Basil experiment

[Millymollymandy]

We can't re-use bath water or anything from inside the house because in France all the pipes are hidden inside the walls and not outside like in the UK.

What I've done though is disconnect the U-bend (well, my husband did!) in the sink in the cellar/mud room so all the water goes into a bucket which then gets put in a plastic dustbin just outside the door. So I wash all the veg there and my filthy hands (and sometimes feet!) when I come in from gardening so I at least get to recycle this water. It used to really annoy me the amount of water wasted to wash one lettuce. Mind you, my own lettuce is always cleaner than supermarket lettuce which seems to be often full of greenfly.

We're also just generally much better at not wasting water and electricity these days. Having less money has a lot to do with it, not just the environment!

My basil has two more little leaves forming - it likes the hot weather. (Just trying to keep vaguely to the thread!).

Ina, were you on a meter when you were a kid then - or was this in Germany? I've got friends there who say their water is v. expensive.

Are you German by the way?

[ina]

Yes, I am (German, I mean), and yes, we were on a meter.

And the washing machine wasn't connected directly to the drain, either; we had to remember to stick the hose into the sink (and if we didn't, the floor got a good wash! Happened more than once). That way it's reasonably easy to collect the water.

Another water-saver that's standard in Germany nowadays is a two-step flush for the loo, i.e. you can either do the "full flush", or a small one, depending on need... I've never seen that here yet, and I do look out for it at B&Q etc. They are just beginning to come up with ideas like sticking a brick in the cistern to reduce the amount of water in it - we did similar stuff about 30 years ago... But that leaves you with the problem, what to do when you need a lot of water ?

And, of course, I think showers are more popular in most other countries than here, having a bath is quite a rare treat in Germany. So it would be quite easy to save a lot of water without actually loosing "quality of life", but why should anybody do it as long as they don't get any financial benefit out of it? It always annoyed me, when I was still paying for water with the council tax, that as a single occupier I only got 25% reduction in my water bill, although I used very little (out of life-long habit), whereas neighbours with a large family and two cars that "needed" washing every week, and a lawn that needed watering, payed little more than I did...

Back to the basil : Yes, it likes the heat, although it's still very small. Some plants now have 6 leaves , I'm hoping to have enough to pick some when my visitors arrive next month. But there really doesn't seem to be any difference between the two methods - with or without light, they both look very much the same now.

Ina

[Muddypause]

Another water-saver that's standard in Germany nowadays is a two-step flush for the loo, i.e. you can either do the "full flush", or a small one, depending on need... I've never seen that here yet, and I do look out for it at B&Q etc. They are just beginning to come up with ideas like sticking a brick in the cistern to reduce the amount of water in it - we did similar stuff about 30 years ago...

Au Contraire!

Have a closer look, next time you are in B&Q. Dual flush cisterns have been common place in the UK for many years - press and release = short flush; press and hold = long flush. Some newer euro-style flush mechanisms may have a choice of two buttons to press. You would be hard pressed to find a new WC without this feature. Having said that, in some mechanisms it is easy to disable the short flush.

Also, current building regulations require a maximum flush volume of 6 litres, which isn't much for this kind of dirty work. WC design has changed radically over the past few years, making the brick, or 'hippo' superfluous. However, in older cisterns, with a larger capacity, the use of such things goes back, to my knowledge, at least as far as the droughts of the mid 70s. They have never been popular solutions, though, because they can compromise the way the syphon flush works. In recent years, the simpler euro-style flush (basically just a hinged flap that blocks off the flush pipe) has been approved for use in the UK, and smaller volume cisterns are now the bathroom designer's choice.

Interesting fact of the day: there is a British Standard turd (actually a piece of modelling clay) that is used in the design of WCs.

[Millymollymandy]

Interesting fact of the day: there is a British Standard turd (actually a piece of modelling clay) that is used in the design of WCs.

LOL! I reckon the BS one is bigger than the French one because we regularly have to flush 2 or 3 times. Never ever had a problem in the UK. I don't think it's all the vegetables either!!!

My, how we have strayed from basil!

[Wombat]

Love it! I will have to go looking for an AS turd!

Nev

[Millymollymandy]

I'm just reminded of the time my brother had a barium meal Xray and was staying with us in London. The British Standard doesn't take into account the weight of barium..........

[ina]

Stew, maybe B&Q in England is a bit more advanced than in Scotland... I often think that they've had so few problems with water shortages here - after all, there's all these deep, deep lochs - that they are still a bit behind. But I will have a closer look, maybe I've just not been looking in the right places. We certainly don't have any of this advanced technology in our houses, and they were built only 12 years ago.

And I honestly never encountered one in any place I visited, whether public loo (and some of them were "price-winning" loos!) or private. And that tip with the brick was on the radio a few days ago, that's how I picked up on it.

By the way, I just had a cup of coffee with a few colleagues, and one of them suggested we should really have a "Common European Turd Standard".

Another thing that wastes a lot of water and is pretty dangerous, too - that's all those separate taps for hot and cold water. One of these days I'm going to make a note on the signs above the sinks in B&Qs loos - caution, very hot water - B&Q actually sell mixer taps, they would solve the problem of either having to wash your hands with cold or boiling water... Most people let both taps run, alternating their hands between them. So you get some blisters on the left, cool them down on the right, etc . You are supposed to fill the sink with water from both taps, but a) that wastes a lot of water, b) most sinks have lost their plugs, and c) I don't like the idea of washing my hands in a sink that might be filthy with somebody elses scum!

Basil, wasn't that the topic of this thread???

Ina

[Millymollymandy]

Yeah, basil!

How's the basil doing, Ina? Mine is starting to flower, although the plants are quite small. Maybe they are supposed to be like that as it is lime basil and not the ordinary basil, which in the soil is about 6 times bigger.

I do think basil for cooking, especially salads, is better grown inside as the outside basil is very tough.

[ina]

Well, I've got loads of plants, but they still aren't much bigger... Even the ones I pricked out at an early stage don't really want to grow. But then, as I have so many, there'll still be enough for myself. And for freezing some "mixed herbs" - that proved very useful last winter for all sorts of dishes.

It's just not basil country, Scotland. Temperatures at the moment rarely above 20 degree, and often quite a bit less. But I would like to try some other kinds of basil next year - maybe there are varieties that are a bit better suited to our climate.

Ina