Selfsufficientish.com

Hi all, if you're bumblebee fans, and I'm sure you are, you might be interested to know that the bumblebee conservation trust has a new forum for all things bumble - http://bumblebeeconservation.org/forum. The forum is pretty quiet at the moment, so the more of you that join and bring your friends, ...

2 questions:

- The normal white vinegar - 5% acetic acid - has anyone used it as a weedkiller? Did it work?

- (depending on the answer to the above): is there somewhere to buy this cheaply? Have trouble finding it online.

Thankyouverymuch

We tend to get the more unglamorous (but still nice) end of the veg spectrum in ours - so depending on season: stuff like roots, courgettes, peppers, salady things, more courgettes ;-), more beetroot than you would believe possible, potatoes, squash, cabbage, carrots, that kind of thing. We don't g...

We use Riverford. They're really good, comparable with the supermarket on organic prices. Sometimes we stick to the boxes, sometimes we make our own up and sometimes we cancel and by from the supermarket because we want something specific (usually peppers midwinter, etc.). Their meat is really tasty...

I had a mini greenhouse with all the little squares which did the same thing. To me, it was a perfect solution - a greenhouse with an automatic rain water distribution system...

My mum always says 'never let it see a Sunday' for both Couch grass and Bindweed; on further discussions we established that a general weekly weeding was okay, and it wasn't specifically Sundays that had to be avoided! Once you do start clearing an area, make sure you edge your cleared area to help ...

So, I clearly missed the old 'plant on the shortest day' thing for the Garlic last year, but we've noticed that a bunch of the catalogues have some Garlic varieties such as Solent White as 'plant February, harvest September'. Has anyone tried this approach? Does it work? I'd hate to miss out on the ...

We struggled getting consistency with rice for ages - sometimes soggy, sometimes just right. Now we do more than twice as much water as rice, boil it for 10 minutes uncovered and then sieve it at the end - put the rice back in the saucepan and let it sit for 2 minutes, covered by a teatowel (obvious...

The Enemy will use a show like Waybaloo to infiltrate your home. He will tell you lies, such as, "those creatures are simply flying" and "this show will have no effect on your kids". Thats what he does. We are engaged in spiritual warfare ALL THE TIME. I think you should pray an...

Thanks again both of you for the advice. We managed to get them on ok, was a bit warm on the old digits but we got there. I was looking for a picture of a product I'm sure I saw a while back - a glove like a marigold but made from silicone so it had heat resistance. I thought something like that wo...

Thanks for your replies. The question was settled by Mrs Mal who said that if I couldn't guarantee it was an edible apple, she wasn't going to eat it or feed it to the Mal Juniors. No point making jam just for me, so I reverted to some Bramleys from next door's tree. Not quite hedgerow, but very tas...

no, not hedgerow, it's on a free standing council planted tree, http://bit.ly/bxez8B for a google maps image - it's the skinny one hiding helpfully behind the lamppost. the council did plant the cherry plums I had the other day, so it is a bit possible.

Hi all,

Is this crab apple? or an ornamental apple? I'm looking to use it in my hedgerow jam, but wanted to confirm first.

We have been plagued by wasps this year, despite (because?) of it being our first year where they weren't nesting somewhere around our house. We got some of those Waspinator things, and I'm pleased to report that they give the wasps somewhere to rest before continuing to fly round the kitchen.

I've been picking mine on the allotment for about 6 weeks, couldn't believe how early they were. Wild ones are getting there, where they've been in the sun, or going nowhere if they haven't.