Selfsufficientish.com

Sounds exciting - have a fantastic trip, and if you are passing through - there's a field for you to camp in if you want to cut hedges back!

I would love a bigger garden (wouldn't we all...) ( I am very lucky in that my garden is just right for my veggies and has a few flowers and bits of lawn too - except when my other half isn't turning the lawn into a scrapyard (currently have a dead Fiat and a dead Renault as garden ornaments). But ...

And peas today - recipe for risotto on my blog.

Garden looks great - well done!

Found some redcurrants today!

http://theabsinthefairy.blogspot.com/20 ... orial.html

I have chutney in kilner jars from 3 years ago and it is still fine to eat. No wax discs either - the only time I would say that you need a layer of anything is if the lid doesn't seal well, but the kilner jars and any jars with the popping metal lids seem to do very well for long term storage. I do...

Yep, a courgette is a young courge, I guess marrowette just doesn't work as a diminutive for a marrow.

Poor lads.

While there is so much happening and so many different creams and medicines on the go, have you considered not wiping at all, but bathing their bottoms with some sea salt water after a poo. Leave the wiping until things are on the mend?

The worst of the flooding was down in the Cote D'Azure, but we also had localised flooding due to a month's worth of rain falling in a day, on top of a month of continuous rain, lots of rivers burst their banks, the hydro electric power plant went into overdrive due to the reservoir bursting over th...

You could put in some pumpkins which should show a couple of leaves before they break up, then require very little maintenance over the hols ready for some fruits in September when they are back.

I am sooooooooooooooooooo jealous. I am more than a month behind the UK seasons this year due to the amount of rain, and the flooding took away most of my carrots and parsnips. I have got eggs though, some salads, lots and lots of herbs which seem to have enjoyed the deluge (herby omlettes anyone?)....

I'll put the kettle on!

I usually get a few that go to seed, and they set onions the following year without any problems. I pick them, and use them in dried flower arrangements - just shake the flower head over a paper towel to collect the seeds first, otherwise the seed heads pop and you have tiny black seeds all over the...

I love dried beans too, I dry my own broad and borlotti beans without any troubles, no weevils or mould (touch wood). I just wish they were as cheap to buy in France as in the UK, here a decent 500g net of dried beans costs between 3 and 4 € depending on the sort of bean. I use dried split peas and ...

well done you, my elderflowers are not even blmooming yet due to the weather; hopefully this weekend (but I said that last weekend and they remained steadfastly closed).