With the price of all forms of energy on the increase, this thread can be used to share any tips you have.

One thing we have started doing is when boiling the kettle. It is not always possible to boil just the amount needed. Any excess, we now put in a flask to keep it hot for later use.

So after I'd planted up all my potatoes from spring for earlies I had a few tubers left over. I kept them to one side thinking I'd find space for them later. I never did find somewhere to squeeze them in so instead when I dug up my first spuds in early July I replenished the soil with some bfb and planted my left over spuds. I harvested some a few days ago as the frosts had got the tops and was impressed with the crop. Not as many useful spuds as first crop but plenty enough, certainly worth doing in the future.

Hey everyone, thank you for having me, I love gardens, I have a dog so of course I have to love them! the smell of flowers walking past them wants me to spend the day sniffing them, I love the colours in summer, aren't they just so beautiful? yes they really are!!!! shaunie

I am not a stranger to the reduced isle but I might try an experiment and only buy reduced food. The two criteria would have to be any meat on its last day would need to be frozen if not consumed, and on the fresh produce on the last date, only buy enough that I could eat that day or the next.

 Its not a financial ploy as I could afford full priced produce but would probably add a bit of interest to my meals. A downside would be that I would have to shop for small ammounts more frequently and my main shopping area is a 1/2 hour drive, so the financial benefits would be minimal.
One other worry I have is that I am depriving another more needy family of a meal, but there is also a likelyhood it could finish up in landfill if no one bought it?

I can't start just yet as my freezer is jam packed with produce so I need to whittle that down a bit before I start.  It also means i might have to be a bit more flexible with my eating habits as at present I have set plan for my one meal a day.  Variety is the spice of life so they say.

Morning All!
I am in the market for a large unheated propagator, something about a metre long, that has a really well fitting lid, ideally fungus gnat proof!
I quite like the look of the Vitopod with an extra side extension – does anyone have one of these or any other recommendations?
My budge could stretch to £75-£100 for something that will really last for many seasons. I have a heat mat to go underneath so definitely don’t need anything heated.

I am toying with the idea of starting an asparagus bed 3.6 × 2.0 mtrs.  I know it takes a couple of years to become established but I have the space.

My questions are

Is it worth it? ... long wait for a short harvest period

What variety is best?  So many to choose from 

Problems with pests?

Any thoughts?

I'm starting anemone bulbs in the greenhouse- nog having much luck to be honest - they are rotting and look like this - gnat larvae
   

I have yellow fly traps - I may have to resort to fly spray

I'm researching compost bins. 

The Green Johanna is classed as a hot bin, which the Council is offering at £50, a very good price,  but having bored myself silly listening to a video about assembly and what can go in it, I can see its quite sturdy but why is it called a hot composter? I can see no extra insulation and it seems just a plastic shell with a base and lid. How does the GJ get to a higher temp than any others? I can purchase a winter jacket (currently out of stock), which makes sense but without that it seems to me that it is just a normal plastic compost bin.

Anybody able to educate me? At the moment I think I'm sticking to what I've got, which is a square plastic black one with an improvised lid - the lid blew off in the recent  gales which prompted this whole process

Another thing, how robust is the winter jacket, I figure if rats can chew through the plastic on my black one, they'll  dine out on the insulating jacket thinking they can smell food inside.

Morning All

Decided to outline my gardening plans for today....

My search for strawberry plants has resulted in me receiving 60 barefoot runners which I shall pot up today. 

Plenty of weeding to be done and a few beds to cover over the plots.

Site inspection to carry out

Feed the allotment cat

But most importantly, sit down in the greenhouse and chill

The winners of the 2021 Harvest Festival are:

£30 1st Prize Winner is Mark Riga
£20 2nd Prize Winner is Small Chilli
£10 3rd Prize Winner is Pyrenees Plot

Congratulations to our winners and thank you to everyone who entered.

If the winners could please pm me and give me their preference in e-vouchers

Very well done