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underling

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  5. The Livestock & Home produce thread - An Alternative investment

    in Green Energy's Sustainable Living

    Posted

    Spent months digging over the cooch grass, nettles etc. In the end she asked a farmer to hire their goat for a week. The beast made short work of all the errant vegatation and chomped it all down to a finely cropped level. Leaving a ready supply of fertiliser behind.

     

    What a fantastic idea. I'm hoping by the tail end of next week to have eradicted most of the cooch grass and weed and have all nine plots ready for next year (weather permitting) though I've a busy schedule locally as it's 'Old Town Week' and have been recruited to help out with some of the local 'open gardens', marshalling at some public events and have quite a few bookings to fulfil with a street drum band.

     

    I've got the planner book you mentioned and yes, very useful. Especially to a novice like myself, especially on the planting schedule. It really is a rewarding way to spend some of your freetime. :-)

  6. The Livestock & Home produce thread - An Alternative investment

    in Green Energy's Sustainable Living

    Posted

    Possibly my last post on this site .........................

     

    *ahem* ........... possibly not.

     

     

    I took on a 5 rod allotment at the turn of the year (after 3 years waiting) as the rest of the family were complaining that my efforts at home were hampering their enjoyment of the garden. I've no great experience of running an allotment and intend to make as many mistakes as possible in this first year (2011), learn from them and make 2012 onwards a success. This is a record of my first year warts and all;

     

     

    On my first visit there on 28th December 2010 I found the entire plot to be covered in well established cooch grass. I was able to make a small effort that day and turned over a small patch of ground to find the topsoil was about 8" deep at best with a very heavy clay level underneath. There was no evidence of any previous activity on the plot (no raised beds, discarded tools etc though there was a makeshift path laid with some cheap patio paving slabs) and so I decided to start by digging over and splitting the plot into nine (3 x 3) sub-plots.

     

     

    January 2011

     

    I was hoping to only use man-power to dig over the plot but due to persistent rain digging over by hand was nigh-on impossible in January. Though I tried again and again results seemed poor and so at the end of January I bit the bullet and hired a rotorvator for £55 from my local hire shop. I did this more to relieve me of the arduous task of breaking through the rootballs of the cooch grass. I unearthed some evidence of potatoes being previously grown.

     

     

    February 2011

     

    Early seedlings planted out in the greenhouse mid-February; potato seeds chitting, leeks, cauliflower, spinach, and broad beans. Though still very wet, time at the allotment spent digging over the plots and clearing out the cooch grass roots, breaking up the soil more. 1 of the 9 plots dug over fully and covered over.

     

     

    March 2011

     

    Seedlings in the greenhouse all doing well. An overhanging tree at the allotment will be casting 1/3 of the plot into shadow (glade during peak summer) and so work has started to cut it back. Not too sure if I'm permitted to do this under allotment regs so am removing bits at a time. March weather turns out to be suprisingly warm and so succeeded in digging over and removing roots from 1/3 of the entire plot. First early tatties planted along with some seedlings under cloches.

     

     

    April

     

    Added strawberry, loganberry and gooseberry to one of the nine plots to make a fruit plot. The second week of April turned out be a scorcher. All my plants seem to be happy and the potatoes even start to show. Onions have gone in (bought from sets). Still lots of digging to do. Whoever has the plot to one side of me has done little and the grass and bramble is falling over onto my plot. A long weekend is spent cutting back and clearing the paths between my allotment and my neighbours in an attempt to make a 'fire break'. Aonther two plots are dug over in preperation for corn and courgettes, carrots, leeks, runners, cabbage & broccoli. April turns out to be extemely dry.

     

     

    May

     

    It's hardly rained in about 4 weeks. Trips to allotment involve an hour of watering instead of digging .......... the ground's too dry anyhow and it's like digging through concrete. Tomatoes, corn and courgettes, carrots, leeks, runners, cabbage & broccoli have gone in. Harvesting started on strawberries, peas and beans almost ready to harvest too. My cauliflower are getting hammered by something. I suspect slugs or snails but there's no evidence to suggest they're the culprits. Where no fertilizer was added late last autumn some hungrier plants are slow developing. Have struck a bargain with friends with stables to swap produce for some well rotted manure later in year.

     

    June

     

    Lots of harvesting from the strawberries, broad beans, spinach, peas, potatoes, onions and courgettes. Have lost four sweetcorn plants either to wind or to pests. Still very dry and so watering on a regular basis.

     

    July

     

    A little wetter this month which has brought a lot of the plants on. I'll probably not plant much winter veg out this year as I'll want to re-dig over and cover the plots ready to start again in February next year. Broad beans and peas finished harvesting, whilst most others are producing and I find myself coming home after each visit with an armful for the table. With the recent rain a program of digging over the rest of the plots will begin in earnest next week as I have a week off work.

