What have done towards your prep?

[Straight Shooter]

Milled all the wheat took me all morning , it made a full glass jar of just over a gallon......I ended up passing it through the mill SIX times and.....three passes did not cut it said wild child ! Had to laugh the name on the mill is CORONA .....bought it on eBay for under £20.00 but it’s not that bad a quality and certainly does the job....and well.

Wild thang is baking off two loafs right now.......seeing my bread she decided to go half white flour and half super deluxe SS flour .........she is now singing to me......IF ......by BREAD.

[Mortblanc]

I am certainly glad I have not planted yet.

We had a storm and cold front move through last night. Anything in the ground tomorrow morning will be frozen.

[Straight Shooter]

Always a problem MB .....judging the local weather and trying to time the planting just right, but there are things that we can do to try and head off total disasters ....covering , fleecing and taking indoors containers , if not to extreme conditions...I have many Failures to brag about ! .....just the way it is in any garden ! .

Payed a visit to the lower ground last week , I grubbed out three furrows and planted some seed potatoes , I will revisit in a week or so to look for any progress .

Weather turning cooler this coming week so I may well be practising what I am preaching this afternoon , in general terms All seedlings are doing well and much else in my garden , blossoms on the fruit trees and bushes .....I planted on some blueberry bushes last week along with some cuttings (redcurrants,black currants, and fig ) .

[MaryN]

Personally I am praying for rain. It is getting so dry here. Potatoes I planted in buckets are coming up nicely; the fruit trees are in full blossom and covered in bees and my little seedlings are waving from the greenhouse.

By the way, SS, I'm curious about your fig cutting. What sort of fig is it?

[Straight Shooter]

Not got a clue Mary...….I was given a cutting about seven odd years back off a customer where we were fitting new windows and doors along with some building work......he had a few cuttings of fig and kindly offered one to me , last three years its stood in a big tub on the deck and has done really well and still does ….and produces well , south facing and close to the house wall , sil took three cuttings last year and two strong seedlings came good I will take a shot of it and email it to you (when I work out how to do that )

[Straight Shooter]

Took delivery of 30 55 Lts Vetex compost 30 50lts organic soil improver compost and 10 Levington grow bags today........built a new raised bed for the runner beans , also sowed runner beans this morning , the new raised bed is now full, and all the canes are up and tied off .

Why all the compost ? Just hedging my bets ,I also ordered 25 lts growmore and two tubes of soluble plant food and a few big tomato feed bottles ......it might get harder to get this stuff As time rolls on ! .....I am making sure as I think of stuff for food production I just get it ....where I can......and without hesitation ..........my mate brought me some 25mm plastic pipe fittings ( a bag full ) for cold water supply loads of types compression .

Bought spare spark plugs for ALL things petrol driven , spare filters for everything, I have loads of oil and grease.
I will order another deep cycle battery this week to complete the solar 2 setup .

[Straight Shooter]

The deep cycle battery arrived ,that completes the solar 2 setup and is ready , ordered a honey separator,filter and container collection with a tap .......also ordered strong white bread flour two 16 K sacks ( can’t seem to get this locally) .....ordered more spices .......more seeds !.

Food is going to be harder to get....especially in about six months from now ! So get what you can Now ! I doubt you will get food so easy as time rolls on ( we have seen nothing yet folks ) and get proactive start growing your own food ....in containers ....buckets are good ! ......you will need to provide ....make no mistake !

[Straight Shooter]

Tied up another row of canes ready for my Kentucky pole beans 30 , sowed some sugar snap peas and more radish, I planted some potatoes in pop up planters and used some compost and straw mix ( they are coming on good ) better than I expected. ! We have had some rain ......got things moving big time ! ......I am now looking at creating more places to grow veg , any space.....I will fill it with something we can eat , I am on with plans for winter crops and a bigger root cellar , I will order some silver sand in readiness , the root boxes I made years ago and are still good........more storage kegs , glass jars, and all things to preserve food are top of my list for the foreseeable future.

[Straight Shooter]

Took a hike down to the bottom ground this morning to check out those potatoes I planted a few weeks back .....they are coming on well ! .......I will now try some pulses and see how they do ......onwards !

Splitting one of the hives this week, after checking last Saturday we need to sort it !

[Pete Grey]

We have been busy with the garden increasing the space for vegetables, ready to plant out young plants from the greenhouse. It will be interesting to see how the fruit trees do this year, last year was a disappointment.

We have ordered more seeds but deliveries are slow, we don’t want to use the SHTF emergency stock (in sealed jar with dessicater in the fridge) until we have replacements). We are working to the future.

We are still using fresh and freezer food stocks and have used minimal dry food (rice and pasta), and no canned stuff. We have a delivery of fresh meat on the way, as we are on lockdown it will be left by the door and then put in the freezer in the side shed and not touched for 2 or 3 weeks. We are taking no chances.