2016 - could be the cheapest Christmas ever

[Flo]

2016 - could be the cheapest Christmas ever

It doesn't say that we are being more self sufficient than ever or that we are buying less mind! I can't comment as I don't buy a Christmas tree, don't buy a turkey, have lots of veg in the freezer, don't drink alcohol and don't throw and enormous party ....

[Green Aura]

Cheap and Christmas strikes me as an oxymoron and we don't do the sort of festivities you see on the TV magazine articles.

Like you our Xmas dinner is pretty much in the freezer, apart from the fresh veg and some cream. We do splash out on a more expensive wine and a bottle of bubbly for New Years Eve but that's about it.

We usually buy a joint present and a few bits for the gal, but nowhere near the sort of level that some of the folk we know go to - £600 smartphones for 10 year olds? No thanks.

Grumble ended (maybe it's because I'm off down the road to the dentist )

[Flo]

The tune has now changed - and Christmas dinner could cost 14% more

And also we are now told there may be a shortage of sprouts

Must be a short news week ....

[Odsox]

And also we are now told there may be a shortage of sprouts

Definitely a slow news week as this "news" refers to something that happened last May.

I am glad they reported it though as I suffered from this moth as well. I didn't know what it was, never seen it before, but now I can put a name to it. It didn't affect my Brussels but did swamp my young Swede plants with tiny thin caterpillars about half an inch long, that turned the leaves all lacy.
They can jolly well stay away next year.

[Weedo]

Diamond Back moths are a problem here as well, although not in our drier western areas to the same degree. One of the emerging issues is that the critters are becoming resistant to insecticides, in particular the synthetic pyrethrums. If possible, I suggest attempting a "clean field" approach and remove all brassicas from your patch as you finish with them to try and break the breeding cycle - this includes all brassica weeds such as wild radish and mustards and all volunteer vegies. The weeds and "leftovers" are the bridging habitat and breeding sites the bugs survive on when no crop is there.

[Flo]

I suppose that would entail burning rather than composting Weedo to break the cycle completely.

[Weedo]

Depends on your compost method - if you are using cold(passive) composting reliant on critters breaking down bulkier materials rather than hot systems that accelerate natural microbial breakdown then pest control benefits will be minor. If you can generate temps between 120 and 160 fahrenheit (45 - 70 c) then most pests will succumb. Careful, once you get much over 160 you can start killing the microbes that are doing the composting.

Do (can) you folks use solarisation? - this involves putting the pesty veg in heavy duty black plastic bags and leaving it in the sun for a few days. This generate high temperatures that will kill most organisms and plant material; then put the resulting goop in the compost.

[ina]

Do (can) you folks use solarisation? - this involves putting the pesty veg in heavy duty black plastic bags and leaving it in the sun for a few days. This generate high temperatures that will kill most organisms and plant material; then put the resulting goop in the compost.

I think we'd have a bit of a problem here with the "sun for a few days"...

My compost tends to stay in the bin for two years, and I just hope that somewhere along the line pests will have decided it's not worth waiting that long for a fresh start!