Selfsufficientish.com

Yes, most will decay quickly, but not all. That's why I'm asking ;) Some will be covered to block out the light, but we need others to use as weights to hold mypex down so we don't need quite so many staples!

I bought a book a few years ago called Jubilee Dishes: patriotic recipes for the 21st century. It's by Marguerite Patten, and includes this sort of info (not down to sawdust, but using carrots to pad things out, including in marmalade, and mock cream made with margerine, etc. There's also info on ra...

Can someone please invent an allotment steamer? To be heated by a bonfire of some sort, with an old tin bath or something on top, plus steaming basket and a lid. All those perennial roots wouldn't have to be double bagged for over a year or drowned for a month or more, but could be simply steamed fo...

Davie Crockett: I see I need to have posted 25 posts before I can use PMs - that's 16 to go (well, 15 after this).

The white rubble sacks do look interesting - how big are they (ish)?

Muddywitch! Hello!

Do you know what my dog is? Not a greyhound, but lurcher-ish (whippet, border collie, staffie, perhaps more...) From my research, it seems that she does have the soul of a sighthound, though.

Davie Crocket - thanks, I will look at the bags again, and may take you up on your kind offer if they look like the right thing! Boboff - I don't know who to ask, and imagine Freecycle would throw up one or two here or there, but probably not a whole wardrobe full, although I could be wrong. And we ...

>Will bags that you buy compost in, or bags I get coal in do the job? Yes, they probably would if we had any! We stockpiled them for years, then cut them up to mulch a large area of ground elder, which was only partially effective. (I then used this as the first argument for getting chickens, which ...

Yes, we do have some of those, and I spent some of yesterday putting old bags of rotting down roots in for double bagging. I accept that we may have to buy (even more!) materials and am happy to do so, but what I'm really looking for is UV-resistant bags that will last and can be re-used *and are sm...

Thanks for the replies. Skippy: I like the idea of using those bags you mention (if not waterproof, the contents can rot aerobically), but haven't got good scavenging skills, nor do I know of any building sites where I might ask. Sandbags are very similar, and might do it, too. We'd prefer not to us...

Thanks, all, for the welcome! Hope to see a lot more of everyone in the forums... :)

I can't tell you for sure, but they didn't seem to eat the potatoes on our allotment last year, although they did eat most things, especially sea kale and onions :( >Can anybody tell me if potatoes would be safe to grow where there are wild rabbits about? We don't want the shoots coming through to h...

Hello We have just taken over an additional half allotment next to our original half. It is very overgrown with perennial weeds - mainly mugwort, but also couch and a dandelion or 100. The original half, which we have had for two years, is also far from clear - the worst bit being where the perennia...

Hello from Worcestershire, UK. (I'm sure I joined years ago, but have no idea what my details were...) We have hens in our garden and an allotment, and would love to exchange ideas with others trying produce more of their own food, preferably without breaking the bank, backs or the planet. I look fo...