Selfsufficientish.com

Dobies have always treated Ireland the same as the UK with the same postage for small lightweight items, unlike other UK seed companies. I sent them an email yesterday asking about after Brexit, I'll post their reply when they get around to it. I don't know the legality of private mail GA, as I coul...

I just received an email from Real Seed Co telling me that due to Brexit they can no longer send seeds out of the UK due to the UK Plant Passport being no longer valid in EU countries. Apparently this applies even if there is a last minute deal. If I want to order from Real Seeds, I need to do it so...

I have to confess to a sneaky liking for the newer "don't bite back" varieties. As I've been telling you for years (probably), you need to try freshly picked home grown sprouts. Then they are really sweet and nutty, not the bitter nasty things you buy in supermarkets. They are a bit like ...

First pick of sprouts this coming Sunday. I have loads of them, mainly because there were absolutely no Cabbage White butterflies here at all this year. I don't know whether to be pleased or worried. :scratch: But the upshot is, I have 10 sprout plants, each nearly 6 feet tall, absolutely loaded wit...

Just in case you thought I was joking about my Triffid Tomato, here is a photo of it before it's exterminated :evil1: This was a small seedling that germinated from compost in the middle of my sweetcorn. I left it because I'm an old softy and quite like free food plants, but it has now aspirations o...

I must admit it was not something that was on the list of important things when we were house hunting. But as luck would have it there is a post office and general store 3/4 of a mile down the road, and now there is a producers market too, plus a doctors surgery in the village hall once a week. Othe...

An interesting fact that not many people know .... not only do I grow fruit and veg, I also grow a few flowers too. :shock: OK, not that many and most of them pot plants. I love cyclamen and in fact I have one that moved with us, so over 27 years old. This one though is a brand new one from seed sow...

I agree with Ina, I make mincemeat and Christmas puddings without any sugar at all, have done for years long before I became diabetic. Now of course it's made with home produced dried fruit, raisins, sultanas and apricots, and it still is more than sweet enough. When I first became diabetic I tried ...

I also have a triffid in my tunnel. I have a tomato plant that appeared in the middle of my sweetcorn patch, obviously from seed in the compost I spread on the bed. Me being a softy I left it there, but it has now spread all over the place, roughly 64 sq ft and still going strong. The problem is, th...

I'm in the enviable position of having a 20' x 10' greenhouse (almost) totally empty. :cheers: My big greenhouse is being revamped, the apricot tree which took up all of the back bed is no more. It has been getting scale insects for the last few years and getting steadily worse, even though I winter...

Runner beans still just hanging on, although not helping that I'm leaving some for seed. Leeks are huge this year, and early, but not pulled one yet. Other than that, tomatoes, squash, carrots, broccoli, autumn cabbage, beetroot, mooli radish (new to me), lettuce and French beans for haricot, apples...

Physalis is another of those plants that I thought would be "interesting" to grow, and like all the other "interesting" plants that I've grown expected them to be disappointing, but at least get it out of my system. Especially as I bought some in a supermarket, they were expensiv...

Yes, we ate them and very nice they were too. :thumbright: Or perhaps you are referring to the next generation of pineapple production here in sub-tropical west Cork. So far there are no sign of the forecasted side shoots, but the 2 rosette tops are now potted up in readiness for the 2022 harvest. W...

A strip of carpet glued or tacked to the plank?

It has just occurred to me with all this talk about local food banks, we don't seem to have any in Ireland. Certainly not down in the south west, there maybe a few in Dublin I suppose, but I can't say I've heard of them. There are charities that feed the cities' homeless. I don't really know why, is...