General Chat

Good morning all,

Carole your husband must be keen to inflict such injuries on himself.

I am glad that your stall went well Sue. It has been glorious here for the past couple of days, but the forecast is for much more autumnal weather from today.

It is overcast and windy this morning. I think that I will have to pack away my summer clothes. The problem is that the temperature in the hospital is about a zillion degrees,so wearing the correct clothes is difficult. The choice is to freeze outside or boil in there.

Good Morning/Evening Everyone,

Been another beautiful day here, hot, sunny, could see for miles.You can see across the Irish Sea, to the mountains of Southern Ireland on a day like this, from up the mountain here.

Linda..........I wonder why hospitals are kept so unbearably warm all year round? Seems to be the same everywhere.
What are you harvesting from your allotment at the moment? - and what are you planting if anything? You can tell I've never grown veg etc.

Carole..........How did the horse riding go?, and when is it your turn? Your OH must be very dedicated to his sport to play four games. I don't know that I was ever that fit.

Sue,.......Glad you had a worthwhile day at the market. What kind of things are sold there?

Allan........We had better behave today...........Mother's back!

Regards
Tec.

Hello Tec,
I have just looked in before Miss Marple starts on TV in ten minutes, I am going to go and watch that, but will be back at 10pm when the boring football starts.

What are we harvesting, well the tomatoes are still ripening although the leaves are starting to become shrivelled. In a while I will pick all of the green tomatoes to make chutney with. We have a melon plant in the green house which is flowering and just beginning to produce the fruit, but i think it is a bit late,so they won't ripen.

We have lots of turnips and beetroot still growing. There are plenty of leeks and Brussel sprouts which will continue through the winter. I picked the last of the purple coloured French beans yesterday and pulled those plants out, but the green beans and cauliflowers are still growing. I got the last of the Mange Tout and pulled those plants up as well. The courgettes are still producing, but are slowing down now. we have some sweet corn ripening as well. oh and there is another large pumpkin just about ready to pick. There are still some apples to harvest,that is about it really. The allotment next door has lots of Blackberries they don't want,so I am also picking them and making more jam

We could plant lots for the winter, but apart from picking the sprouts and leeks, we are not going to bother really. It is only a three minute walk from the house, but the lane gets muddy,so we will have a bit of a rest.

Oh time for Miss Marple,so see you later, unless you are a football fan of course

Wow Linda,
That's an amazingly productive little plot. I had no idea you could get so much variety out of one allotment. Must be wonderful to have all that fresh veg home grown, unlike the tasteless plastic variety sold in supermarkets.
My grandfather grew veg all over his garden - no flowers.
It was a sight to see, with everything in neat straight rows, and I have never seen cabbages like he grew - massive.
You have inspired me to have a go next year, watch this space.

Tec.

I should think so. The silly thing is that we have a large garden on the back of the house, but it is laid to lawns and flower beds,so we don't grow veg there. I do have two apple trees and a pear tree in the garden and I have some old fashioned zinc type bath tubs on the patio. I have them full of herbs ad lettuces of different types. I just pull enough leaves from the lettuce to use for one meal and they continue to grow. I prefer to have the salad leaves in the house garden because they are easier to collect.

We have a large fruit cage on the allotment, so we had lots of raspberries, Blackcurrants and Gooseberries earlier in the year.

You have a Market Garden there I think - now you may laugh, I planted a damson tree about ten years ago here.
Nothing for five years, then every year since then we have had ONE damson per annum - I watch it lovingly every year till it ripens.
I once had visions of pots and pots of damson jam, that I love.
Oh well.............

Tec...........Your garden sounds lovely.

You probably need another tree to fertilise it. It won't do it on its own.

Well i don't think a small allotment is quite a market garden, but we do have loads of spuds which will keep us going for ever if they don't rot and lots of onions as well. We are quite pleased with the progress we have made so far

Yes - I thought that. The man across the road has a victoria plum in his garden that is laden every year, but I think it is too far away from me.

Tec.

I just found this

Compatability of trees

This is important in terms of pollination and fertilisation purposes

There are in effect two groups of fruit trees. Self-fertile trees do not require another tree to act as a pollination partner, to ensure a fruit crop. Fruit trees which are not self-fertile require another fruit tree to act as a pollination partner to provide sufficient pollen for fertilisation.

Good morning/evening everyone. Hope you are all well.

