Kitchen Garden Forum

My fine young man and I have one allotment, a small veg garden at home, a few fruit trees (my favourite being the mulberry) a glasshouse, a dog, two snakes and 13 fish. I work as a paramedic and am currently working a night shift (see time of post!!).

I now have one whole allotment, a tiny garden and a plastic roofed bit at the side of my house that passes for a greenhouse.
Hoping to get self sufficient in all my fruit and veg except bananas.

Just started a new career as landscape architect, currently planning planting plans for retirement homes, but hope to move into designing sustainable urban drainage systems (- which are a lot more interesting than they sound.)

Live with a psycopathic siamese and usually a lodger; looking for lion tamer who can cook if anyone knows one.

That's a pretty good likeness of me on the left.

I have been married to my Governor for almost forty-four years and we have two lovely daughters and four grandchildren who I love to bits.

I am a semi-retired self employed 'young handsome' bloke working three days a week. I can't face up to full retirement plus I think the Governor and I would be in the divorce courts inside a week...only joking my dearest

The rest of the time I spend writing articles for various Trade magazines and working on the formats for various training courses that I do.
I manage to go to a local art group once a week to, what's best described as, splash a bit of paint about a bit.

I also spend a day a week working as a volunteer gardener and at the weekends I spend time on my own allotment...two adjacent half plots. I have two large greenhouses plus a couple of sheds

I am not allowed to do any of the gardening at home as that belongs to the Governor...hence the allotment

Hi Rooster - welcome to the forum.

I've got a decent sized garden with an 8 foot by 6 foot greenhouse, raised veg beds and 7 bantams. I also have 2 allotments, which I share with my other half.

We are both ex-office bods who decided to re-train 5 years ago. I did 1 day a week at college for 2 years in professional horticulture and the other half went 1 day a week for a year to do arboriculture (trees). I'm currently working as a plant area superviser in a local garden centre and he has his own tree stump removal business.

Sue

I have had my allotment for 5 years and have a small back garden where I grow flowers and some fruit.

I'm an American living in Scotland for 17 years where I live with my partner, 1 year old son and two cats. I am pregnant with second child due in May (not very good timing for the growing season, I know).

Sorry I haven't been on much.

Hi Rooster, Compo or Dave here

I have a medium sized Garden(s) on three sides of my bungalow in Rural Somerset. I live with my luvverly missus and twelve year old son. I have an allotment up the road, with a greenhouse and coldframes, not much going on there at the moment.
The site is a great place to share success, failures and ask questions, some people like a lively debate but anyone that knows me will tell you, I don't usually join in with those!!!

Emjoy the forum it's a great place for veg gardeners and anything else you want to talk about!!


Compo..............

Peter Help me, I am the last poster for a change!!!

Compo

Compo wrote:Peter Help me, I am the last poster for a change!!!

Compo

Now how can i do that Compo?
I've already posted on this thread.

Plus, you still owe me for the last psyco-analysis session.

Now deep breaths and shout twenty times as LOUD as you can,

"It does not make the green weevils eat my toes if I'm the last poster on a thread!"

Phew

Thanks mate, I did the exercise not twenty but twenty one times because even numbers make me twitchy, there is not much wrong with mate mate......is there???? And I am being the last poster again and taking deep breaths as I do it.

Compo

Compo, I reckon you need to add a comma to your given occupation on your profile after the first word.

Now "Yerk, anyone seen my camel?"

Can't find teh camel but I am missing a goat. I swopped the mother in law but the goat hasn't turned up yet

Peter, I will probably leave it the way it is as that would mean I have two occupations and I don't want anymore jobs to do the missus has given me enough jobs of late. My real job is psychiatric social worker, so hey what do I know?

Oh s''t a goat just ran past my house being chased by a camel, in this weather too!!!

Compo

Hi everyone,
I started to grow my own fruit and veg about 35 years ago when my children were small as I didn't like the thought of them eating food laced with chemicals.

I've about half an acre of garden, some flat and the rest on a series of terraces which is a bit more challenging. I've a small orchard where the hens roam, two greenhouses, and a large pond.

I like growing everything, but I suppose the veg get priority.

I help run a small community garden on an allotment site which is a nice change from gardening on my own at home.

I'm retiring at the end of March and hope to catch up with all the jobs I've not got round to doing so far. My partner is definitely not a gardener, and not terribly practical either, but he digs and carries heavy things about which is a big help.

It is good to join such a friendly group of people and talk gardening.

Pat

Dear Plumpudding, well it's nice to have such a nice person as yourself, join us.

And some very helpful replies from you, is just an added bonus.

Hello Rooster,

Here I am, another one to add to your file. I'm a teacher at an independent school soon to retire. I got my allotment [2 10-pole plots side by side] when I thought of getting on a waiting list. When they had picked themselves up off the floor in a fit of laughter they gave me somebody else's plot half an hour's walk from home. When I realised the mistake I gave it back - not least because I discovered that where I really wanted the plot was privately owned land.

The soil is good friable well-worked clay with a ph of 6.5 generally. It is poorly protected, unlike the council-run plots with high fences andpadlocked gates, and so we do get vandalism from time to time. Water is obtained from a pump attached to a pipe which goes right down into the water-table. This pump breaks from time to time and a lovely Pakistani British bloke repairs it with old inner-tube rubber. I decided to buy my own and let everyone use it while the other is being repaired. I have found proper soaking and mulching means that I need half as much water as others seem to need.

As well as the usual staples, I grow celeriac, Jerusalem artichokes and, as from last year, sweet potatoes. I have become a manic hoarder and recycler, especially of cardboard packaging, which I use to cover the paths between raised beds and also to put over the beds in winter [those I haven't covered with green manure] to stop leeching. Somewhere else on this forum I've shown you what I did with the catheter bags left over after my prostate TURP operation. The gardeners at school bag all the leaves for me in autumn instead of putting them into the skip.

somewhere else on the forum I put up some photos ofthe allotment. I'll try to remember to do that again here. Apart from that I must ask you and others to forgive me if my posts are very infrequent. I have been diagnosed with prostate cancer - excellent prospects of a complete cure but fatiguing while it lasts.

All the best

mike