Burning Issues of the Day

[Pa Snip]

Primrose, I guess that depends on the variety and age of the seeds.

This year most of ours will be freshly purchased as we had far too many that failed to germinate properly. Amazingly we struggled to get even lettuce of various types to grow.

Had a good sort through and throw out on basis of not wishing to waste space and effort on aged seeds.

[Motherwoman]

All a bit of a balancing act with frugality versus germination. Trouble is you can get caught out by being late with a resow and a crop not maturing. I use up any pea seeds by doing a 'well it either will or it won't row' by mixing all the odds and ends together early in the season and have my normal fresh seeds already to go. Carrots I sometimes mix sow old with new as well and the fast germinaters such as lettuce are quick to replace if you have problems. I like fresh tomato seed though, don't want to take a risk.

MW

[Monika]

We often use last year's seeds, especially those which come free with magazines and have never been opened, but the two I would always buy fresh are parsnips and carrots.

And, having been disappointed with new varieties many a time, I tend to stick to those which have grown successfully in our garden and allotment in the past.

[oldherbaceous]

Quite a appropriate heading...

Just had a panic knocking at the door, as the Church was full of electrical smoke...have been and sorted it, it was just the mains cables coming into the fuse box the electric boards side....They will come and renew it in the morning...

[Westi]

OH! That was lucky!

Westi

[oldherbaceous]

Indeed it was Westi, i would have been very annoyed if the wooden spinners on my clock winding handles had got burnt off....

All joking apart, the person that had come round, had done the right thing and turned everything off in the Church, because once the power wasn't being drawn down the cable it stopped the shorting out.

[Pa Snip]

Tues 30th Dec

Like many people we try to recycle useful items and are forever building up our stock of jars with lids ready for the new seasons marmalade / jam / preserve making sessions

My issue is with companies who use label adhesives that are almost impossible to remove. The label part comes off when wet but the adhesive behind on some shops products can be a real struggle to remove. Putting them in the dishwasher just makes it harder

Worst offender I have found so far are the Sainsbury's honey jars our neighbour saves for us. As they take the trouble to save us egg boxes and eggshells I don't wish to offend them by refusing those particular jars.

Anybody found a good gum remover that is safe to use on jars that are going to contain foodstuffs.

[WestHamRon]

Tues 30th Dec

Like many people we try to recycle useful items and are forever building up our stock of jars with lids ready for the new seasons marmalade / jam / preserve making sessions

My issue is with companies who use label adhesives that are almost impossible to remove. The label part comes off when wet but the adhesive behind on some shops products can be a real struggle to remove. Putting them in the dishwasher just makes it harder

Worst offender I have found so far are the Sainsbury's honey jars our neighbour saves for us. As they take the trouble to save us egg boxes and eggshells I don't wish to offend them by refusing those particular jars.

Anybody found a good gum remover that is safe to use on jars that are going to contain foodstuffs.

WD40 ?

[Gerry]

Hi Pa Snip,

Lakeland Plastics sell "Sticky Stuff Remover" in liquid form and, for windows, a gel.

Regards,
Gerry.

[Primrose]

Pa Snip. there's,s an aerosol product made by Mykal. Www. Mykall.co.uk which will remove all kinds of labels and sticky substances. We make a lot of home made marmalade and pickles so recycle commercial jars and I agree, some of these labels are a real pain to remove . Soaking only removes the paper part of the label and not the sticky backing part but this product does the stuff. We've had this aerosol can for years and unfortunately can,t remember where we bought it from and will need to get a replacement soon.

PS. Just checked and DeSolv-it is available from Halfords

[Pa Snip]

Brilliant,

I just knew somebody would be able to come up with something. First job in morning is to retrieve the dozen jars I put in our recycling bin earlier tonight

Grateful Thanks

[Geoff]

We recycle a lot of jars and have used some of these fancy glue removers but simple petrol is as good as anything.
Trouble is the lids deteriorate so we bought a batch of lids from The Jam Jar Shop. They came very clearly labelled with where they were from in a box sealed with red and white FRAGILE tape.
So our friendly post lady rang the bell one day and started to apologise for the state of the parcel she was delivering and would I like to check it, she was very worried by the way it rattled.

[Pa Snip]

Its nice that she cared enough to do that Geoff.

[oldherbaceous]

Or maybe she was just deing nosey, to see what Geoff had in his intersting parcel....

[Pa Snip]

Awww OH, now you have shattered my illusions,
just like she thought the parcel contents were