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Gardening resources and tips, etc.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Fri Jul 24, 2020 11:30 am

Herbi ... not a matter of ‘fault’ ... just that like all infections it’s less likely/more manageable if plants are socially distanced. ;)

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Earthmaiden » Fri Jul 24, 2020 11:35 am

:lol: :lol: re the opioids.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Fri Jul 24, 2020 11:45 am

There’s always the possibility that the lad in the hoodie (as worn by the rich and famous as well as royalty) may come from an Eastern European family (lots of E. European dishes contain poppy seeds) and his mum had sent him scrumping. ;)

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:16 pm

True Suffs, but round here a nice Ukrainian lad would knock on the door, and probably offer to do a odd job

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:57 pm

My husband caught our neighbour nosing around in our skip yesterday. Twice :o And a littel shamefaced about it when he realized he was observed. V amused. He is the immaculate garden/always appears on teh other side of the fence to give an opinion on what we are doing in the garden neighbour. (But he is alright... I like him.)

I just had a goldfinch, I think eating cornflower seeds (I am not keeping on top of deadheading. Clearly not a bad thing) on my patio, about 15 feet away, and then perched on a chair. I was thrilled. I think there is just one pair, probably nesting round the front of the house, which sometimes venture round the back. Resisting the temptation to put more birdfood out, as I just realized all there are a couple of fat balls on the feeing 'station'. If I do put seeds out right now, I will probably scare off the small birds and attract the pigeons who have been dominating the feeder of late.

Might order some niger seeds...

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Lusciouslush » Fri Jul 24, 2020 3:19 pm

Careful where you put those Niger seeds Herbs - they root like crazy & a bU&&er to get out!

We always have goldfinches around here - they love sunflower seeds - we've had quite a few broods this year - gorgeous birds & very fiesty, they're not put off by any of the other birds ( with that beak I'm not surprised!)

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Fri Jul 24, 2020 5:13 pm

Ive almost given up deadheading the cornflowers ... ours are full of goldfinches tucking into them.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri Jul 24, 2020 5:23 pm

I've just found another thing that has been eating my soft herbs, a little green cricket, it seems to have chomped all the lime basil and moved on to the coriander and red basil

It settled on my arm when I picked some basil, I put it back, I hadn't realised they were salad munchers, was very pretty

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby PatsyMFagan » Fri Jul 24, 2020 7:59 pm

Lusciouslush wrote:Careful where you put those Niger seeds Herbs - they root like crazy & a bU&&er to get out!



I had this problem and asked on here once if the seedlings could be eaten in a salad (much like cress) I don't recall if I ever got answer :?

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Renee » Fri Jul 24, 2020 11:41 pm

From what I've read Pat, the oil and seed are eaten in different recipes, including curries, chutneys, and gruel, and Nyjer has several medicinal uses as well. The seeds are usually sterilised so that they probably wouldn't germinate, but Lush has had problems with them, so maybe they would germinate. I'm sure that they must be edible if the seeds are. It's worth a try.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Sat Jul 25, 2020 12:15 am

It seems that the heat sterilisation of Nyjer is mainly to kill off contaminant seeds, especially an invasive dodder

I can’t find any reference to either animals or humans eating any part of of the planted except seeds

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guizotia_abyssinica

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby halfateabag » Sat Jul 25, 2020 8:13 am

Thanks for the link Sue, a nice read, especially as we have just driven through Bulgaria, Austria etc. Love the Greek association too. Homer did write a good book !!

My seeds are more black than the blueish/grey but I will do some more reading before I try eating any....

I do have a couple of the garden type poppies that return every year, mine are the subtlest apricot colour and look like very fine tissue paper, I always eagerly await their appearance.

On the mange tout front, I am highly impressed with them, lots and lots of them and very sweet and tender even when the odd one escapes me and starts to form peas inside. I shall certainly grow them again next year.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby PatsyMFagan » Sat Jul 25, 2020 10:17 am

halfateabag wrote:My seeds are more black than the blueish/grey but I will do some more reading before I try eating any....

I do have a couple of the garden type poppies that return every year, mine are the subtlest apricot colour and look like very fine tissue paper, I always eagerly await their appearance.

.


If you survive can you report back ;) :lol: :hi5:

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Lusciouslush » Sat Jul 25, 2020 10:30 am

I've never thought of eating niger seeds - strictly for the birds - the finches luv 'em, but they're the devil to get rid of if they take root - the only way is to have them in a feeder which is over concrete - mine aren't so I don't use them in feeders now - the birds aren't hard-done-by with their sunflower seeds tho' - in fact they're very spoilt, including the woodmice :D

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Thu Jul 30, 2020 6:27 pm

just in case you haven't already heard about it i thought it might be a good idea to post this.
i have just had an email from our gardening club about seeds that have been sent, unsolicited, from china. they have been sent to people who have bought seeds through amazon or eBay and labeled as ear studs therefore bypassing bio security. we have been informed that if anyone has received them to send them to the animal and plant health agency ( part of dept. of environment) and on no account plant them as they may contain viruses or other bio hazards.

Image

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Thu Jul 30, 2020 7:16 pm

Yes I have read that. I did buy some wild flowers seeds for my mother from Amazon. She's not sowed them (ie. got someone else to) though.

I think I might have had some 'emergency seeds' (!) from amazon too. I sometimes think almost everything on amazon is from China. You can often tell by the bullet point descriptions. Lots of fake things too. (Most upsettingly a camera memory card which failed causing the lost of a morning's photography and a RSPB plance.)

Some of my peppers are starting to colour today. I could smell them too in the heat. Hopefully they will be nice. Sometimes they taste weird - esp. red ones - these should all be yellow and orange.

I have way too many beans. And cucumbers. But no courgettes :(

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Sat Aug 01, 2020 7:48 pm

More details about the unsolicited seeds in today's Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... are_btn_tw

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby miss mouse » Sat Aug 01, 2020 9:25 pm

A strange convo in the Sainsbug veg aisle selecting spring onions; they had marginally fatter bulbs than usual, a man said 'they've been forced, you can tell from the fat roots', I assumed it was a different cultivar, and and isn't lots of this stuff grown hydroponically anyway, 'forced' for um lack of a better word. Quite baffling.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Pampy » Sat Aug 01, 2020 9:45 pm

I don't think I've ever bought spring onions that have been clean enough to have been grown without soil.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby jeral » Sat Aug 01, 2020 10:59 pm

Sakkarin posted an excellent link re the difference between scallions and spring onions and fat and thin bulbs. I'll dig it out if I can find the right tagwords. Sprunions (Torode) springs to mind.

I was reading about growing plants in clay pellets and water + nutrients, though no veg. I don't think hydroponic veg has taken off in the UK*, although there are big sheds in the US and spirulina tanks on the Continent. (* I'll stand corrected of course if that's not so.)

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