Today I did something in my Garden

I have planted some flower plants that the birds like, hope it can attract more birds into my garden. I also buy some feeders and seeds for giving the bird place to eat.

Harvested the last of the weird size carrots. Took forever to grow.

CelticRambler wrote: »

When they stop! Mine are always an outdoor crop, so the sub-10°C nights tend to put bring the season to a close, earlier or later depending on the year. All done for this year thanks to a few very cold nights quite early in October.

If I know the cold nights are coming, I'll pick whatever's left and give the green ones a chance to ripen indoors. If I don't hear the forecast, or if I'm away and can't do anything about it, I'll leave things as they are and see if the remaining fruit survives.

thanks. I cleared away alot of the smaller plants and left 2 or 3. I'm toying with heating the greenhouse with hot compost so I kinda needed the space.
this plant in particular is very strong growing from the seed of last years crop by accident and left alone. Interesting without being tied up it tried to put down roots up the stem.

CelticRambler wrote: »

They do that. Sometimes, if I've lost a plant or two due for whatever reason, I'll look for an unpruned one that's put down extra "stem" roots and move cut stem to use as a replacement. It's quite remarkable how well they adjust to such trauma, especially compare to some other plants that go hysterical if you so much as brush past them with the wrong colour trousers on!

Yes it's crazy alright. One thing it has thought me is to definitely plant into the ground in the greenhouse for next year this thing is much thicker and healthier and grew so fast compared to the potted ones.

tickingclock wrote: »

I thought it was just me. Every single one of mine were like that. Tiny. I've just used them for roasting after a wash. They taste delicious.
Planted some garlic bulbs today.

i was blaming the veg trug style raised planter I grew them in maybe its not just me so. They should be grand after a wash sure they were just grown in fresh compost. Did you get any white ones full of roots? I got a few and they actually looked like parsnips.
The goodness of a carrot is in the outer layer apparently so better for you not to peel anyway.

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Interesting about no shipping to eu. I hope it’s not a sign of things to come.

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

You could try delivery through Address Pal with an Post as a work around. I’ve done it a few times when the the delivery cost for seeds from the Uk was too expensive. You’re given a Uk address and then an Post ships it across

Address Pal won't work in this case, and yes, it is unequivocally a sign of things to come. As things stand at the moment, the UK has refused to apply to the EU to be recognised as a "listed third country". This means that all imports of plants, animals and derivatives thereof must be checked at a phytosanitary inspection point. This is one of the EU's absolutely unbreakable rules - even wooden pallets coming from the UK have to be certified as "healthy" before they can have a pile of boxes stacked on them and be loaded onto a lorry.

Unless the UK government gets its act together, every single British supplier of seeds, cuttings, bulbs, etc., will have to firstly find an EU-lab to certify their product likely to be exported after 1st January (bearing in mind that every UK lab will lose their approved status on 31st December) and complete reams of paperwork to send with each delivery. That's a separate cert for your tulip bulbs, your lilies, your pack of seeds, your tray of primoses, the three bare-root roses, even if these are all sent in the same package.

Address Pal (or Parcel Motel) will have to ensure that all this paperwork is present and correct before taking charge of the package, which (if the rules are followed correctly) will then be delivered to a phytosanitary inspection point in Ireland. Once processed there, you'll be free to arrange onward delivery.

The same applies to buying pups, goldfish, chickens, eggs, bees, beef, honey, fish, milk, cheese ... ... ...

They may yet get sense, over the water, but there's not much sign of it yet. I had intended to do a cross-Channel run to Kent next month to collect a load of plants from the former MrsCR before all this stupidity comes into effect, but it looks like lockdown has put an end to that.

Just renewed my membership of Irish Seed Savers and I'm looking forward to getting their seed catalogue in the post.

I had a go at saving some seed myself this year and had some success (I hope) with perpetual spinach, february orchid, parsley, salsify, runner beans and some herbs (parsley, dill, chervil). I'm going to use some of my own potatoes as seed next year and see how I get on.

Just one more video from yesterday. The hedgehog is busy building his nest for the winter under the keen eyes of our resident fox (click image for video).
The house was a great idea