What Preps are you doing this week

[maxilaura]

for the medicine chest I got:

x4 boxes Sainsbury's Paracetamol (bought over two days as they only allow you to buy two boxes in a transaction)
x2 boxes 6+years Calpol Fastmelts
x1 vicks vapours rub

for the store cupboard I got:

x 3 Mexican Discovery Plain Flour Tortillas (3 for 2 offer)
x 3 Mexican Discovery Soured Cream Topping (3 for 2 offer)
x 3 Mexican Discovery Salsa (3 for 2 offer)
x3 Mexican Discovery Guacamole Topping (3 for 2 offer)
x 8 Heinz Beef Broth (4 for £3)
x 4 Homepride White Wine and Cream cook-in-sause (2 for £2.50 offer)
x 20 Sainsbury basic chicken flavoured noodles (20p each)

for the car kit I got:

50 Tesco plain white paper plates
plastic throw-away plastic cups
100 Tesco plain white napkins
plastic table cloth
can opener

for the "no lights" kit:

camping stove off Amazon for £11.99
x4 gas canisters for camping stove
Kelly kettle

and for the Xmas present stash for my daughters'Christmas Eve present:

x1 scottie dog water bottle
x1 pair of red Christmas ankle high slippers

[SooBee]

Just about ready to do a Christmas baking marathon. I do it every year but the store cupboard and the freezer suddenly seem a lot plumper afterwards than they did before. I have a collection of tins that get filled with fruitcakes, homemade fudges and sweets. Nearer the date, I do a load of fancy biscuits and mince pies and homemade icecream.

That way I get more time at Christmas to concentrate on getting the meat right.
My OH is in charge of the vegetables.

[arnieh]

Finally took over the 6 rod allotment that I have been waiting for also got me a 3.5 hp rotivator for a song just needs a new ignition coil ordered at £34.50.

[SooBee]

I envy you the rotavator but the last time we used one there was damage due to the stones that had risen in the ground. The rising water table brings the stones up so watch out at the start of clearing ground. I find that digging a few rows each day by hand gets me there in the end.

[arnieh]

I envy you the rotavator but the last time we used one there was damage due to the stones that had risen in the ground. The rising water table brings the stones up so watch out at the start of clearing ground. I find that digging a few rows each day by hand gets me there in the end.

"SooBee", thanks for the reply, I have already started to dig it by hand because of the large amount of weeds and also the tenant before me has left it in a very sorry state with regards to level etc. The ground in general is clear of any large stones, the main purpose of the rotavator is in the spring to get the soil ready for sowing and planting.
arnieh

[TwoDo]

I envy you the rotavator but the last time we used one there was damage due to the stones that had risen in the ground. The rising water table brings the stones up so watch out at the start of clearing ground. I find that digging a few rows each day by hand gets me there in the end.

"SooBee", thanks for the reply, I have already started to dig it by hand because of the large amount of weeds and also the tenant before me has left it in a very sorry state with regards to level etc. The ground in general is clear of any large stones, the main purpose of the rotavator is in the spring to get the soil ready for sowing and planting.
arnieh

Maybe you do not need a rotavator.

I have a rotavator - a very good one - and it turns the soil into a very fine lovely looking tilth. However, using it was the equivalent of running all the worms and other soil organisms through a blender. I hated doing that. I used to grit my teeth and till my veggie patch every year - untill a few years ago when I heard about "No Dig" gardening. So I decided to try it, stopped rotavating and now surface mulch like hell and have been getting as good if not better crops. It has only been a couple of years but I have tons more worms and other life in the soil and fewer weeds. The soil is not compacted and the formerly quite poor soil is turning into a nice fertile loam with ever increasing quantities of humus.

Ok, it is early days yet, but pretty much every benefit the no-dig advocates say will happen seems to be happening. I no longer see the need to rotavate and probably never will again. I just cannot bear to be the source of so much destruction to such a complex and beautiful ecosystem such as topsoil is.

[arnieh]

I envy you the rotavator but the last time we used one there was damage due to the stones that had risen in the ground. The rising water table brings the stones up so watch out at the start of clearing ground. I find that digging a few rows each day by hand gets me there in the end.

"SooBee", thanks for the reply, I have already started to dig it by hand because of the large amount of weeds and also the tenant before me has left it in a very sorry state with regards to level etc. The ground in general is clear of any large stones, the main purpose of the rotavator is in the spring to get the soil ready for sowing and planting.
arnieh

Maybe you do not need a rotavator.

