter Bits and Bobs - 2018

Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 4:43 pm
by Colin2016
Like your tips for Robins & wren as both are about. A Wren flew into inside the shed it was so small and was the first one I have ever seen live.

Thanks for the offer Geoff but I will probably buy a made up one for this year.

Re: Late Winter Bits and Bobs - 2018

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 3:19 pm
by Pa Snip
Just made my first 2018 batch of marmalade, Ikg Seville oranges = 6.75 jars. May be a slightly 'soft' set.
On that basis another 4 batches to go to make a years supply (optimistic or what, lol ).

Re: Late Winter Bits and Bobs - 2018

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 3:46 pm
by Primrose
Oh gosh Pa, you have reminded me that our charity fund raising marmalade making marathon could be about to start any minute. I haven,t seen any Sevilles around yet. We didnt make any last year and are currently halfway down our last jar at home so I think it,s going to be all hands to the pump again.

We do like our marmalade extra thick and chunky so usually when I remember in the run up to marmalade making time I save my extra orange and lemon peel from the fruit bowl to chop up and include, otherwise we fight over breakfast for our share of the rind !

Re: Late Winter Bits and Bobs - 2018

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 3:47 pm
by Pa Snip
1KG packs In stock in Waitrose

Re: Late Winter Bits and Bobs - 2018

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 4:37 pm
by Geoff
My wife made a batch today, they looked really good oranges at £1.50 kg from market stall.

I've pruned, fed and mulched the Autumn Raspberries and pressure washed the outside of a greenhouse. While I was mulching I filled two barrows with compost and parked them in the tunnel to use during the week when the forecast sounds a touch inclement.

Re: Late Winter Bits and Bobs - 2018

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 5:25 pm
by Monika
I bought 2kg Seville oranges from Waitrose on Thursday and also a large grapefruit, two juicy oranges and two lemons. So, when the snow will stop me from getting out this week, it'll be mega marmalade making time! The odd thing is that we rarely eat marmalade but I just enjoy making it. A jar of each kind will go for the Village Show, some goes to family and most are given to a MacMillan Coffee Morning in September.

Yesterday morning I shifted five very full wheelbarrows of cow manure which in now piled up on our allotment, covered in black plastic. The grassy path from the large manure heap to our lottie may be steeply downwards, but it was really slippery so quite dangerous.

Re: Late Winter Bits and Bobs - 2018

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 5:47 pm
by Colin2016
I like home made marmalade and buy locally, same for jam when available.

Notice this lasts longer than shop brought stuff (took pot of supermarket jam back because it went green) any idea why.

Re: Late Winter Bits and Bobs - 2018

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 6:03 pm
by robo
Colin could it be green mango jam

Re: Late Winter Bits and Bobs - 2018

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 6:11 pm
by Colin2016
Wish it was Robo save a lot of waste.

Re: Late Winter Bits and Bobs - 2018

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:11 pm
by Westi
Weather not looking too promising for this week so glad I got a few bits done on lottie. Absolutely enjoyed scrapping the canker off the apple trees & painting on the heal & seal stuff. Didn't get every bit of it but those areas in reach were pretty much covered, the chief source of this canker was the pear tree & weirdly it appears to have outgrown it after last year's pretty hefty branch chopping. Strawberry beds have all had a haircut & a weed & mulch and almost cleared the herb bed, only the pesky chive plants to dig out - the self sown ones are so much bigger & nicer. Weather permitting just some (lots) of weeding, digging the bean trenches & beds & doing the big burn, then repeat! ;)

Re: Late Winter Bits and Bobs - 2018

Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 11:51 am
by oldherbaceous
Been doing a few bits outside and that wind has a real bite to it this morning..

Re: Late Winter Bits and Bobs - 2018

Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 11:59 am
by robo
I've just got back from giving the chickens their daily treat and cleaning the shed come coup out , the wind is really biting to cold to hang about ,back home now with my feet up doing what I hate sitting looking through the Windows

Re: Late Winter Bits and Bobs - 2018

Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 12:09 pm
by Primrose
Yea, biting wind not nice for weeding so have allowed common sense to prevail and am settling for a library book. Spent 30 minutes outdoors earlier so did get a tiny dose of Vitamin D to help battle a current streaming cold. Am opting out of a group gathering this afternoon. Doesn,t seem sensible to spread any more germs around when the NHS is already under siege !

Re: Late Winter Bits and Bobs - 2018

Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 12:57 pm
by robo
I'm the same primrose I've been sniffling for two weeks comes with a bad cough ,shivers ,and feeling crap

Re: Late Winter Bits and Bobs - 2018

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 5:46 pm
by oldherbaceous
I wish we would get a few dry days in a row, so i can get on and clear a few things off the allotments. As i refuse to go walking on the allotment when it is as wet as this.