Allotments 4 All

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I planted Trinidad Perfume in February. No sign of life so I stuck the pot in a tray in the windowsill behind the net curtain to take its chances. Today I had reason to move the pot and Lo! and behold, I have a seedling!

Six months from sowing to germination - can anyone better that?

Adrian

(being a stubborn beggar, I shall attempt to overwiinter it if I don't kill it first)

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For the second year running  my pumpkins are getting so big (about babies head size), then going soft and yellow and dropping off the plant.

I've generally had decent yields from squashes  but this year is a total mixed lot - the pumpkins are as above, sweet dumpling are doing well, the turk's turban are pathetic, and the potimarron are OK (when do I harvest, BTW? When they firm up?) - so I don't get what I'm doing wrong. Especially as I am up to my tits in  courgettes, all on the same half-plot.

They don't get watered - everything on our plots is drawn from wells and carried, and I live far enough away that I simply can't keep up so stuff gets waterd in, then has to take its chance - but  generally in the past stuff had grown OK.

Adrian

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Can't remember if I have put this up before, if I have? My apologies but I think it is worth another airing;


In ancient Israel , it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot.

Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg, indeed, she was often referred to as;  Amazon Dot Com.
 
 
She said unto Abraham, her husband,  why dost thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever leaving thy tent?
 
Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddlebags short of a camel load, but simply said,

How, dear? He asked.
 
 Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns, these drums will send messages stating what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price.

The sales can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."
 
 
Abraham thought long, and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums.



The drums rang out and were an immediate success.

It came to pass that Abraham sold all his goods he had at a good price without even having to move from his tent.


To prevent neighboring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew.

It was to be known as;  Must Send Drum Over Sound (MS DOS).



She then developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures and named it;  Hebrew To The People (HTTP).
 
 
The young men called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS  did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung.


 
Lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land.


Indeed, he did insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates' drumheads and drumsticks.

 
On seeing this; Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started? it  is being taken over by others."

Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel , or eBay as it came to be known.

He said, "We need a name that reflects what we are."
 
And Dot replied, lets name it;  "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators." "YAHOO," said Abraham. And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.
 
Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside. It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE).
 
 
That is how it all began. And that's the truth.

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Hi Ya, Having just watched Monty Don on gardeners world I saw him using perlite to root cuttings. I have seen most mix the perlite in compost but he used it all on it's own to root cuttings, Has any one done the same?, Did it work ok< is there a better way to do it? I am interested as I was so impressed I am considering going and buying some to try. any advice is most welcome especially as most seem to mix in their compost and having heard and read some horror stories about the compost we buy and the compost provided to retail being of better quality the perlite made me think. Thanks.