Planning ahead and would like some suggestions please. 24 Small gifts to fill this advent calendar

   

Stocking and mittens are about 10cm x 5cm (4”x2.5” ) . 

The gifts are for Bob. So boys toys     . I found out last year. That Bob has never had an advent calendar. My tiny mind was blown! 

So ideas I’ve had so far. Probably half of them will just be filled with chocolates. Was thinking marbles, a car , small antiques like ornaments , pill box, thimble. I’ve all ready got a very unusual tiny China frog. And a hand blown glass flamingo (on its way). Fishing lure, Was going to try to find a nice shell and stone off the beach. And probably nick some of his pz2’s (screw driver bits) out of his garage     ( he’ll never notice a couple are missing) . Possibly a selection of screws as well    . 
What gifts would you put in an advent calendar for a man shaped kid 

I’m going to the bright lights of Oban on Wednesday and hitting the charity shops.

I'm curious about winter cover crops, grown to protect bare soil over winter and to improve the soil in some way as a bonus. 
I've been reading the info on https://www.sowseeds.co.uk/blogs/sow-see...een-manure and am still confused!
Does anyone here grow any of these seeds and can help me choose?
I don't fancy growing a grass seed like rye as  I hate grass and have a fear of it taking over. Same with clover.
Don't want to grow anything that needs to be dug in/turned in/mown as I'm too lazy. 
Ideally it would be something that dies in spring, or after a frost (assuming we have one). 
As a bonus, it would be edible in some way while it was growing. 

Any suggestions please?

This is the guidance I use for when to sow things if I want to harvest during autumn and winter. It's a modified version of the chart from this page - https://www.johnnyseeds.com/growers-libr...uling.html

It's already too late for some crops like carrots, but there's plenty you can sow for harvesting over winter if you grow under cover. I don't grow everything on this chart e.g. minutina, cress or rocket. 

The tiers separate crops by how reliable they are to grow during that part of the year, though I disagree with lettuce or chard being unreliable (yes, a lot of lettuce usually conks out from root rot some time in January/February, but chard is a trooper and carries on until April). 

My ranking (from best to worst) would be: chard, spinach, parsley, kale, lettuce, claytonia, coriander, mizuna, mibuna, komatsuna, pak choi, tatsoi. Even the 'worst' crops still provide you with a decent harvest over winter, they just go to seed quickly if we have a warm February. 

I've not yet managed to get spring onions to a reasonable size to harvest during winter, but varieties like Winter White Lisbon will stay outside happily through utterly rubbish weather and then provide you with excellent harvests in spring. 

Parsley isn't on this chart, but I grow it and coriander in the greenhouse over winter very successfully. 

Outdoors I only grow lamb's lettuce, spring cabbages, overwintering Japanese-type onions and spring onions.

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Happy Birthday. Hope you have a wonderful day. 
Have a slice of courgette cake.   
   



I left the link to the recipe on it just in case anyone wants to give it a go.
I might as I use her recipe for rhubarb cake and it’s stunning

I have 2 veg patches with a say 1.5m (5ft) grass path between.  Among other things (sweetcorn,  onions & courgettes) there's a row of DFB. This morning about 9am I walked around to check on things and in the middle of the grass path was an uprooted DFB. It had come from about 3ft in from the end of the row and was deposited in line with the row of beans.  I think it might have happened during the morning rather than overnight as it hadn't wilted much. It wasn't nibbled and beans were attached and untouched. I'm puzzled.  I'm wondering whether pigeon, bunny or cat might have got entangled.  There are no other sign of nibbling so I don't think I've got another rabbit.

I haven't seen  many wasps this year? Have you? 
Apparently, there aren't as many as usual....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c134621devzoaround

Can anyone tell me what this says please?

    I’ve got purple, I’ve got pink flowers , I’ve go to 60cm . The rest I need help with please.

It’s one of these      .

You know by now my Honeymoon tomatoes were afflicted by BER.  Looking online it seems its a physiological problem where the plant cannot take in sifficient calcium probably due to erratic watering.

Here's the question, probably for TMTT.  I'm on alkaline soil but not chalky, more flinty.  Would it be any use to incorporate some calcium carbonate into the soil or when watering? Or is it just a question of monitoring the water more carefully?

   

Your August Butterfly spotting Challenge is here.

I saw a Gatekeeper yesterday - wonder if its still in the GH?

I've acquired a number of empty spice jars - the ones with holes in the lids to shake the spices or herbs out. 
What do you think of using them for sowing small seeds? 
I have difficulty sowing seeds thinly, certainly can't sow them in a row, its not in my nature.   Tomorrow I will experiment. 

I'm sure these jars have other uses too. Let me know if you think of any, please.