Megan Palmer

Carla, Dan, Bryant et al how are your saffron beds coming along?

Last summer, January 2025, I dug up one of my saffron beds at the community garden that had become overcrowded.

The corms had multiplied prolifically and sales of the excess corms raised over NZ$600 towards the cost of a new pump for our water bore at the gardens.

I kept the largest corms and replanted them into two separate beds.

One of the saffron beds still had couch aka twitch growing through it so dug it up again last weekend despite the saffron foliage still being green.

After just 18m all the original corms have reproduced multiple new corms but didnt separate them this time, just replanted the lot.

There really isn't any need to buy more corms after your initial purchase if you are prepared to dig up and separate the corms every year.

Ideally, they should be divided in summer after the foliage has died back but I really wanted to weed out the couch.

There are bound to be some couch runners that I missed but can dig over the bed again in summer.

Mugs

Sums

Lame

Wish

Ellen Lewis wrote:
The real problem for me, though, is how do you get your feet clean in the shower? Even when I stop being afraid I'll fall over standing on one foot in a hard slippery place, probably with my eyes closed, I still have slug slime and poplar buds and whatnot stuck to my feet.

Have you considered using a hardwood/bamboo shower mat? One inside the shower and another outside.

As for the clammy shower curtain, fishing weights sewn into the hem of shower curtain helps to stop the curtain from flapping around.

Su Ba wrote:

When showering in a cold climate (our house was often 45° F on a winter's morning in New Jersey), we used an enclosed shower box, complete with ceiling, to keep the heat in. Heat rises and escapes without a ceiling. We had a simple ceiling made from several layers of heavy plastic film-- something we could remove during the rest of the year.

Here in NZ, showers are often enclosed with a shower dome, commercially make rounded lids that trap the steam inside a shower, reducing the condensation in the bathroom.

They are especially popular in rental properties because tenants don’t always turn on the extractor fan or open the windows in winter and the paint on the ceilings and walls flakes and/or get mould spots.

As Su Ba mentions, an enclosed shower box is also very effective in keeping in the heat.

In some older properties, the shower cubicle was indeed enclosed, a moulded unit with just a small gap of about 3 inches above the glass so bathrooms with this style of shower seldom had condensation damage to the walls.

Unfortunately, the colours of the plastic was truely dreadful, dull green, peachy tones so were removed when the owners renovated their bathrooms.

Pest

Lost

Blake Lenoir wrote: Could garlic or onions be dried out to create ground seasoning for recipes? How we dry the stuff?

Peel, mince/chop or crush your garlic, spread thinly onto dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 35C for up to 48 hours until bone dry.

Lightly crush and store in jars and transfer to a grinder for use as required.

For onion powder, dice or mince the onions and follow the above steps.

The lowest dehydrator temperature setting is preferred to ensure that the allicin content of the garlic is not destroyed.