Are these whitefly? Apologies about the doggy photos.

           

What ever they are. I now have an infestation in my dalek composter .

How do I get rid of them? My compost was starting to look quite good     .

When weeding really thick stuff and you got loads of soil & compost matted in with the roots. What do you do with it? 
I don’t want to put it on beds because the weeds will just grow. Can’t put it in compost because soil won’t compost down. Again weeds will probably grow unless in a hot composter. 

Clumps like this, if anyone isn’t sure what I’m on about   .

         

I’ll get lots of stuff like this when taking all turf off. And big mats of weedy compost when emptying fish boxes.

To save myself time, finding and measuring ingredients and generally making a mess in the morning,  I've made myself some Almost Instant porridge mix.

Basic ingredients are:-
Rolled oats
Wheat Flakes
Milled Flaxseed
Dried Fruit like Sultanas
Dessicated Coconut
Cinnamon

I could have added Powdered Milk but didn't have any.

I made 3 jars of mix, shook them up to mix everything and tomorrow, I'm ready to go.  Just add boiling water or cold milk, microwave for a minute or two, add fresh fruit once made or yogurt.  Done.

Has anyone found  a reasonably priced source for coir. My last year's source of Poundland and Wilko seem to be a nonstarter this year.  Ebay are taking the Michael, selling what used to be a £1 10L brick for £5.99!

There are six crops that I really value in the garden - they're quite easy to grow, given the right conditions, and prolific croppers. 
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Courgette
Mangetout
DFB
Salad leaves. 

Every year I sow early tomatoes in January BUT why don't I sow the others at the same time? Mangetout and salad leaves should be OK if sown in January and I have done this previously. Cucumbers, Courgettes and DFB are more of a gamble............but, hey, if it doesn't work all I've lost are a few seeds. 

Guess what I'll be doing this weekend?

JJB asked about growing sesame seeds today. https://gardenandgossip.org/showthread.p...3#pid58993
This reminded me of something I've talked about doing for years but, surprise, surprise, not done much about. 
In the interests of Growing Food for Free, it maybe time to  actually do it!

I'm going to challenge myself to see how many seeds, peas and beans that, have been bought  for eating, can actually be grown and turned into food.

Last year I grew some Hodmedod peas but didn't plant them out so didn't grow them to maturity. I've grown pea shoots from dried peas which is easy and cheap. I should be able to grow some of the beans. Possibly some herb seeds - fennel, dill, caraway, cumin, coriander. Sunflower seeds for shoots. Mung beans for bean sprouts. Chia seeds.

I'll start by testing some for viability on damp paper. 

Anyone going to join me - or can suggest other seeds to try?

I enjoy a couple of teaspoons of mixed seeds on my weetabix in the morning.  The thought occurred to me that I know what plants sunflower, pumpkin, linseed and poppy seeds come from but I've no idea where sesame seeds are from (if someone says Tesco I shall kneecap them).   

The query is, has anyone tried to grow sesame and are the white seeds in my seed mix the whole seed or just the kernel?

While washing up and getting tea ready this evening. A very scared collie came and sat behind me. Then we heard a load rumbling. Lasted a good 10 seconds or more. Followed by a second a few minutes later but not as long or loud. 

https://earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/earthquake...vents.html

The epicentre was the north of the island.

I just read a similar article in the Telegraph which was more doom and gloom than this one. At least this one mentions the good aspects of growing your own.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20...140408.htm

This will be my first full year in my garden. 
Here is the first flower of 2024. (I’ve been waiting weeks for this bugger to open     ) .