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Wow, that's brilliant. I'd love to send OH on something like that - but he needs his fingers for his livelihood.

I think that's an excellent skill, although without a forge you might struggle - will that be a new addition to the farm?

A friend gave me a seedling for Christmas. It's like a triffid, taking up far more space in the greenhouse than I care for. The fruits OK but I'm not totally sold. I'm just hoping it's an annual plant so I can get rid soon. Having said that it's still hung in fruit, so it might be a while yet. Oh, a...

I've only used butter, or a thin layer of oil, on something to exclude air, never used it as the preserving medium. I know olive oil goes cloudy if it's refrigerated but other than that I'm not sure what the problem would be. The wax layer sounds like stearic acid, but I didn't know olive oil contai...

those blue containers that have the clippy lids They're food prep tubs, Viper. I bought a load off Ebay a good few years back. If there's a big food prep company anywhere near you might be able to get some free/cheap - they don't seem to re-use them. Take care though - these places seem to be parti...

I'm not knowledgable about that particular variety but have got experience of small gooseberries with large pips! I think, in my case, it was too little water ( mine were in pots at the time)in a dryish summer. My experience of making jam is that the gooseberries went from uncooked to burnt in short...

Hey honey, welcome home.

Hi Alec, and welcome. I agree with everything you've said. Unfortunately Ish had a few "technical issues" a few years back, resulting in a change of ownership etc etc. During that time a lot of more casual users fell by the wayside, leaving us die hards holding the fort. It's been quiet but friendly...

If he's like every other cat I know his claws will do the job just fine.

Indeed. My brother, who lived in Finland, had his UK pension topped up by the Finnish government and was in full-time care.

Yes, it's a shame local authorities don't do more to encourage things like community gardens or allotments, which might help a lot of folk through times of need and give back a bit of self worth. I got seriously told off by a friend, a few years back, because I took the list I'd been given at the su...

Think of it as a gift for someone else, rather than a failure. It might help someone without any gardening knowledge to get into growing their own.

Go on, bung it in some soil.

Batten down the hatches, Tony, and keep safe.

I try to support the local economy, as far as I can. We buy a (mainly) locally produced veg box and local cheese and meat. Clothes almost always come from Ebay, secondhand - prices have noticably gone up since lockdown so I'm guessing a few people have discovered the delights. Apart from new raised ...

We sow our tomatoes, peppers in the first few days of the New Year, in heated propagators, Viper, to give them a head start. We have such a short growing season up here (we're definitely into autumn now) so we need to grab every bit of sunshine - and we often have lovely weather Feb/March/Apr. We on...