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I had a couple of 250L barrels from the centre aisle of Lidl in March.... £30 each. They are OK, not free of gremlins, but they are acceptable. Another 4 were 300L barrels from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DP4ZZMCQ again several months ago and before the other ones appeared in Lidl...

So, after a few weeks of dry weather, the usual hosepipe bans commence. Although the first hosepipe ban in the Dwr Cymru area doesn't impact us, it did remind me to get my emergency extra folding water butts out and fill them, and to use a transfer barrel to move my main water butts 30 metres...

I have had quite a few cucumbers this year so far, and yes Mini Munch is very good. Picked the first tomatoes yesterday. Had a handful of strawberries off the new plants and I will have some cranberries this year. Peas are about finished so I am letting the last few pods ripen so I have seed...

Hmmm, resilience is maybe a different calculus as you then want it when the grid falls over in a power outage (whatever the cause). However plug-in solar must stop feeding in power at that point..... When I had the new place fully re-wired during the renovation, I had a proper (manual)...

Indeed. What makes the grid stable and resilient is having large heavy spinning mass generators, they provide inertia and also help balance the "reactive power" due to how the electromagnetic fields of traditional spinning turbine generators can be managed Whereas solar is "grid following"...

I have ordered some solar kit for my New Old Truck The polymer roof of the rear being flat and smooth, I ordered some self-adhesive CIGS panels, plus a new charge controller (they have come on a ways since I had one in my Big Van), a reel of solar cable and some connectors. Oh, and the crimp...

Squash is a concentrate that is diluted with water to make a flavoured drink..... For example...

I put a couple of 1.5L old pop bottles filled with my favourite low sugar squash in the freezer the other day. Got one out today, been stood in a bowl to catch the condensation, gradually drank the thawing chilled squash. Good way of having a constant supply of chilled liquid, little and often...

Sad that Long Wave has finally been switched off. I am not convinced about the "old tech" argument, in spite of everything its a lot more repairable than new tech, and so are the receivers. Oh, that vaunted DAB. Which cannot be received along much of the Heads of the Valleys Road in south...

Many thanks everyone for your replies. Much food for thought, and indeed @TeeDee's suggestion has reminded me I have a pile of corrugated metal sheets in a pile in a corner (salvaged during the renovation. @HorseGuy : yeah the sleepers do seem the logical choice, not least because I can add a...

Well, my polytunnels are up and running on a mix of a couple of small raised beds, growbags and various buckets/pots etc, but i am starting to plan for doing the main raised beds properly after the tomatoes etc have finished. But I'd like to garner some thoughts on my options from the forum...

My tomatoes have curled their leaves inwards as they are hot. The polytunnel covers have slackened as they got so hot. Hoping the forecast thunder and rain arrives and cools things. Still about 31 C outside. A 10 degree drop in temp is forecast by morning, here's hoping.... GC

I was out doing a basket course yesterday. We were set up in the shade of a big tree next to a river (uplands of Wales). The place I live now, apparently the people who lived here 50 years ago would keep their milk crate in the stream to keep it cool, constant flow of water and shade of plants...

I have a tube/bottle of a gel which is made from witch hazel and aloe vera: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08T9ZMDHC?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title I really like it, very good for soothing the itch from bug bites. It is a new product which I tried it as I use the other cream from the...

I agree, the more sophisticated filter systems can remove bacteria and many chemical (organic and/or inorganic depending on filtration media) contaminants, but none of them will remove viruses. To remove viruses, you must either boil, treat with disinfectant or use a particular wavelength of UV...

Looks pretty good. Peas like cool, tomatoes prefer hot and dry, so peas will be producing before toms. Everything is a month late in west/north UK this year. So probably about where they should be, and hopefully we get a dry warm September to ripen things properly. I grow tomatoes, cucumbers...

Been doing my first main mow of the year. My big Honda strimmer was overheating...... so was I mind you. And the bugs that were late in getting going are in catch up mode..... GC

My peas and pattypan squash are doing really well in the polytunnel with the net front door closed and the rear net door closed plus the main cover on nearly all the qay up. Says everything, at this time of year both doors should be rolled open to stop thi gs getting too hot! It's been a cold...

The stuff in the tunnels is doing well, tomatoes, pattypan squash, peppers, mange-tout peas, cucumbers. Even one of 3 varieties of melons i am tryimg are growing ok. That said........ I only planted under cover thus year because the spring had been so cold and wet, just as well as its...

Yeah we lit the wood burner in the lounge for a couple of hours yesterday evening, to take the chill off. Wouldn't think it was June, wet, windy and max 13 C all day. Glad all my tomatoes are in polytunnels. GC