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I have just discovered a disadvantage of saving seed. I harvested my onions yesterday and realised that I have 2 distinctly different varieties, the golden brown skinned of the original and about 20% white skinned ones. Apart from the outer skin colour they are still identical, but one flower that I...

For some unfathomable reason our shopping bill has gone way down. Since we self isolated on the 16th of March, our granddaughter has done our shopping and (of course) just bought the stuff on the list. But our weekly bill has at least halved, but we are still eating and drinking exactly the same as ...

I am definitely making a point of saving as much seed as I can. Looking through the various seed company's online sites, just about all varieties are sold out. I have no idea if the commercial growers who supply seed are working as normal during lock down, but new seed might be in short supply next ...

When they are properly ripe, James Grieve apples have a soft texture and Elstar are crisp.

Yes, so do I (sort of). Brassicas I definitely don't grow in the same place until at least 3 years are up. Tomatoes on the other hand are grown every year in the same soil in my small greenhouse now for about 15 years, with no adverse effects. Also runner beans, I have grown them for some years in t...

Up here we have enough trouble where my allotments are with a squadron of sparrows (so need to net) without tempting the mice and voles to eat before the peas even sprout. The "olde fashioned" non-eco way of stopping that Flo, is to wash the pea seed in paraffin as you sow them. I used to do that e...

Thanks. If I soak Kelvedon peas in water overnight, will that help or hinder germination It will help, especially if the soil is dry. Don't soak for more than overnight though as they might start to rot. Also yes, you can sow runner beans in June for a later crop, although you have to take a chance...

We were all supposed to be skinny with the rationing in the war. Perhaps it was going from shop to shop buying things rather than ordering it all on line wot did it. It's too easy to get everything nowadays at the click of a button. Not in my case Flo, we had a butcher and a general grocer deliver ...

Harvested a few but the majority of my overwintered onions will soon be ready. Very pleased with these as they are from seed I saved last year, the first time I've ever saved onion seed for re-sowing. I'm also pleased that out of the 63 onions in the 2 rows only 1 is going to flower, so I can save s...

You're not wrong GA.
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Jolly good, I'm glad it survived intact. :cheers: All OK here too, just one apple tree has scorched leaves on the windward side. Oh, and our front house windows were opaque with a coating of salt. But the windows are now clean as our Monday (not a bank holiday) weather was gentle soft rain all day w...

Well it was pretty windy down here last night, and still is, and supposed to be like this for another 24 hours.
But, so far everything has survived, including all my aerials.
Very nice looking greenhouse, I really hope it still looks like that tomorrow.

Are those tomatoes inside?

Yes I know that, but that's after they've been cut and transported halfway around the world.
OK, I'll rephrase the question; how do pineapple growers know when their crop is ready to harvest?

No it won't harm the bean plants but it will make them sprout side shoots, so be prepared for that.
You can even make them grow like dwarf beans by continuing to take out the growing shoots above the flower trusses, but as you pointed out you will get fewer and shorter pods.

Well I think my pineapple fruits will be a bit on the miniature side, which is not really surprising as they are still in tiny squat 6" pots. If the fruit tastes good, and if they grow offsets when I have harvested them, I might have another go with decent sized pots. I presume I will know they are ...