Mid Winter Bits and Bobs.

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Clive.
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[quote="Stravaig"
We lived in Greater London for a while a few years ago, and I was very excited to see a couple of green parakeets. We were very used to these in Delhi. I thought they were maybe pets who'd escaped and wondered if we should phone anyone about them. Then I realised that large flocks of them had emigated to the south of England and had become a pest for the local bird population.[/quote]


The parakeets are about in E. Lincolnshire...this grainy photo is a crop from a photo that I took 4 Oct 2011 with one high up in the big old beech tree behind the potting shed at work.

C.
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Primrose
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I recall many years ago I spotted a green parakeet on one of our bird feeders for the first time. I was unaware at that time of them being in the wild and actually contacted our local police station (in the days when village police stations still existed!) to report it, naively thinking somebody had lost a pet bird which had escaped.

Doubly naive at the time because nobody could easily capture these birds - they are far too "flighty" .
Monika
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In the current RHS magazines, twelve vegetable growers/experts list their favourite varieties and I thought you might be interested to see these. All carry the AGM.
carrot Maestro
summer cabbage Regency
pea Show Perfection
lettuce Navara
dwarf bean Stanley
sweet pepper Corno di Toro Giallo
tomato Bite Size
beetroot Boltardy
courgette Venus
runner bean Enorma
Chinese cabbage Yuki
early potato Red Duke of York
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Primrose
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I,m obviously a very unimaginative grower as I,ve not come across many of these varieties Monika.
I do sometimes wonder if the average grower were presented with a blind viewing and tasting how many would be able to tell the difference and name one variety against another.
Westi
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Hi Primrose! You can colour your chrysanthemums with food dye. Saw something about it on some site or another but they take up the colour from the cut stems & the petals change colour & you can do bicolour as well with split stems.
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Monika
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I,m obviously a very unimaginative grower as I,ve not come across many of these varieties Monika.


Don't worry, Primrose. The only ones I recognised were beetroot Boltardy and runner bean Enorma!
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Shallot Man
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Received my other [GYO] gardening mag yesterday. 10 packets of seed. Each enough for a row. Must be a hell of a mark up on seeds. :wink:
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Shallot Man
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Reading in my other gardening mag, how important it is to get certified seed potato's. Mind went back to WW2. No seed potato's. dad would buy 1Cwt sack of spuds [only choice was red or white. Would carry it home on his shoulder. [ No Health & Safety in those days ]One of my job's come spud planting time. Was to select the largest potato that was just shooting, and cut the top inch off. place upside down for a few days then plant. Don't recall any problems. Though to be fair, with a horse, pig ,chickens goat. We had plenty of manure. :wink:
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Primrose
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Monika. Those two were the only ones I recognised too. That makes me feel better!
Stephen
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Can't fault the operation and management.

Well done them. It's nice of you to give credit where it is due.
Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
Colin2016
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Shallot Man does the GYO magazine come out same month (February in February) or early like Kitchen Garden (February in December)?
Westi
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Both tell you what to plant next month which used to annoy me no end but got used to it, so always keep last months before sharing them.
Westi
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Shallot Man
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Colin2016 wrote:Shallot Man does the GYO magazine come out same month (February in February) or early like Kitchen Garden (February in December)?


Feb in December
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