Sue

Yes you can freeze runner beans, I think you might have to blanch (sp?) them first.

DrinkingBuddy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There are some great green tomato recipes around > if your tomatoes don't ripen, made a few jars of > it last year and it was delicious. xxxxxxx I didn't go to all this trouble to make green tomato chutney :))

I gave all my veg growing books to my daughter, but depending on the weather conditions I believe outdoor grown tomatoes may not ripen until September sometimes?

I believe you can ripen tomatoes indoors on a sunny windowsill, if the worst comes to the worst?

Marlene Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Has anybody had trouble with tomatoes this year? xxxxxx Mine are still green, but I haven't grown them for many years so I can't remember when they are supposed to ripen :)) Also it's a new variety which is supposed to have tomatoes the size of redcurrants, but mine are much bigger than that!

I really don't think these personal details about a young girl should be being posted here where anybody can read them, please could the posters delete them and use the PM system? ETA: If you don't know how to delete them, click the "edit" button and then delete or amend the text.

That's a great idea, Monica - good if something positive comes out of the Dulwich Hospital saga :)

There's quite a few Zoe Popes on Facebook, plus if you google it 39 come up on the electoral register. If you don't get any joy from here you could try that. Though of course she might be registered somewhere else. But lesson to everyone to put a return address on parcels! I guess you could open the parcel and see if someone has put a return address inside. Alternatively, if you haven't been at your address long, either the previous resident or the estate agent/letting agent might be able to help, if she did actually live there once?

LadyDeliah Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I usually let some nettles grow in my garden and > make nettle tea with the fresh nettles using a > cafatiere. You need to use rubber gloves to > harvest and chop the nettles up, but it tastes > really nice. > > I'm loving my garden at the moment. I have 2 > grapevines with loads of bunches of grapes, my 5 > year old apple tree has produced loads of apples > for the first time and I have a nectarine tree, > about the same age which is weighed down with > fruit. > > I also have cob nut bushes which I planted at the > same time as the two trees, and they have produced > nuts for the first time this year. I want to put > a bit more time into the veg though because I have > been a bit slack this year. Got some stuff out but > not much. I might make some raised beds and deep > fill them with soil for next year, so that it's > easier to plant without getting loads of weeds. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx You are so lucky to have a garden with space for all that! My veg consist of a hanging basket/three pots of micro tomatoes, a couple of pots of salad leaves, a bay tree in a pot and some herbs! But then that's partly because I don't want the whole of my very small garden filled up with veg, as I like to sit and see flowers. Next year I'm aiming to compromise and plant some picturesque veg like ruby chard (though I think it tastes pretty horrible) and French beans with nice flowers (but then you don't get the sweet pea smell). Can't have everything I suppose :-S

I am wondering whether it was a Bank Vole as it looked more this colour .....

Hey yes it looked just like that, that's amazing! Thanks, Minkey! I looked in a garden wildlife book I have earlier today, and I did think it looked like a dormouse, but the only one there was a pic of was what they called a garden dormouse, and it said they weren't found in the British Isles, so I assumed it couldn't be that. And by a weird coincidence, I just went up the road, and going down a hole in the pavement (Ulverscroft Road - sorry to break the news, folks) was the back end of a rat - and the thing on my birdfeeder was very definitely not a rat :)) I also have a tiny mouse living in my garden which seems to come and eat the bits dropped off the birdfeeder, from the ground. Haven't got close enough to see if it's a wood mouse or a house mouse, but I think it might be a baby, as it's light enough to run over leaves without bending them too much.

I'll contact him and tell him to pick up his PMs !!!

I've just seen drop off my birdfeeder (fat balls) a small animal which was bigger than a mouse but smaller than a squirrel, about hamster sized and a sort of tan-brown colour. Couldn't see a tail. Didn't look like a rat. It disappeared into ground cover. Any ideas what it might be? Anyone lost a hamster?

