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Quick crops for isolation
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Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 20 9:27 am Post subject:
I do that with peas and beans. We have a massive mouse population and I'd rather live alongside them than have them declare war on me.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15998

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 20 8:01 am Post subject:
I think we probably have fewer now than when next door kept pigeons, but there have always been enough to cause a problem. They never declared war on us, but we had a session of having to evict them from the house and finding the holes they were using.

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 20 4:48 pm Post subject:
Judging by the noises in our attic space, the little beggars are holding nightly parties.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15998

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 20 8:21 am Post subject:
They do make a lot of themselves don't they. There is a squirrel around in the garden and I have a feeling it may be living in the roof, but no noise recently, although the cheeky thing has been on the windowsill. Luckily we don't have the windows open at the moment as I don't want it in the bedroom.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 20 11:11 am Post subject:
unstuffing your pillow is upsetting but eating your lighting circuit can be rather dangeroos

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 20 8:10 pm Post subject:
I'm trying really hard not to think about that at the moment, considering that I think they might be sub-dividing the space for apartments...

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15998

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 20 8:36 am Post subject:

Live mouse traps and a long walk, or break back ones if you prefer might reduce the population. Using a live trap we evicted 13 wood mice from an old caravan we were given in the woods. Every so often we find things there that they have nibbled, but I try to keep our rest room free from them but bringing all food packaging home.

Hopefully you don't have as many as you think, but if they set up home, you will have a load of youngsters, so the sooner the better.

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 20 11:00 am Post subject:
I need tomorrow ladder together up into the space. probably not going happen for a while.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 20 1:45 pm Post subject:
back to crops, not very fast but reliable. short type ,well flavoured carrots, do very well in a window box on an upstairs window sill. mine were rather late planted last year and i overwintered them until now, just pre bolting, ace finger carrots and no root fly as those stay close to the ground spring planted they might be salad size by late june

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 20 7:43 am Post subject:
I’ve missed you lot. Like an idiot I clicked this thread trying to find out if I should plant spuds or carrots to avoid death, and I get a lesson on making fabric from dog hair.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15998

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 20 8:34 am Post subject:

I found the last few carrots yesterday, and still have a little parsnip and salsify left in the ground. They should be good for the next few weeks as the weather is likely to stay cool. The leeks are still all right, but I may need to heel them in somewhere so I can prepare the bed for the new crops. Potatoes go in those beds this year, but looking at the weather forecast, leaving planting until Good Friday seems a good option.

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 20 8:45 pm Post subject:

Nettles are coming along nicely up here, and wild garlic is looking good.

Other seeds to sprout : if you have trouble growing brassicas of any kind (e.g. too windy to grow tall ones, or soil too sandy to anchor even shorter ones), so that your sprouts and cabbages never head properly, sprout the seeds and eat when small. You always seem to get loads in a packet, far more than you ever need to plant out full-size. Makes sense to use 'em all.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15998

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 20 9:03 am Post subject:
That makes sense. I might try a few. I find if I cut or break the top off a cabbage of any sort, a fair number produce more tiny heads, which are good for 'greens' anyway. Do the young ones do that if you cut them?

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 20 12:32 pm Post subject:

Mistress Rose wrote:

That makes sense. I might try a few. I find if I cut or break the top off a cabbage of any sort, a fair number produce more tiny heads, which are good for 'greens' anyway. Do the young ones do that if you cut them?

I was thinking more of eating them at cress or beansprout size. Or a bit bigger. Not sure if they would head again at that age; never tried it.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 20 12:48 pm Post subject:

re nettles , my views are known re edible and nutritious but not my favourite taste

well, i just got bold.
while checking a planter to see if the wild garlic flowers were ready, the first 3 years eat the flowers then divide the clumps, plant out and after another 2 yrs they should be enough to harvest a decent amount i found a nettle seedling.

the nettle was about an inch tall, 6 tiny leaves the biggest under fingernail size, nice colour

i decided to go for it and try it out,

pulled, tested for sting against a soft bit of skin, it passed and then chew.

delightful, i am most surprised how nice and "satisfying" that was.

on my menu but i recon it needs a similar amount of caution to being a fuga chef

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