As you must know by now, I go to a Food Share Pantry where I pick up a box of food for £5. The contents will be leftover items from shops and warehouses, usually on the verge of being out of date. This week, the Pantry organisers are going shopping for items to fill a Christmas Hamper which will cost members £5. Members had to order and pay in advance so that they knew how much stuff to buy. Needless to say, I've ordered one.  
My question to you is - what do you think will be in my Christmas Hamper? This is all I know :-

Christmas Bonus Hamper for existing members only.  The contents will vary but we will be group-purchasing some extra nice bits and bobs for a Merrier Christmas.

I'm collecting it on Saturday so the answer will be revealed then. 

Is wood ash good for fruit trees or did I make that up ? 

If it is good how do I use it? Just scatter it around the base of the trees?

I've just seen that the Christmas edition of the Radio Times is on sale now.
This may be a sign of age (yes OK, it is) but there was a time when we really looked forward to getting a copy from the newsagent. We'd mark it up with any programmes that we really wanted to watch, or set the video for, and get upset if we missed anything! 
For today's young uns, with the internet and Iplayer and all sorts of ways to find out what's on the box, it must be hard to comprehend the simple pleasures that we had, poring over the Radio Times!

I may of started a thread like this before (I can’t find it if I did ) .

Permaculture fascinates me. I think I love the principles of it. I really need to know more/everything about it. 
I’m thinking it might be the way forward for my new veg garden. 

So can those that already do garden in this way please explain it ( as if talking to a 4 year old ( and not a very bright one   )) . How you go about everything. 
Also any books, blogs, websites , celeb gardeners that you can point me towards .

In my head it’s all your veg planted together with lots of herbs & companion flowers. Planted big blocks.  I’ve always wondered how do I get to stuff that’s really for harvest in the middle without crushing other plants. And what else gets done. It’s not just that simple is it? 
You see this is why I need help   .

The one you've all been waiting for - my next Nutty Plan. 

Every time I go out into the garden I take with me some seeds, find a little spot of bare soil and scatter the seeds...................BUT I can't return to the house empty-handed. I have to pick something, edible or not, as part of the Nutty Plan. 
As you may know, I have lots of seeds, some of which will never make it to my "Must sow" list so this is my way of giving them a chance of life. I'm thinking of a shoebox sized patch of ground, nothing too big or requiring much clearance. Also, I wont worry about it being the right time of year to sow them, it'll be their choice whether they grow or not!

Veggie sits back and awaits the comments.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67602627

I'm pleased to say that I don't have anything like this in the garden. 

What would you like to find behind the doors/windows of your Advent Calendar 2023? 

Starting tomorrow, December 1st, you are invited to tell us what you hope for, with the caveat that, on the 1st Day, your wished for item should begin with A. We'll work our way through the alphabet until we reach the 26th, Boxing Day and the letter Z. 
Hope that's clear?

I've just bought "Incredible Edibles" by Matthew Biggs. "Grow something different in your fruit and veg plot".
Some of the plants he mentions I've grown, some I've considered growing and others are new to me. I'm going to ask you all what you think about his suggestions and whether you would grow them. 

1. Snake Gourd. Trichosanthes cucumerina var. anguina.  
(Looks a bit like a trombone squash.) "The fruits, if left to their own devices, will coil up like a bedspring or like a snake wrapped around a tree branch". 
"Young fruit can be eaten like courgettes while the red pulp of the mature fruit makes a good substitute for tomatoes.
Young shoots and leaves are also edible and, although all parts of the plant taste bitter when raw, this disappears after cooking. 
Leave a few mature specimens to paint up and turn into colourful snakes. "

Amongst all the dead and dying stuff in the garden I have just spotted this. 
All the rest are common matricaria (Feverfew).
This one is double and green petalled. 
Interesting - and I like it!
Do you think it's a sport - and therefore worth saving seed?
Or just a poor suffering little thing that has lost its white petals and is preparing to keel over for winter?

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What do you call the bits of batter that fall off the fish when its deep fried? We call them Scrumps and, as kids, we'd get them free from the chip shop if we took them some newspapers for wrapping the food. 

M&S/Ocado call them Scraps and sell them for £1.60!

https://www.ocado.com/products/m-s-chip-...-544973011