What Preps are you doing this week

[Arzosah]

Mouse, quite a few poundland shops (here in the south, and with friends in Sheffield) have crampon sorts of things you put over your shoes for the snow, and they're still at the normal £1 for poundland. Could well be worth checking out.

I've been weeding between plants at the moment (as opposed to pulling out whole plants ) and I've learned that its really important - I have 2 - 3 square yards of strawberry plants, which grow like weeds here, and because I haven't taken care of them and weeded and whatnot, they haven't produced any fruit, and they've been hiding loads of perennial weeds my bad quite a lesson.

[Le Mouse]

Mouse, quite a few poundland shops (here in the south, and with friends in Sheffield) have crampon sorts of things you put over your shoes for the snow, and they're still at the normal £1 for poundland. Could well be worth checking out.

I've been weeding between plants at the moment (as opposed to pulling out whole plants ) and I've learned that its really important - I have 2 - 3 square yards of strawberry plants, which grow like weeds here, and because I haven't taken care of them and weeded and whatnot, they haven't produced any fruit, and they've been hiding loads of perennial weeds my bad quite a lesson.

Oh I have some crampons which saved me falling over last winter. Bought some for my auntie who works near where I'll be and they helped her a lot. Just having the extra option means I can avoid crowds of people leaving the site if necessary.

I need to learn weeding. And pest control. So far my radishes have been slugged and now caterpillars have scoffed everything green on them

[Arzosah]

Dreadful, isn't it!

On another note completely, I'm a very happy kindle owner - Pride and Prejudice is available for free for kindle

[pseudonym]

Splitting maul and sledgehammer for wood prep when my new stove is up and running:

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/SID-87...Detail&id=4943

[Arzosah]

I've been working on that weeding on and off all afternoon - shattered! A square yard or so has been dug over, and had compost and then bark chippings chucked on. More has been de-weeded, but not thoroughly enough, and thats had thick cardboard weighted down on top of it.

Thank heavens for hot showers!

[2ndRateMind]

Dreadful, isn't it!

On another note completely, I'm a very happy kindle owner - Pride and Prejudice is available for free for kindle

Kindles are good. My bro got me one for my last (50th!) birthday. Shakespeare is pretty cheap, too. 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers!'

Cheers, 2RM.

[TwoDo]

Added two new Aronia berry bushes to my odd foreign berry bush collection. These are great prepper bushes - the fruits are a bit astringent, but stuffed to the gunnels with vitamins, particularly vitamin C. When fully productive (5 years) you can get 20-30 pounds of berrys (the size of large blueberrys) from each bush. The bushes themselves are 3-4 ft tall and will tolerate any soil type.

Actually this would be a good berry bush to use for guerrilla gardening. The black berrys they have do not look particularly edible. Get one bush, put it in your garden, and then use the suckers they readily produce to set out bushes in odd wild places of your choosing. It is a very tough plant and will compete well with no assistance.

These ones are Aronia Nero - I did not have that particular cultivar previously and I must say the size and quantity of the berries is impressive and the things are still in 5 liter pots.

[ForgeCorvus]

TwoDo. You got a link you can share (where you got them etc) ?

[TwoDo]

TwoDo. You got a link you can share (where you got them etc) ?

I found them by accident at a small garden center I happened to stop at and I bought the last two. However I note that Burncoose and CoolTemperate nurseries and have some

http://www.burncoose.co.uk/site/plants. ... lter%3Dnew

http://www.cooltemperate.co.uk/fruiters.shtml

You might consider getting some Siberian Pea Tree (Caragana arborescens) as well. This is another useful bush with edible fruits (which do not look particularly edible) and it is also a nitrogen fixer.

[arnieh]

Something to think about when planning your preps, today I have had to have my 13 year old Springer Spaniel put down he was on long term medication for arthritis and then developed a problem with his central nervous system, I had to stop the medication for the Arthritis as the two lots of medication do not mix. This action although planned by the Vet brought the Arthritis to the fore and he was in extreme pain so much so that I slept with him on the kitchen floor all last night. I am only glad that this happened now and not in a SHTF situation, (1) how would I of coped with the pain situation (2) how would I have carried out the euthanasia humanely. Most of us prep for our pets but are we prepping for this sort of situation? As I said something to think about.

Regards arnieh