Winter Bits and Bobs.

[Colin2016]

Fortunately not many adverts for me here or elsewhere probably because I use duckduckgo with all the protections on.

Can prevent me getting past some paywalls sometimes.

[Westi]

As soon as this Xmas stuff is over I'm going to get our local clever people to come round & see if they can get rid of the nonsense & go back in time to set it up to suit my needs. The clever guys all look really young but there's nothing to phase them & they come to you. I asked a few friends if theirs were played with & only one had an issue & she was told it happens when you consistently decline an update. They give you so many chances but intervene regardless & when they have another upgrade coming, which reads to me there is more of this rubbish to come.

Thanks for the hint with duckduckgo Colin, I'll mention that to the clever guys so they can load that.

[Geoff]

Has anyone found a decent alternative to the disappeared original Jeyes Fluid? Want to give the greenhouse a thorough sort out and don't rate the patio cleaner type stuff.

[Westi]

Nice down on the plot today but I got down there in the dark, not that I was that enthusiastic to get there but promised a chap who goes on my bus to Sainsbury's for the opening time to give him a book. Didn't have much time for chat as they opened their doors & they put stuff out at way cheaper prices for this older group of people.(Obvs near use by but a couple of days & they only generally buy small amounts).

So I was first down with the torch to hand. Managed to cut down all the asparagus & made a pretty good start weeding but not as good as I would have liked as the raspberries had got under the path & into their bed. Then a stroke of luck that Sat is going to be nice so I can go down then & hopefully make more progress without the roots in the way.

Geoff re, your alternative Jeyes Fluid; I was given one that I thought was good.(1/2 used). It was pretty much a look a like container to the real thing. Got all the tunnel skin cleaned & all the staging, no idea of where it was bought though sorry.

[Geoff]

I've found searching for black fluid turns up some likely products, one of these certainly looks like the old tin, anybody tried any?

Screenshot 2025-12-11 150625.jpg (30.81 KiB) Viewed 859 times

[Westi]

A bit dodgy on the plot when I got down this morning as icy area's on the paths & freezing cold. Fortunately the mist lifted quite quickly & got a thaw when the sun came out, well technically the sun was out but still working it's way up over the very tall hedge row along the front. I kept tackling the Asparagus & now got 2 beds finished, prepped & topped up & 3rd bed in progress. For some reason the beds at the end were less weedy but not complaining about that.

Just got 6 beds to weed now, none too challenging then I can do some proper digging & prepping to flip some of them into larger beds ready for the summer brassica's. I even remembered to bring the seeds home to sort, unfortunately not in their box as just couldn't balance the box as well as the dog so will just sort them out into their sow date & check use by date out & take them back down nearer spring.

Did I mention how cold it was??

[Clive.]

Certainly colder this morning than we have been treated to for a few days. After a visit elsewhere and at that I hadn't set my alarm clock so was running an hour+ down... I decided I must sort my South border... Herbaceous cut down, thankfully only a very light weed and lightly tickled over with border fork. Cheered me up no end to have sorted this which in reality was an easy win with the hope that it may spur me on to sort more.....

Radio Caroline North is on this weekend, live from the Ross Revenge..that always tends to buoy me up a bit to get on again..



C.

[oldherbaceous]

Even after a couple of dryish days, the ground is still soaking wet…..now only if my arms were 8 foot long….

[Clive.]

Yes, we were 'making it go' from the lawn and path side at work on Friday....'til it rained mid afternoon then it was back to some path side leaf raking...

Meanwhile today, ...Boston sausages, baby potatoes and brussels sprouts just consumed.....

Give it half an hour and I ought to then do the remaining third of my south border.... much sandier land at home here

C.

[Westi]

Sorted out all my seeds today as quite the mess as I literally just threw everything in my bag, but got it all sorted & bagged up in sow dates ready to take down on Wed. Unfortunately some of the seeds were wet which I think was probably due to some water in the bottom of the box where I threw them in to start until I realised I wouldn't be able to carry the box, as it's got a little raised grid on the bottom & it was literally a toss out so I wouldn't miss the bus.
Just been on line to replace the wet seeds, what a huge difference in price from what we pay for our site orders! Never mind lesson learnt!

[Clive.]

Weather turned out more workable than expected today...light rain at 7:15am soon ceased..and got a short section of path/lawn side border all out, forked deeply, split and replanted I understand that further West it was rather a lot wetter day....
...and tonight it's raining here and billed to do so throughout the night, so good job done today ahead of more damp...and later in the week very wet it suggests..

C.

[Colin2016]

Potato bed 12ft x 30ft with 2ton well rotted horse manure spread on top 4/6 inch thick some lumps.

This is on sandy soil about 1 mile from North Norfolk coast.

Been uncovered 5 weeks whilst it rained, now covered up with thick old lino type flooring.

My thinking is that with the cover will help attract more worms than if it was left uncovered.

Am I thinking sensibly or stupidly?

[oldherbaceous]

Sounds a good plan to me, Colin!

[Westi]

Hi Colin!

When I finish the Asparagus I have a similar plan with my brassica's. I have weeded all the existing beds in prep but I want to widen them all to give the brassica's more room, which means paths have to come out as well & probs a good dig as I've been walking on those paths for several years so likely compacted. Paths will be put back down but narrower & further apart. I will be heaving out the heavy duty plastic I was given from the guy that works at the airport to cover. Not a chance this plastic will degrade for some time, it is used to protect the new plane engines.

I have found a product that actually attracts worms called Envii Active Earth. I was skeptical about it but threw it down on an empty bed in the tunnel to trial & there was a load of worms in just over a week & they continued visiting. I haven't checked for a while though I admit.

[Colin2016]

Thanks for the tip on "Envii Active Earth" fortunately I know the worms are there as have lots of mole activity.