Selfsufficientish.com

I planted loads of chives and spring onion seeds and baby leek seeds in all kinds of places last year and none of them ever came up. This spring my allotment was full of little patches of alliums coming up everywhere. Is that what you're meant to do - plant chives and leave them dormant in the groun...

I see - so it's not an issue of whether the organic seeds are "better" than normal ones, it's an issue of whether you are supporting an industry that uses pesticides etc. A bit like organic cotton t-shirts. I don't eat my t-shirts so I'm not worried about what pesticides and stuff might ha...

Ooh, this place is new. "The Local", eh? Like it. So, organic seeds. Are they worth it? I mean, I buy normal seeds, plant them in the ground, don't put any pesticides or herbicides or fertiliser or anything weird like that on them, just manure and compost and stuff. Isn't that organic enou...

Thanks guys. I didn't know you had a blog, Wombat! I've added you to my links at bean-sprouts. You can add me to your Livejournal friends if you like by adding MRimmerBlog to your friends list. Same goes for anyone else on LJ. Does anyone else here have a new blog I don't know about? I'll go and hav...

Hi guys! Sorry I haven't been around for ages. I was just spending too much time chatting on this forum and not enough actually gardening and recycling and making stuff etc. That's my fault not ssish's, so I'm going to try again and use some self-control this time. I published an interview with Andy...

I bought a brace of pheasants for £3. It's the end of the shooting season and they all had to be sold ASAP. They're hanging in the garage until dad arrives on friday, then I'll pluck them, dress them and roast them for our dinner. I had to phone Ed and warn him. He's a vegetarian and I think if h...

So sorry to hear that, Sal. How awful. I hope you get your stuff back, and the toe rags who took it get what they deserve.

Annpan, are you sure those were the things that made you sick, and you weren't just sick coincidentally after eating those things? Milk that's off smells and tastes off. If it smells and tatses OK it won't do you any harm Eggs are the same. you really know about it when eggs are off. And in both tho...

I'm so sorry, Paradox. What a terrible shock.

The branches will tend to grow upright over time whatever angle you plant the trunk. Can you train cherries at all - into a fan or espalier perhaps? That would help with protecting and picking.

Of course, Sal. I always welcome inbound links. It's great for the GPR. I've linked back to you as well.

I've done this. You just put it in a jar and shake it for ages. It needs to be old cream - apparently really fresh cream doesn't work. And it has to be double cream. Then once it goes (it happens really quickly) - it goes slosh-slosh-slosh-slosh....shlosh-slosh-THUNK. And that's when you've got a lu...

I tested tumble dryer balls to see if they live up to their claims that they reduce drying times and soften clothes. I thought the softening claim was plausible, but the cutting drying time was a bit more dubious. Turns out I was exactly wrong - they do reduce drying times by over 30%, but they don'...

I read about EM in Wiggly Wigglers , where they're all big fans. I dunno, I'm just not excited by it. It sounds like a solution to a problem I haven't got. My chickens' shit smells. So what? It's meant to. My compost could decompose quicker. Don't care. It decomposes fast enough for me. What can I s...

Great question. The "Expert" series by D.G.Hessayon are generally recgnised to be the "bible", so for allotment gardening that means the Fruit Expert and the Vegetable and Herb Expert. They don't specifically deal with organic growing though. If you can find it, Food From Your Ga...