Tec it sounds like your Sunday has been beautiful. It's amazing that you can see the mountains of Southern Ireland. OH says he remembers seeing Ireland from the Isle of Man when he was a boy. He went with the army cadets.

Today appears to be a sign of what's to come. After a very hot day yesterday we have got up to a cool day with a smoke haze over the mountains and the smell of burning bush. There are a number of bush-fires down the coast from us. Thirty homes were apparently saved by our incredibly hard-working fire fighters. The irony of it is that the smell of burning eucalypts is a beautiful smell but it is the smell of destruction. More irony in that so many of Australia’s native plants are regenerated by fire. I’ve seen some recent pictures of the bush-fire areas of Victoria and already the plants are starting to come back. We were away up north on holiday when bush fires destroyed an enormous amount of land between where we were and home. The roads were closed and we couldn’t get home for awhile but when the roads opened we grabbed everything and drove home. It was horrifying. The landscape was a sight of total destruction on either side of the road. At one point we passed the burnt out shell of someone’s home and that was the final straw – we both broke down in tears. Something I’ll never forget and that was a number of years ago.

Tec to answer your question about what we sell at our market stall. We sell sewn and knitted goods – baby wear, kitchen goods such as aprons, oven mitts, ironing board covers, peg bags etc., quilts, bags and a number of other items. All are made by volunteers and we have a great deal of fabric and wool donated. We even have storage that is donated. It sells well because it’s good quality and people come back for more. We also supply some shops and a number of doctors’ surgeries also have some of our items. It generates about $12,000 a year.

Sue xx

There is lots of blossom on that tree, but when it's out, we always get tremendous winds off the mountain. That may also be a factor.
Do you grow everything from seed?
Strangely, my daughter is very into growing veg in her garden, her OH has not interest, but she seems to do very well.

good evening/morning all

Linda. your allotment seems extremely productive..that's one of the reasons why we are digging up the back lawn. If we are going to pay for water it may as well be on something productive

to Carole and Sue, I'll try my best not to lose my sense of humour, but with you lot groaning at my so called jokes it will be difficult. by the way, Carole, how is your OH today? I would have thought that an oversize hand would be an advantage in softball

Tec, how are the staffing arrangements going?

Allan

Good morning Sue...you posted whilst I was typing

Allan

Linda your allotment sounds great. We also have herbs and lettuce close to the house. We have a large back yard and it's mostly lawn with flower beds. OH has just started his veggie garden in earnest although we always have something growing. He has put in corn, beetroot, silverbeet, cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes (about 3 kinds), capsicum (peppers?), spring onions, garlic and strawberries. He's grown some from seed and bought seedlings.

Sue xx

Hello, Allan. You love it when we tease you about your bad jokes:-)))

Sue xx

Oh good evening Sue and Allan.

I was away reading about Damson trees, as far as I can see they should be self fertilising

We do grow some things from seed, but it is fiddly. Peas and beans etc are fine, but to be honest for the amount of other things which we plant, it is easier just t buy the plants, plus the other allotment holders keep giving us excess plants

I have always had a green house (glass house) Sue and grown veg on a small scale in the gardens of the previous houses we have owned. We moved here in ;late 2000 and this is the only house we have not grown veg at. The garden was laid to lawn and as OH was working abroad so much, it was easier just to leave it like that. Now he no longer works, it is nice to have the allotment

That's interesting Linda, I may plant another tree this winter.
Then I may drive you insane asking for tips on how to grow this and that. Although I have a stack of gardening books here, including the RHS ones.

Good Morning Sue,
I think that market and the variety of goods sold there is an incredibly lucrative fund raiser, and all credit to the ladies for their time, and effort. Here, there is a big effort to raise funds for the Air Ambulance, an essential facility here, because we are 45 miles from a major hospital, with very poor roads between here and the hospital. The helicopter actually landed just behind my garden wall last year, because my neighbour was very ill with a brain tumour - he since died, but the chopper is in constant use here, so most people support the charity.

I can't begin to think how awful the bush fires are, and I can't think of anything more depressing than the scene you describe. Those poor people, I hope the survivors get back on their feet soon.

Tec.

I seem to have scared everyone away.
The football on TV seems to have finished and OH has gone to bed,so I will love you and leave you and go off to pester him now. I know he just loves me chatting to him while he settles down to sleep

Sorry Tec, you sneaked in while I was typing, but goodnight anyway. I am sure that Sue will entertain you admirably, with the help of Allan of course