PLEASE READ BEFORE JOINING

[Andy Hamilton]

We try not to have any rules on here, but after a few troubles and cross wires we now have two.

1. Overt advertising is frowned upon. Please keep to one post in either 'whats going on?' for events or 'link, links and more links' for websites or Swap shop and trading area for everything else. Or else we will be very cross and stamp our feet oh and then delete your posts.

2. Be excellent to each other. That is try and have a bit of respect for each other, if something angers you then take a deep breath and think about what you are going to write before you write it. Treat the forum as if you are actually taking to someone.

On another note in an effort to stop spam each user account will have to await for approval. Don't let that scare you off we just check that you are not a spammer.

[Andy Hamilton]

As a little adage to this please check your spam box when joining as approval messages may end up in there.

Or - if you have tried to join and don't seem to have an activated account please email one of us - admin at selfsufficientish dot com.

[Andy Hamilton]

On another note: as we get a huge amount of spam members joining every day it can be difficult to sort out the who is real and who is not.

Please try and add some things to your profile when joining so that we know you are real, better still drop an email to admin at selfsufficientish dot com and tell us you are real.

[hedgewizard]

I'm not real. I'm a spambot - just a really good one. Beep. Beep.

[wulf]

I'm not real. I'm a spambot - just a really good one. Beep. Beep.

I had my suspicions, you know. Having the personal blog with "photos" is a cunning ploy to make you look human but it's amazing what they can do with computers nowadays... ;)

Wulf

[Wombat]

Ain't it just!

[jerseyjess]

I'm not sure if I qualify as self-sufficient-ish, but my husband and I are on a green-bender. Looking for solutions for the not-green things about our lives and finding solutions. We've recently begun composting, and I need something to do with all that compost. I've wanted a vegetable garden for a long time. I am NOT blessed with a green thumb. My husband is pretty good (his mom and grandparents are/were avid gardeners with a wealth of experience), but he's overworked, so I know if I do this, it's going to be on me.

I live in an NJ suburb that's more urban than sub. Our house is really a cottage (good for us--we moved from an NYC apartment so it's all the house we can handle and I wouldn't want to pay for any more heat than I already do). That being said, we have a pretty big yard, relative to our circumstances. The previous owner left us with a lovely decorative garden--pretty low maintenance except for pulling weeds--in front of the house with a big lawn. But I want to rip it out and expand it and turn that into my vegetable garden. They also left me window boxes, so I'd like to do spices. The last two seasons we have seeded but but not pulled up any of the natural grasses, so the grasses on our lawn are varied and interesting--kind of like a well-cut meadow!

So, I need all the advice I can get! What's good to grow in my region? Organic solutions for pest control? I've heard things about inter-planting things that bugs don't like, like marigolds, sage and garlic--any other advice? Talking to people, zucchini, cucumbers and green peppers seem to do well around here. Anything else? Green beans? I hear tomatoes are a lot of work but worth it--it's NJ, after all.

I welcome any advice I can get. A neighborhood teenager is helping me rake/clean the yard on Friday; I'll seed and water the lawn over the weekend and then next week I want to rip out that beautiful garden and get started!!!

[hedgewitch]

Hi jerseyjess - you sound selfsufficientish to me.


Let me welcome you to the site.
If you copy and paste this into a new topic you'll get more response.

[vanessa]

Hi, I'm new,

I hope I'll be classed as self sufficientish. We live in a village of 200 residents in the middle of the peak district. Our local town has NO allotments what-so-ever. Perhaps they figure with all the farm land surrounding the town there's no need?? None of the local farmers/landowners want to rent little strips of land, so with no other option and no back garden either, we've started turning our front garden over to food production.

This week my brilliant hubbie dug up eight 20ft leylandii trees and we're now shredding them (huge satisfaction). I've ordered an edible hedge to replace it and I'll be under planting with raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and herbs. Last year he also made us 6 deep, raised beds that are sitting on what used to be the drive. We planted loads of dwarf fruit trees apple, pear, plum, hazel and even a peach tree by the warmth of the house. We managed to buy them for £5 each so nothing ventured nothing gained!

We're also trying to reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible. Our latest success was insulation....huge difference. We've also gone down to one small car. With a family of five and only one bus a day serving the village...it took some getting used to but the savings far outweigh the hastle!

We bake some of our own bread, Paul brews wine from the hedgerows and I make jam, chutney, and pickles. We used to have chickens in our old house but not sure about having them in the front garden here.

Well I think that's me for now

Thanks for your great web site and heres to a sunny summer PLEEASE!

[ina]

Hiya, Vanessa, and welcome to the world of Ish!

As mentioned by hedgewitch in the post above yours, copy this and post it in a new thread; that way more people will get to see it.

Btw, I share your aversion to Leylandii...

[bushbass]

Hi, new to the forum and just wanted to say hi. I put up my first post today about mushroom growing kits that work and included a link to the website from which I bought it. I don't work for them, so don't think I'm a spammer! Everyone else was just talking about how their kits didn't work at all and mine is going perfectly. I guess this site is based in the UK?

[red]

Hi bushbass

welcome - why not put a hello thing in the welcome section?

You dont look like a spammer to me
Whilst there are lots of UK people here, there are posters from all round the world - we have quite a few from Australia and NZ.