Tussiemussie's Inbox

The colouring isa strange blue, but the main difference from the photo on the Victorian Nursery website is the width of the leaves in your picture.

I grew some from seed in two batches and one lot has narow leaves on a single ste,. and later ones look more like a wallflower plant!

Any thoughts?

Tussiemussie this story puts a smile on my face. I attempted this too, knowing how good it is for the soil. I went out with a container with all the kitchen scraps and a shovel and dug it in the flower beds. The next day sure enough, this litter was on the surface. I dug it in again and in the evening a new lot, potato scraps, etc. Next morning: same story. I started thinking and checked my dog. Her nose was all red and dirty from the soil, Haha, she'd been digging up what I had dug in. I abandonned this habit and bought a compost bin!

I use worms, I keep them in bins under the back patio, (it's about 2 ft off the ground) that keeps them cool and out of sight. They can take care of all our veg matter kitchen scraps and makes enough worm castings for me to use in my patio boxes and containers. They seem to really love tea! lol

Hi Tussie :o) Better luck this year, I remember many people losing tomatoes to blight last year - me too.

Well, so that explains it! Good luck for your growing time this year.

hope you have a better time this yr

Hi Tussiemussie,
You are a gem, looking after your mum. Hope she's still there, as I see this blog is more than a year old. But I am just arriving at your doorstep and was reading your profile page. I loved your story there and imagined all you said. Very nicely done, it kept me quiet for a while, thinking of your situation there.
But by now, perhaps a lot has changed. I am looking fwd to seeing your pics tomorrow, as now, time for bed.
cheerio, M.

Hallo stranger -nice to have you back with us! Glad to hear that you are having success with some new edibles.

Having checked the link this looks potentially very complicated, but would it include things like growing squashes on the top of your compost heap? Or cucumbers? Or have I got that completely wrong?

No experience, but funnily enough was reading a little about this today on the train in Jenny Uglow's little history of British gardening - this sounds a really interesting project. Has something or somewhere in particular inspired you?

How cool is that Ducks wagging Their tails:)

Your Indian Runners bring back fond memories. I used to have them on the farm in PA.

Hi Tussie...good to know, that. Another reason not to use cocoa shell mulch, my friend inherited an earwig infestation from the stuff. (Whether they came in the bags or the cocoa shell was a perfect habitat, I'm not sure.) I've bought peat over here without a second thought as we have some huge peat bogs...we haven't been harvesting it as long as you folks. My subsoil is basically limestone...So peat has been a staple around here as an acidifier or neutralizer. Anyway, composting is a good skill to learn. Thankyou for the interesting read.

You poor things - wrap up well. Keep browsing the GoY photos and think ahead....Spring will soon be here - or there! Hi Tussie - I'm going to plant my seeds any day now, too!

Hi Lori, Well now I don't feel so bad as I have one foot of snow less than you do in my garden here in Massachusetts USA. Will it ever all melt away...

Hi T, How I envy you your flowering daphs... I am gardening in Ontario, Canada. The snow is almost 2 feet deep on my garden... I have to content myself with seed catalogues and gardening books... No bees...just sparrows and squirrels at the feeder. Sigh.
Lori

Hi, Tussie!. I wondered whether you had emigrated! Am about to sow the mallow seeds you kindly sent last autumn, and was concerned coz no reply to last couple
of comms. Your mallow is going to be perfect for our garden next year, btw,

Best Wishes

No I live in Falkirk , right in between Edinburgh and Glasgow , maybe a wee bit far for our bee ? lol

MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm me&my daughter love this on roast carrots :D

wow do ducks really wag their cute little tails at you like dogs? :D

I saw a Bumblebee today and it was huge as well , did it come over from your garden ? lol

We used Freecycle a lot recently with our hoped for move. There's endless stuff that you need to get rid of that is too good to dump (although there's lots of that too). We've had so many thanks from people that were "just looking for one of those". I'd encourage everyone to participate and save the landfill.

"here's a link":www.freecycle.org/groups/unitedkingdom/

We've been members for over a year now, thanks to our daughter in SW London who told us about it. I was able to take a load of surplus plants round to a lady with an empty plot having just moved in! I was unlucky asking for one lot of terracotta pots, but then got 2 pots and 2 troughs! It's a great way to recycle. I recommend it to anyone. Go to www.freecycle.org and click on your County or area to find your nearest group. We belong to 2, as our nearest only had a few members.

Hi Tussiemussie. I recently joined my local freecycle and you are right... there is all sorts of stuff being given away.

i saw a bumble bee in our garden yesterday, I was very surprised, like you, to see one after we'd had frost. I wonder where they hide themselves.

Thanks Tussie - very useful, I've added it to my Favourites list. What a long, long address! It comes up on my laptop as 'Canadian Poisonous Plants Information System', so maybe there's a quicker way to get there? - not being a techie, I don't know.

Well said Tussie. Remember everyone you can get seed swapping here on Grows on You at http://www.growsonyou.com/plant/exchanges or via the Plants tab. Happy Swapping.

OK risking much laughter now but what are huckleberries? I only know the name in connection to Tom Sawyer ;o)

I love pears and I know my mum has an elderly tree in her garden. It hasnt produced for a long time I wonder if she has had any luck this year.... what are you going to do with them? Do you have any plans for poaching or preserving or just ol' fashioned eating?

My Dad used to grow one of these as a standard, about 3'6" tall, though all the books advised pruning like a blackcurrant. He treated it more like a tall gooseberry standard and had bumper crops every year. I took cuttings from it last year, which are doing well - I plan to grow it in the same way. One of my favourite fruits.
(Thanks for the link from the HDRA forum, Tussie!)