This is really aimed at Veggie I think.

As you know we went to the Isle of Wight yesterday. We catch the ferry from Southampton and sail down Southampton  Water and end up in  East Cowes. P likes this trip because he's a nerd and likes to look at the ships we see along the route and discover what they are and what theyre up to.  We saw one smallish boat (compared to  cruise liners anyway)  and its name was Sospan Dau. For those interested it is a Dutch trailing suction hopper dredger (I'm no wiser either).  Being Dutch we thought Sospan Dau was Dutch or perhaps Indonesian for something interesting,  being that a ship was so named.  We looked it up and Wikipedia says:

The name Sospan Dau is Welsh and originates from Sosban Fach and Llanelli's tin plating industry, Sospan being the Welsh for Saucepan and Dau being Welsh for Two as the ship is a successor to the original Sospan.

How'd you like to be a ship called Saucepan Two? There's no street cred to that name, its predecessor Saucepan (one) was bad enough but to be the second iteration is just rubbing it in.     Captain to Captain "Hey mate what ship to you drive?"  "Saucepan "  just doesn't cut the mustard in the bragging rights. 

Once upon a time I was a member of the gardening forum that is no longer in my good books!
They refused to let me participate in the seed exchange - even though I had done so many times before ( apparently I was a day late!)
Good old Veggie spotted the communications I was having and came to the rescue, suggesting that I join this forum instead.  (Thank you Veggie - a far friendlier community.)
Anyway some of you may remember that I put a picture of a particularly pretty stripy calendula on that forum.
I saved a bit of seed from the pretty little thing and sowed it this year when I found it lurking in my shoe box. It must be four (maybe more) years old.
 I was very pleased to see that I have managed to get a very similar one this year. 
Lots of them were not as interesting  - but still nice enough! 

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What do you do with the last bits of food that linger inside a jar? 
I have a flexible scraper thingy that pulls the last of the jam etc out of the jar. 
If its a pasta/curry sauce, I add some hot water, give the jar a shake and add it to the cooking pot. Nothing complicated.

However, tonight I saw this https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/life...dressings/

I've been rummaging in the weird and wonderful seed box and found some Shiso seeds and some Perilla seeds. After a quick duckduck I find that they are the same plant!!

"Shiso is known by many names including perilla, perilla mint, Chinese basil, wild basil, wild coleus, summer coleus and in the West as The Beefsteak Plant. Its many names were inspired by both its appearance and its flavour. It’s a member of the mint family so it’s no surprise that it has hints of mint in its flavour along with cumin, nutmeg and anise". https://advicefromtheherblady.com/plant-...als/shiso/

You won't be surprised to hear that Suttons/James Wong used to sell them as "Beefsteak plant". 

A few websites warn that it self seeds freely and can be invasive. 
The growing instructions are :- Red or green leaves with a good aroma for use in salad packs or as a stir-fry vegetable. Sow All year round. Sow seed in succession every 2-3 weeks for a continuous supply of fresh young leaves. keep soil moist and cut leaves from each plant leaving some leaves on each so they re-grow. You will often get 3-4 cuttings per plant. 

Has anyone grown or eaten Shiso/Perilla please?

On BBC news site this morning:-

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/edib...est_garden

I've grown a tomato in the gh called Burlesque. It's fruiting well and the fruits are big, so big that one has fallen off because it was too heavy for its stem. Unfortunately the fallen fruit is green but in order to stop this happening with the other trusses does anyone have any ideas or experience of trying to support with slings like with melons? DIY preferable but I'm happy to buy summat

Anybody noticed that there seems to be a dearth of pelargoniums at the moment?
All my local nurseries and garden centres have sold out.
Also there don’t seem to be any available from the “big” mail order suppliers either.
Any ideas why?

I'm planning on moving/changing the lay out of my veg beds and while I'm doing it was thinking of adding some drip/soaker hose (not sure which) irrigation.. my thoughts were irrigation hoses in each bed with an isolator valve to a hose running back to a water butt which due to the fall of the land will be at least 2-3 ft higher than tops of the beds depending how high I put the beds. 
Has anyone ever done similar, and do people think this should be enough fall to get enough pressure? Also anything I haven't thought of/recommendations of things I should add to the system?

Just out of interest and to refresh my memory about what size to pick and pruning I googled 'Emily cucumber' SHOCK HORROR  up came 'watch Emily Cucumber porn videos here'!  I beat a hasty retreat and didn't have the courage to view any, I might get P to have a look and tell me about it.  I also have a niece Emily,  I'm never going to view my niece or cucumber in  the same way again. 

Shortly I shall have some bare ground when the MT and broardies are cleared.  Probablt about 6 x15ft.  In past years I've not bothered to use this ground and it stays fallow because I'm disorganised (lazy).  I have a mind to fill it with summat but haven't any seedlings in the background to use.  What can I sow?   I've more than enough beans and courgettes, I could do lettuce/salad leaves but don't want to be overloaded in  that region, we don't eat an awful lot of lettucey stuff.   I already have baby chard and beetroot coming on elsewhere.  Ideas on a postcard please