I have a rotavator - a very good one - and it turns the soil into a very fine lovely looking tilth. However, using it was the equivalent of running all the worms and other soil organisms through a blender. I hated doing that. I used to grit my teeth and till my veggie patch every year - untill a few years ago when I heard about "No Dig" gardening. So I decided to try it, stopped rotavating and now surface mulch like hell and have been getting as good if not better crops. It has only been a couple of years but I have tons more worms and other life in the soil and fewer weeds. The soil is not compacted and the formerly quite poor soil is turning into a nice fertile loam with ever increasing quantities of humus.

Ok, it is early days yet, but pretty much every benefit the no-dig advocates say will happen seems to be happening. I no longer see the need to rotavate and probably never will again. I just cannot bear to be the source of so much destruction to such a complex and beautiful ecosystem such as topsoil is.

"TwoDo", thanks for the reply I take your point about the worms in the blender, I have recently read an article about the no dig method, once the levels have been established I thought that I may have a go my self probably after a couple of seasons, one of my problems is very heavy clay that I need to break down in the spring. I really am looking forward to being able to be more self reliant when it comes to the supply of veg, we have a small veg patch at home but the allotment will expand this considerably. Can you please tell me what you are using as surface mulch?

arnieh

[TwoDo]

one of my problems is very heavy clay that I need to break down in the spring.

Charles Dowding, one of the leading proponents of no dig gardening states that his experience is that it does not matter if the soil is heavy clay. My experience with the technique tends to make me agree with that view. However my soil, although it is clay, it is not heavily compacted and I did rotovate in a lot of manure before I stopped tilling so I cannot say definitively that no-dig works without tilling on heavy clay.

Can you please tell me what you are using as surface mulch?

I am friends with a local farmer and he gives me some well rotted cow manure (he has great piles of it all over the place). I also collect bags of leaves from people in the autumn and then mix them in with my grass clippings over the summer. I have enormous compost heaps and it always amazes me how the stuff you throw on there just shrinks in volume if you get the right mix of green and brown. I keep a separate closed plastic bin for the kitchen compost (because of the rats) and all of the kitchen peels and scraps go in there along with some of the leaves. The output of the kitchen bin is used as surface much around the berry bushes.

I put about 2 inches of manure over every growing area in the autumn after the harvest and by mid next summer it will all be gone. Literally disappeared - the sun and rain will have broken it down and the worms and bugs will have brought it below the surface. I say "growing area" in the above because one of the unmentioned benefits of No Dig gardening is that your paths and beds are permanent. You don't have to rebuild paths and rows every year. I always hated destroying my nicely laid out beds and paths with the rotavator only to have to spend the next day setting them out again.

[arnieh]

one of my problems is very heavy clay that I need to break down in the spring.

Charles Dowding, one of the leading proponents of no dig gardening states that his experience is that it does not matter if the soil is heavy clay. My experience with the technique tends to make me agree with that view. However my soil, although it is clay, it is not heavily compacted and I did rotovate in a lot of manure before I stopped tilling so I cannot say definitively that no-dig works without tilling on heavy clay.

Can you please tell me what you are using as surface mulch?

I am friends with a local farmer and he gives me some well rotted cow manure (he has great piles of it all over the place). I also collect bags of leaves from people in the autumn and then mix them in with my grass clippings over the summer. I have enormous compost heaps and it always amazes me how the stuff you throw on there just shrinks in volume if you get the right mix of green and brown. I keep a separate closed plastic bin for the kitchen compost (because of the rats) and all of the kitchen peels and scraps go in there along with some of the leaves. The output of the kitchen bin is used as surface much around the berry bushes.

I put about 2 inches of manure over every growing area in the autumn after the harvest and by mid next summer it will all be gone. Literally disappeared - the sun and rain will have broken it down and the worms and bugs will have brought it below the surface. I say "growing area" in the above because one of the unmentioned benefits of No Dig gardening is that your paths and beds are permanent. You don't have to rebuild paths and rows every year. I always hated destroying my nicely laid out beds and paths with the rotavator only to have to spend the next day setting them out again.

"TwoDo" Once again thanks for the reply it gives me food for thought.

[Le Mouse]

It's a small prep, but I can now change the inner tube on my rear bike wheel. Lots of YouTube videos and a chat with the man in the bike shop and I managed it. A puncture is the most likely thing that will happen to my wheeled workhorse, so I really should know how to fix it!