What have you been up to?

[Doug B]

Super impressed with your squash Doug. I cannot imagine getting through that amount of veg. We have an allotment sized kitchen garden as part of our garden and I struggle with my wife's production of stuff (I am the cook). We seemingly art random get about 40 courgettes, hundreds of tomatoes, sacks of green beans and so on. Soon she will proudly present me with lots of marrows. They are massive and taste of nothing really. But when I ask for some Basil, which I use constantly, she has run out. Her carrots are invariably deformed, and the spuds this year have been small and green skinned.

Not fully convinced that growing the stuff is cheaper or better than our local Waitrose. This week she had two lorry loads (yes - lorry loads) of manure dumped and her poor parents had to barrow it to the designated spots. It took 2 days. She has not admitted how much the manure cost but I think it is £70 a lorry load. Good stuff though.

Strange with the potatoes, the green is usually that daylight has got to them as they’ve become uncovered, we’ve had a bumper crop of tattles some really big ones. I grew 10, 18’ rows & they made nearly 8 bags.
I don’t know what’s infested my leaks this years but they’ve got maggots in them so rather than let them over winter I’ve had to dig them up but we’ve still managed to salvage plenty of usable leaks.
I try my best to be organic so make my own compost rather than use farmyard manure in fact I spend very little for the returns we get, it certainly saves us a fair amount on the shopping bill.

 

[Doug B]

OK, you win hands down. I plant at least 30 different squash and pumpkin plants, and I don't think I got 30 separate items this year; less than one a plant. What's your secret? Probably enough water which is always my issue, but how much fertiliser? Sacred rituals? Virgin wassailing? I need to know!

I do well with the Japanese red squash (except not this year) - stole some seeds from a German compost heap 5 years ago and have been replanting every year. You don't have to peel them, and they are very sweet, but don't seem to last as long as butternut squash, so we do both. And giant pumpkins for Halloween, obviously.

I grow a variety call sweetmax it’s been breed for the British climate, I only use garden compost but put a far amount in the hole I’m planting them in. I don’t let them go dry & feed them once a week once they’ve started flowering usually with home made comfrey juice or Phosphagen plant food.

 

[Lons]

Not woodwork related in any way.

Full prep, minor swirl removal and machine polish, more than 4 hours work but look at the shine
OTT or what.

 

[Trevanion]

Full prep, minor swirl removal and machine polish, more than 4 hours work but look at the shine
OTT or what.

I desperately need to get the tar off mine, been driving on freshly laid surfaces (that crap where they just dump chippings on top of hot tar instead of proper tarmac) for a couple weeks and now the white paint is absolutely plastered in little black marks.

 

[Lons]

It's horrible stuff Trev and the tar remover liquid strips the wax as well.

I don't think I'd have another black car though as I had 3 before this one but it was too good to turn down because of colour. Looks stunning when just polished but lasts about 10 minutes, it's metallic but needs a lot of work to make it sparkle, white I found is easier.

 

[Trevanion]

Sorting out the odds and sods timber pile, some gems in there like this bit of ash.

Then there are some real tragedies, like this lovely branch of 40-year seasoned sycamore which the worm has some how got to, still in there writhing.

Only one thing for it...