Comments on: Six on Saturday – March 31st – seeds

By: Paddy

Paddy — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 14:01:50 +0000

In reply to Lora Hughes. That's kind to let the caterpillars have a leaf for their journey! I tend to add the slugs and snails to the compost bin, or if I'm feeling very generous, I'll put them on the rhubarb (doesn't really worry me if they strip those leaves).

By: Paddy

Paddy — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 14:00:46 +0000

In reply to Green Fingered Blogger.

I never knew they’d attract the cabbage white caterpillars – I’ll have to keep an eye on that this year and see if they work like that for me too!

By: Paddy

Paddy — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 14:00:18 +0000

In reply to John Kingdon.

I won’t ask how many different toilet roll brands you ended up testing out!
Those root trainers do look a lot more practical – I might have to add those into an Amazon order and see what they’re like. Thanks! 🙂

By: Paddy

Paddy — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 13:59:02 +0000

In reply to cavershamjj. I've got several raised beds (none of which are really possible to dig because of their size, so I guess that's an unofficial #NoDig raised bed!), but one is surprisingly soggy, even with a generous helping of grit sand mixed into the compost....

By: Paddy

Paddy — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 13:58:04 +0000

In reply to Tim Hewitt. That's exactly my feeling! I hope it is tasty as well though.

By: Lora Hughes

Lora Hughes — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 19:10:15 +0000

Nasturtium flowers are lovely to eat & a nice decoration for the plate as well. I think you can eat other parts, too, but I’ve only eaten the flowers. They’re a win-win plant in so many ways. We usually get caterpillars here that love them, but they’re easy to pluck off. I give them a leaf for their journey & toss them in the green council bin. Hope it dries up soon. I’m going bonkers.

By: Green Fingered Blogger

Green Fingered Blogger — Sun, 01 Apr 2018 13:28:16 +0000

Nasturtium leaves are also edible, as well as the flowers – very peppery and great in a salad. The other reason for growing them on an allotment is that they attract cabbage white caterpillars – hopefully diverting them from the cabbages themselves. I haven’t fully tested how well this actually works yet, but we’ll certainly find out this year!

By: John Kingdon

John Kingdon — Sat, 31 Mar 2018 20:18:46 +0000

God I hate promoting Amazon but I gave up on toilet rolls years ago having discovered (by scientific experiment) that the cores of different brands performed differently (Lidl’s then own brand was good, Andrex was iffy, Cushelle was a rampant disaster but the loo paper was best for the bum – the “aah” without the “uuurgh as a finger punctured its protective layer). But that’s beside the point, unless you’re a scientist evaluating loo paper or the cores it’s wrapped around, or have a strange fetish which I won’t go into. I now use either https://amzn.to/2uEHbuS (an Amazon link to demonstrate) – if you’re careful you can get several years’ use out of these) or https://amzn.to/2uA4HJw (sorry another Amazon link). These are biodegradable, apart from the staples. which rust down in time, so are use once only. I now use the latter of which I find no evidence the year after apart from the occasional staple.

By: cavershamjj

cavershamjj — Sat, 31 Mar 2018 18:34:57 +0000

The weather is such a pain. Although,despite the heavy rain here I did get my onion seedligs planted out. No-dig on raised beds has its advantages…

By: Tim Hewitt

Tim Hewitt — Sat, 31 Mar 2018 17:37:11 +0000

Like the Dragon’s Tongue, even if it tasted horrible, it looks cool and sounds scary.