Jump to content

The Livestock & Home produce thread - An Alternative investment


Recommended Posts

well done.

 

I will pick this up on another thread as well:

http://www.greenenergyinvestors.com/index.php?showtopic=16127

Just my little bit towards being self sufficient, sadly I no longer have the land access to expand, my in laws sold up most of their land and farm house to a property developer, the offer was just too good.

 

My bit is almost hobby stuff, it's healthy, costs little money, a bit of time and gives plenty of satisfaction because it tastes great.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 181
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Just my little bit towards being self sufficient, sadly I no longer have the land access to expand, my in laws sold up most of their land and farm house to a property developer, the offer was just too good.

 

My bit is almost hobby stuff, it's healthy, costs little money, a bit of time and gives plenty of satisfaction because it tastes great.

 

Must be healthier too.

If you grow it, you control it: Can keep GMO out, and dangerous fertilizers too.

The food we buy at the supermarket is increasingly "weaponized"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Bump again

 

Success this year has once again been with the fruit, or rather Strawbs, I now have an ego boosting reputation as a top notch Strawberry grower, friends and family take "shoots" off me to cultivate their own little crops. Another tremendous yield for me as were the Raspberries now on about my 6th week of daily desert for the family; once again the damp weather seems to help.

 

Veg well the lettuce was ok, beets hmm so so, likewise Beans, tasted great but maybe not lasted that long. Going to stick some Leeks in today as last years lasted well into Winter and Spring even.

 

Just wish I had more space and time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well done, Rigger,

I love strawberries, Can you grow cherries too?

Thanks. Yes cherry trees are dead easy, there is a problem however and it goes tweet,tweet. Afraid without netting the birds love them, so probably manage to salvage a jar or two, three if very lucky.

 

Barely worth the effort I'm afraid, but my wife loves them, so I resist the temptation to dig the tree up, just prune it to keep it manageable for now and the starlings tend to go for the sturdy branches, so I always head for the flimsy ones to crop; still end up throwing half away as they have been pecked already!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...

Horrid year, that really bought home the lack of water causes issues.

Never before in the U.K have I struggled with such a poor “harvest”; everything I grew was smaller and yielded less, all down to the lack of rainfall.

Even the strawberries struggled :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

 

It's been quite some time since I posted here, since which I've fallen 'out of love' with working an allotment. I found the 'rules' (no bonfires, no hose watering from mains) far too prohibitive to ensuring a successful season and neighbouring allotment holders' practices ('no digging' philosophy or 'blown over' contamination of my/our plot) made maintenance very hard work, and eventually demoralising to the extent I gave up the investment. I also became tired of one of my shared plot managers constantly disappearing 'on holiday' at times when major works were scheduled (rotorvating, planting, compost management and watering by hand during dry months) then reaping the benefits at harvest time ......... needless to say we 'fell out'. 

I had a major life change about 4 years ago but now share a large good sized garden with my partner of the past 4 years, who also had a share in the previous shared allotment. Initially the garden was overgrown with bindweed and brush which for her alone was too much to maintain. It's been an enlightening few years since which I've learned the tricks and laziness of former works on the property and land ........ I've dug up buried solid bags of concrete, lumps of hardcore from an extension to the property and butchered telegraph poles from the previous owner over the past 3 - 4 years and had many a bonfire to get rid of waste whilst drinking beer, and looking for shooting stars.

We've concentrated on the lower tier of the garden, eradicating the bind weed, adding compost and top soil  whilst introducing shrubs such as bay, rose, camelea, azalea, dahlia, lupin, echinachia, rhododendron, hydrangea, wisteria, clematis and added tree fern, magnolia, olive, banana and acers some of which I've grown from seed very successfully. I've grown bedding plants using my experience from growing fruit and veg from seed to create a summer of both scent and colour ........ it certainly made the UK Spring/Summer lockdown a relaxing outdoor space to relax and consider 'life' and as such was a very valuable and a worthy investment both financially and physically. An added bonus, it's helped hone my growing from seed skills and reminded me often that a little bit of work often is so much easier than a lot of work infrequently.

During the Autumn/Winter/Spring we need to do a lot of work on the upper tier. There's a large pond which is poorly positioned and often suffers from excess algae growth during periods of hot sunny weather. I've already introduced a pump/filtration system, oxygenating plants etc but have found it really tricky to maintain a healthy long-lived balance ...... something I will re-start again in early spring. The fish must like it though ....... thems a breeding like mutha fuckas!!!!

I've a plot of land in the upper tier I've dug over and had covered in sheeting for the past 9 months which in spring I hope to build a pagoda and seating area, lawned underneath then planting climbers (grape?/hop?) to create summer cover close to the pond for an area of quiet contemplation. Then I'll get to work on my veg patch .........

This year I've grown strawberries, dwarf/french bean, leek, cabbage, corn and tomato, and considering they've played very much a 'also-ran' role, have done really quite ok. 

There's a Bramley apple tree which I pruned back heavily late last year, though which produced many small fruit which were thinned etc, produced nothing of value this year. Any advice?

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...