Kitchen Garden Forum

For all the frugal tips!

Planting potato peels.... A second crop of broad beans by cutting the plants to 9 inches.. leaving sprout plants in to flower.. NB I do this when raggedy jack kale goes to seed,,, Planting dried peas...

Any more such ideas very welcome here as seed costs are great...

Oh just enjoyed some tasty baby carrrots sowed in a large pot in October...

You can let some onions go to seed and collect the 100's of seeds to grow your own onions .....and have some to swop ...
Have you thought of starting a seed swop in your area ? My brother lives in S Ireland he would probally do some swops with you

I got some cheaper seeds from Thompson and Morgan - well under a £1 a packet - mostly 80p but beetroot was 40p. They can list them in price order. The sting was that postage was £6.24. I often share seed and plug plant orders with my neighbour - often we only want 1/2 of what they are offering anyway.

Tigger2shoes wrote:You can let some onions go to seed and collect the 100's of seeds to grow your own onions .....and have some to swop ...
Have you thought of starting a seed swop in your area ? My brother lives in S Ireland he would probally do some swops with you

Would enjoy that but this year would have almost nothing to offer. This was our first year here so all is new.

Had not thought re the onions; thank you.

I have several dozen tree lupin seeds; they will hopefully join our cash-crop sales this coming year or next year.

LIDL seeds are good. but limited range.

Hi Marigold,
Certainly you can replant an onion that you have grown the previous year and it will go to seed and just one onion should give you enough seed for the following year. There is a snag though because most shop-bought varieties are F1 hybrids and cannot be trusted to breed true so if you can find somebody with a non-hybrid onion ask them to swap with a shop-bought and you are in business! Maybe if you were to ask at an Organic Outlet you may be able to find out which variety it is but in a supermarket I suspect you have absolutely no chance.
Sincerely,
JB.

I belong to the cottage garden society and we do a seed swap which works out at 12 packets of seeds for £4 postage. You can choose veg or flower seed. If you send in seed you get more packets back. If you belong to an allotment society they often do bulk orders which brings down the price of seed. Also it's an opportunity to share seed packets with other allotment owners. You never need a whole packet of any brassica seed and it's never as good after it's opened, so do a swap.

P.S. I'd love tree lupin seed if you want to do a seed swap. Let me know what sort of seed you'd like by a PM if you are interested.

jane E wrote:P.S. I'd love tree lupin seed if you want to do a seed swap. Let me know what sort of seed you'd like by a PM if you are interested.

Will pm later; thanks. Was going to send them to relatives in Canada but then learned that they grow wild there,,,

Waiting for the car mechanic; wee car refuses to move as the back wheels are locked. The initial rescue is covered by our insurance but after that.. may end up catching rabbits to eat yet! We sent all our cash to India.

Marigold wrote:

jane E wrote:P.S. I'd love tree lupin seed if you want to do a seed swap. Let me know what sort of seed you'd like by a PM if you are interested.

Will pm later; thanks. Was going to send them to relatives in Canada but then learned that they grow wild there,,,

Waiting for the car mechanic; wee car refuses to move as the back wheels are locked. The initial rescue is covered by our insurance but after that.. may end up catching rabbits to eat yet! We sent all our cash to India.

Thankfully it is sorted. On this car, Suzuki WagonR plus, the handbrake jams on wet days and takes a little or a lot of revviing and trying to love to release it.

The tow truck man tried that to no avail on the one locked back wheel, so then we adjourned to a garage he knew. I went along in the hopes of expediting the repair.

As he unloaded the car from the truck, there was a loud cracking noise, like the sound the handbrake makes when it releases, and behold! The wheel started turning. The mechanic checked it carefully; seems it is the damp and mud here.. arthritis!

We have been in touch with the landlord re the state of the driveway here which is thick with mud and potholed. This morning when I thought it was simply bogged in, I called them out to help; farming folk still abed. So hoping that will ensure they fix the drive. Meanwhile he has told me not to leave the handbrake on when it is parked.

The bogs of Ireland...