Allotments 4 All

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Mr Fothergills having a seed sale

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Specifically, I want to grow just a few Pink Fir Apple this year. None of my local places seem to stock them, can anyone recommend an online supplier? Ebay is full of them but some of them look more like Anya to me. Thanks.

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Over the last couple of years, when I hear people talking about the problems Covid and the lockdowns have created, I have always replied that the worst is still to come!

My thoughts were.....these costs will have to be paid for!!!!

From experience, I have always known that successive governments and commerce often use a disaster or national crisis to sweep some unsavoury problem/s (such as raising prices) under the carpet and blame it on the current problem/s

Looks like that I am being proven correct!

Last week I went to purchase a few seeds and compost, and I was amazed at how things have increased in price, for example;

Multi-purpose compost from my usual source had risen approximately 30% in price and on looking around I noticed that other necessities such as fertilsers etc had risen by a similar amount.

Then I had a look at mail order plants and here some prices had risen to spectacular levels, needless to say I didn't buy any plants, I now plan on growing these from seed this year!

Luckily I am now making my own compost so this morning I worked out roughly what my compost was costing me and was pleasantly surprised to find that it is costing me around 3½ p per litre whereas my source was charging £8 for 70 litres of multi-purpose compost (11.43 p /litre)

Incidently I am making my own compost to the John Innes recipe so 3½p/litre for Ji N°2 is a great saving, add to that, I have the option of making any of the Ji recipes (Ji1/2/3/seed) which makes my saving even greater.

Plus, if I say so myself, the quality is excellent!

To do this, I have been saving the used compost from my containers over the last two years and recycling it, where I sieve out any old detritus from the spent compost before rejuvenating it with Ji Base mix.

At the same time, I check the pH to ensure it is OK, I also add a little Perlite to improve/open up the texture.

I currently have a stock of around 1000 litres of used/spent compost stored in Daleks & Dusbins. I mix this with some new fibrous compost at a ratio of 3 parts spent compost to one part new compost, then I add the fertiliser/Perlite & Lime as required!.

I am also finding that making my own compost is quite therapeutic,  so I think I have created a "Win Win" situation for myself during these troubled times!

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I am finally clearing out my overfull old New Zealand style double compost bin and after many years use it needs replacing as it is falling to bits.
I've a lot of old paving slabs from another project. Is there any reason why I can't use them to slab the base of the new bin? It would make clearing it out easier.
I am going to start the new bin off with partially rotted stuff from the old bin so any worms etc will be already their to work their magic.