     

     

    I have tried previously to add various pictures to help readers visualise more but time and technical problems have hampered progress (hence my previous quoted remark - frustration). I've been keeping a picture diary on my facebook page too for my own records etc.

  8. Registering to become a New Member on GEI

    in About GlobalEdgeInvestors & GreenEnergyInvestors

    Posted

    I’m a complete newbie here (maiden post) and was just kinda wandering around the forum to try and get a feeling for the guys here. I’ve been a member of GHPC and latterly CC for the past few years. Recent events at CC have caused me to consider looking elsewhere for a place to lay my hat (not necessarily terminally) but I have to say it’s refreshing to see someone admit an error of judgement in an open and honest way. Jeez, we all make mistakes...

     

    Anyway... I’ll spend a bit of time having a look through the threads and try to get a handle on the persona(s) of the peeps here, and the topics up for discussion.

     

    Thanks. (it's kinda like joining a new school/job - a wee bit intimidating!)

     

    sep

     

    There is no shame in admitting when you are wrong. There is shame, however, in not admitting when you know you are.

     

    Please feel free to contribute Sep. Ask questions, follow all lines of enquiry and most essentially, form your own opinions from your own research. :)

     

    You'll be surprised how often your experience and knowledge in your own field can contribute here to the benefit of all.

  10. Registering to become a New Member on GEI

    in About GlobalEdgeInvestors & GreenEnergyInvestors

    Posted

    From Wonderland you may be .............. but you're certainly not holding a torch. It's all very well for, such a learned fellow as yourself, to make the occasional, yet eagerly anticipated post, but to new members it's lost as some kind of anagram. Start posting properly and with conviction otherwise, tbh, you sound like a pretentious arsehole. As a long time reader here I know that not to be the case, and apologise if you think this is an assault on you ................ not true. Just a heads up or reality check on your online personna credibility. :-)

     

     

    I have tried to send a message to Dr Bubb to delete this post but to no avail. May I here, in full sight of the forum apologise personally to cgnao for my comment. In hindsight I could have worded my post far better. It was not meant as a personal attack, if anything it was out of frustration that he/she no longer makes the informative and inspirational posts that he/she once made. I'm embarresed by the above post and hope that a mod may read this and delete as requested. Once again cgnao, please accept my apology if my post caused you any irritation. :)

  16. The Best of Youtube - Music

    in Gold, FX, Stocks / Diaries & Blogs

    Posted

    Damn, cant even reply to your posts Harvi and add tunes without 'error too much media'. I'm seriously starting to lose patience with this.

     

    As I was going to add * rolls eyes * ................. a few from some of my favourite MC's .................. (over a few posts)

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhurGs6WBCw

     

    (talking about a language that crosses continents, ages and cultures)

     

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9XRVWQ4kCw

  18. The Best of Youtube - Music

    in Gold, FX, Stocks / Diaries & Blogs

    Posted

    Not really my type of music but he was very good

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzvGKas5RsU

     

     

    Funny that, I've got the same sentiments about that particular tune, there is something inherently enjoyable about it. Heard some really good -remixes- too. I think that somehow in that tune there are 'echoes' of genres I relate to. Wish I could put my finger on it.

     

    Glad you enjoyed Glastonbury Harvi ............... it's a little too big and noisy for my tastes. I've tried to find a festie this year but they all seem to clash with a personal promise I've made to be elsewhere. There's a few I've watched which haven't come to fruition due to lack of funds, and a couple which did which I never expected to (Glade a prime example).

     

    If you. or any others here, fancy any particular festival next year and wanna hook up start a thread and perhaps we could have a GEI UK music thread hook up.

     

    Anyway, back to the program .......................

     

     

     

    A few (over a couple of posts) *rolls eyes* from some of my favourite MC's ...........................

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJXYsZKmuVQ

  19. Registering to become a New Member on GEI

    in About GlobalEdgeInvestors & GreenEnergyInvestors

    Posted

    I am from Wonderland and I am here to show how deep the rabbit hole goes.

     

    From Wonderland you may be .............. but you're certainly not holding a torch. It's all very well for, such a learned fellow as yourself, to make the occasional, yet eagerly anticipated post, but to new members it's lost as some kind of anagram. Start posting properly and with conviction otherwise, tbh, you sound like a pretentious arsehole. As a long time reader here I know that not to be the case, and apologise if you think this is an assault on you ................ not true. Just a heads up or reality check on your online personna credibility. :-)

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