Autumn Bits and Bobs

A place to chat about anything you like, including non-gardening related subjects. Just keep it clean, please!

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oldherbaceous
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I suppose the arguement would be that, they are within the permitted guidelines, Primrose...not that that washes with me.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

There's no fool like an old fool.
vivienz
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I used an organic spray against mealy aphids the other day, which have heavily infested my purple sprouting broccoli plants. I couldn't figure out any other way to control them as they were so numerous, but this is only chemical preventative measure that I've used on my crops since I started in the spring. I don't know about a causal relationship between chemical used on crops and human diseases, but certainly the impact on insects must be enormous and I'm glad that I'm not contributing much towards that.
Even with the onset of late autumn and early winter (not that anyone has told the weather) there's still plenty coming off the plot in the form of fresh veg. Mind you, butternut squash is the new tomato in our house - I'm busily trying to find ways to include them in most things as we have at least 10 of them to eat and we may not get through them before they're past it. Soup is out - I've still got 3 pumpkins to use for that!
I was going to make a warm salad of romasco broccoli tonight to go with our Saturday night pizza, but it's such filthy weather out there I'm not sure I fancy getting that wet. I may brave it, but pizza is pretty good on it's own!
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Primrose
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As long as you can harden them off property and store them in a cool place Vivien, I reckon your butternut squash should last you the best part of 12 months. A week ago we ploughed our way through a jumbo one which was harvested in Autumn 2019 and it was still in perfect condition.

I've just picked the last two ripe peppers from my last overwintering plant, brought indoors and am wondering how long i can keep it going for before the dreaded whitefly invasion starts which normally finishes them off!

As I type, the rain is pouring down the windows as it has been all day and it's almost dark. I was thinking at one point "what a miserable day", and then I stopped and realised that despite the weather, nothing BAD actually happened in my life today . It had just been a grey wet weather . Sometimes one needs to be grateful for the unspectacular and ordinary , especially in these difficult times.
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I was looking at my outdoor cherry tomatoes today,I started with 5 hanging baskets with them planted in ,I’m now down to two they are both just about still alive but struggling then again we are in mid November the two that’s left have had blight for a while now and still grow on I loose a couple of tomatoes every now and again to blight but I’ve had a lot of perfect ones so I’m saving a handful for seed for next year
vivienz
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Thanks, Primrose. The 10 butternuts don't include the smaller second crop that I harvested before the couple of frosty nights we had. They're in the greenhouse at the moment, so I will bring them in to ripen them up. The others will go and live in the garage as its cool but frost free in there.
I made it out to get my romanesco! I griddled some of my last yellow courgettes (still flowering!!!), boiled the romanesco and put a pesto dressing on it all. Better than the pizza, I reckon!!!
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Primrose
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I,ve just eatena Persimmon.(Sharon Fruit) for my tea. A website tells me that they lower the density of alcohol in the blood so must lay in a stock for Christmas !!.

They are apparently two type astringent and non astringent and they have rwther different appearances. I,ve only ever seen and bought the non astringent type which are Orange and look like a lightly flattened tomato and can be eaten like an apple

Has anybody had the astringent type and what do they taste like. Do they have to be cooked or eaten differently?
?
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Cold, wet, windy & pretty miserable down at the plot today, but despite the pup's assistance I have the new raspberry & strawberry beds planted up with all the appropriate pup deterrents in place - well after she demonstrated how high she could jump so technically it is prototype No. 2. I suspect next visit down I will need to work on No.3! :)
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Kayburton
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Westi wrote:Cold, wet, windy & pretty miserable down at the plot today, but despite the pup's assistance I have the new raspberry & strawberry beds planted up with all the appropriate pup deterrents in place - well after she demonstrated how high she could jump so technically it is prototype No. 2. I suspect next visit down I will need to work on No.3! :)

Puppies tend to grow very quickly, so you can safely put a fence 1.5 meters high around the garden. Then he will definitely not jump. :lol:
deadends_no
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well i cant seem to be enjoying this automn even a bit !
impressive
vivienz
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SUNSHINE!
We have some this morning - what a joy to see that it's still there! A fierce wind to go with it, mind you, but I'm still happy to have a bit of the fiery orb in the sky.
I think I'll finally clear out the straw bales from #2 greenhouse this weekend as they've finally collapsed and there's nothing much coming off them now. I wouldn't mind the space for some extra winter salads, either, so time for a little housekeeping in there.
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Primrose
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Surprising how even a brief spell of sunshine lifts the spirits, especially right now with the miserable time everybody is having. It,s drizzling here now but earlier we were able to lift some nice beetroots from the veg plot before the frost gets at them.
When I start getting depressed at the rain at this time of year I try to remind myself that for me at least, it's optional and I have the choice of staying indoors in the dry. For those who have to work outdoors though it,s not much fun. That,s where at least a greenhouse to work in is a blessing.

I have a friend who bought a greenhouse/shed during the first lockdown and she said it saved her sanity, even on wet days just being able to be out there, with a sense of being closer to outdoors, with a blanket, book or radio when she wasn,t doing gardening stuff.
Monika
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You know the 'mudketeers' from the KG magazine? Well, this morning my OH and I were just that because we levered a huge 30-year old water lily root system out of our pond because it had simply grown too large. Mud, glorious mud everywhere! But the enormous thing is now resting on the pond edge so that any creepy-crawlies can make their way back into the water. Next week it will go into our garden rubbish recycling bin, the last collection until March. We contemplated putting it into our compost but because it is also likely to contain water mint and mares tail root, I'd rather not.
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Primrose
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Monika, Yiu never cease to amaze me how you and your OH keep labouring away in your garden despite having given up your allotment. Well done! It,s surprising how much inysical effort some of these gardening chores take but I guess it,s all good exercise in the fresh air.
Yes, mares tails to be avoided at all costs. Yiu can,t be too careful with these pernicious weeds.

When we came to this new build hiuse 40 years ago we had no alkanet and no oxalis weeds innthe garden whatsoever. They may have been introduced in soil of plants donated to us or from a garden centre possibly. Anyway, now both of them are a constant nightmare to eliminate. Yiu can,t be over careful with some weeds!
Westi
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Hi Viv - & welcome deadends_no (just spotted your post).

My hay bales were pretty much a failure but I'm sure that was the fact they were outside & I didn't really get the hot weather. I might try again though, not thinking of success with the growing bit but the used bales have created a good mulch. The hay around the planting holes was black & well rotted down, probably als the watering, & as such I could mulch the raspberries without it blowing away & having little bits of hay all around the place in the lightest breeze & I got excellent coverage as well & did 5 beds with the 2 bales.

Who knows? I might even get lucky with some of the plants as well next year!
Westi
Stephen
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Well done Monika
Allowing the local wildlife to survive but getting rid of the weeds to the tip whose green manure heaps will get really hot by virtue of their size.
Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
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