Happy Birthday Young man!!
Hope all your dreams come true today

Just wondering what makes you different to other, possibly more normal, people?

Am I the only one who has 3 Baby Changing Tables, 2 Baby Baths, a Cot and a child's Playhouse in their garden but doesn't know one end of a baby from the other?

I currently have a rather sad looking compost pile. I'm going to be adding kitchen scraps until I get my wormery back, but I'm worried about them blowing around. I'd definitely like some walls/compost bays sooner rather than later.

I have lots of wood from fitted wardrobes I've taken apart, but it's coated MDF from the late 70s/early 80s so suspect it shouldn't be anywhere near compost for veggies. There's also some random bits of wood in the greenhouse that don't look like they've been coated in anything, but I don't know their provenance. Finally, there's my fence from the bottom of the garden which is semi-rotten and mostly blown down. It needs removing regardless, but some of the wood might hold up for a year or two if repurposed into a compost bin. Except that's probably been treated too...

Would you use any of this wood? If not, what would you use to construct a compost bin? I'd prefer to avoid the dalek style bins if possible. Given current prices, it could get quite expensive to buy enough wood to make bins and I don't have a source for pallets.

What have you all used? What would you recommend?

Goes against all my principles of using fresh food, but have to say some interesting recipes to try from store cupboard produce.!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/collections/c..._with_tins

I have a few apple trees that I was pruning last week.most were OK to prune. These 2 though have produce a lot of long thinnish shoots. How would others go about pruning these 2?

A James Grieve that had very large apples this year.

   

And a lord Derby, not as bad.

   

Background

Around 10 or more years ago hubby and I decided we would like a small holding/micro holding and it needed to have a minimum of an acre. We would have ginger piggies (tamworths), golden Guernsey goats, black Norfolk turkeys and norfolk grey chickens etc (the sky was the limit   ). So after becoming thoroughly disheartened as anything with the slightest bit of land where we lived then was classed as equestrian, which seemed to put the price up tenfold, then anything that was further out at what seemed reasonably priced was just yuk house wise or went before we even got a chance to view. So having shelved the idea as I was pregnant, one day hubby randomly looked widening the search when he found something. Due to the circumstances we arranged for a viewing but didn't get our hopes up as we thought it would go before we got a look in. So viewing day came and 8 months into my pregnancy I waddled around part of the paddocks with waist high grass (soay sheep being in the other part) refusing to climb the stiles over the fences, stopped and looked at hubby and said it is perfect, the bones are all here and he agreed, so we bought it.

We moved in just over nine years ago and we never did get the pigs or the goats, as I fell pregnant again, my girls still want ginger piggies (as pets, as I have become intolerant to pork in the last couple of years and it was strange explaining to small children they were meant for eating). It is only 3/4 of an acre but it is plenty. In the first year we moved here I often stood on the patio with a feeling of something wasn't right when I realised there was a definite lack of colour (with the exception of good ole daffs).

So in the last nine years one paddock was a cut flower garden briefly as I attempted to start a business, but that was pretty much a non starter for a number of reasons. The last of our poultry and waterfowl went last year so am thinking of turning the paddock into garden, but that is another years project. I have dabbled with fruit tree grafting and training trees. Introduced various borders with an array of plants most of which are begged, stealed and borrowed. Now following my decline in gardening over the last several years my aim for this year is to focus on the veg patch.

   

If you would like to comment please kindly post on NGs diary comment thread

Yes, I am being pedantic/picky/peculiar/pick your own word. Feel free to comment about that on this thread. In the meantime I will be working on my actual diary x x x

My grandma is 92 and still has a huge garden (more than a third of an acre) in NE Lincolnshire. Flowers have been her great love since she was a small child and she spent decades surveying wild plants and flowers, and working as a warden for a nature reserve. She needs my parents to do the hard work now, but she still directs proceedings and gets out in the garden in better weather.

She uses the internet for emails and did her grocery shopping online until she couldn't get slots during COVID (apparently a 90+ year old living alone in rural Lincolnshire wasn't enough to get priority status...) but she hasn't managed to learn how to surf, so pottering around online seed catalogues isn't really an option.

She's keen to get some new plants and seeds for this year. Predominantly flowers, and mostly perennials, but she grows (or makes my parents grow!) some fruit and veg too, and might be tempted by the occasional annual.

Can anyone suggest any smaller companies with nice paper catalogues? I've just signed her up for one from Chiltern Seeds, and my Mum has signed her up with Sarah Raven. Any companies that might have unusual varieties would be particularly appreciated as her garden is already very well stocked (she's been there almost 50 years).

I saw a video on Instagram the other day of a lad soaking popcorn (unpopped) in water over night, sowing them thickly and letting them germinate in the dark. The shoots are apparently crunchy, sweet and tender! 

Have you ever tried it?

https://rusticwise.com/how-to-grow-corn-shoots/

Hi all, hope you are good. Yes I am back 5 seconds and all ready after help, but hopefully most of you know I already love ya or I wouldn't ask (even if it has been longtime, no see)

Okay, confession time. My gardening efforts have diminished over the last several years to the point I can't even remember my crop rotation. I know I do four groups (P&B, Brassicas, Roots and Onions/Squash/Corn) What I would like help with is where you think the last 2 groups should go and why? 

So option 1:-

1. P&B
2. Brassicas 
3. Roots 
4. Onions/Squash/Corn

option 2 :-

1. P&B
2. Brassicas 
3. Onions/Squash/Corn
4. Roots

Many thanks as always