Quote from the Aquarius Festival thread (see link above) "There will be a big craft fayre on site, with about 20 traders already signed up" So if you want a stall at a local festival/craft fair, get in touch with Brian now!

maxtedc Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I happened to notice there were a lot of orange > butterflies around on Sunday. By orange they > weren't gatekeepers, more like tortoiseshell. I've > never seen them before (alas I don't have a > garden) so when I saw half a dozen in various, > distant corners of ED and Peckham on the same day > it stood out. xxxxxxx I think they might have been these, maxtedc? There's loads of them around at the moment. They are orange when they fly, but when they come to rest they are black and white. See these pictures: Tiger Moth

ClareC Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > I had my phone snatched from me in Camberwell a > few years back, I said to the police at the time I > was silly to use it, to which they told me in no > uncertain terms why shouldn't I, people should be > able to use their phones in public otherwise why > have them in the first place! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx That's interesting, because I know of somebody who got mugged near the Elephant and was told by the police that they shouldn't have been using their phone there, the implication being that it was their own fault that they were mugged.

aalisam Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yes please!!! xxxxxx As I say, you will need to contact Brian Towell (posting on the EDF as Brian Tee), I suggest by a PM as he is highly unlikely to see this thread ..... I know there will be stalls, including I understand craft stalls, at the Aquarius Festival (link above). :)-D

You could always have a stall at the Aquarius Festival in East Dulwich on 20 August, craft stalls would be excellent :) The Aquarius Festival thread Contact Brian Towell (originator of the thread) for details!

stephent Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > FYI The Dulwich Society also organise garden > visits, in case you weren't aware. xxxxxxxx Thanks, no I wasn't aware, but as I've never seen that society mentioned on here, I presume it's not for East Dulwich?

Mine is somewhat wild as well - I had fallen-down trellis replaced with fencing earlier in the year, and the garden looked like a mass of bare earth due to collateral trampling damage. I sowed loads of annual stuff to fill in the gaps as a temporary measure, and now everything has run totally riot. Unfortunately I misjudged the height of some of it, and now I have vast (but very picturesque) milk thistles hiding plants beneath and attacking me every time I go near, and some very beautiful poppies completely collapsed and lying on the ground :-S

Not sure whether this is the appropriate place to put this, but not sure where else to put it! It struck me that discussing our gardens and related issues didn't really fit into either the existing nature thread or the vegetable swap thread. So I'm starting this one. First, I wonder whether people would be interested (next year maybe) in sharing car space/petrol costs to visit gardens eg Sissinghurst, Great Dixter, Beth Chatto's garden? Second. I wonder whether people would be interested in meeting up to talk about their gardens? Third, I just wanted to share that I sowed a load of very old seeds in the Spring, including some twenty year old scented leaved pelargonium seeds, and they've virtually all germinated. I had been keeping them all in a sealed box in the fridge, so maybe that was why. Only problem has been trying to find space for all the plants! To those of you who had a load of seeds from me last year (I think it was) I do hope you had similar success!

This afternoon - two froglets on a stone, one on the rim of the tub and another in the water. They seem to be sticking out their tongues - do they do that when they're so tiny? It's so quick I can't quite see exactly what they're doing ......

Mockney, really, is that true? Not an early April Fools joke? I thought night flights were only allowed during certain hours? How can they possibly fit them all in? But if true, hooray, pleasant days sitting in the garden with no plane noise, and earplugs at night :)

The Minkey Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I heard it too. Reminded me of living in Brixton > where we used to hear it on a semi-regular basis > :-) I once did a 72hr journey on a steam train > from Delhi down south. I'm so glad I was in India > during the time they were still running. It was > not the cleanest way to travel though. xxxxxxxxx We took the steam train to Dorset when I was a child, before we had a car. You could stick your head out of the window and get covered in black smudges. :))

Ridgley Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- The other lady gave me such a sticking > look for interfering and said to me you should > support your own kind I politely told her black or > white the other lady was here first fair is fair xxxxxxxx I would have said to her, what kind is that then, the kind who push past other people who were in the queue before them? Actually I probably wouldn't, but you know what I mean. Gobsmacked by her remark.