Anthony Powell

May Lotito wrote:I found out that seeds from green bell pepper are mature enough to sprout. I can just buy one and get hundreds of seedlings in a couple weeks. I tried one last year and it produced just fine.
I also rooted this small piece of store bought ginger to grow free plant.

Lucky! - but green peppers are unripe red/yellow peppers. I found green chilli's seeds immature.

Eden van den Bogaard wrote:Re: Saponaria officinalis
I have lots on my property and it's great for a mild soap but doesn't really replace laundry detergent or regular soap as it's not as concentrated. To wash clothes, hair etc. you need quite a bit. It also doesn't really make a true "soap" (as in bar soap) but rather a mild liquid detergent that also needs to be used up within a few days. But great for washing wool etc or hands in a pinch!

Soapwort is reputedly used by those washing heritage fabrics, as in the UK's National Trust properties.

Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum, conker) are reckoned useful (related to American buckeye). I've been on a road bordered by conker trees after an autumn shower. Cars crushing the conkers resulted in a foam, running down the road and into drains - probably going into nearby watercourses, where it'll be a fish toxin!

Last resort - wood ash. Used to be left outside in a tub, with a bucket to collect rainwater running through, which would gain potassium hydroxide/carbonate. That would combine with grease in the clothing you've not washed in too long, to make real soap. Or grease in your skin, if you're not careful.

Dennis Barrow wrote:Always let your vehicle run, idle, for a minute or two.  This lubricates all the engine parts properly and this will help you vehicle run better so better mileage.  
I have over a million miles under my belt driving and every mechanic I spoke with agreed with this.

I'm usually starting in an urban location, on the flat, maybe 20mph. So the engines hardly working. I turn the key when I'm ready to go.

Matthew Nistico wrote:

M Ljin wrote:Cuban man fuels car with charcoal!

I wish they would have provided a more in-depth, technical explanation of how that conversion works.  My first thought was wood gasification, but that doesn't make sense using charcoal.  Charcoal is what you have left AFTER the volatile wood gases have been cooked off.

Any ideas?

It did look rather coal-ish I thought, maybe even sounded coal-ish. But getting the volatiles out still leaves a lot of potential, in the coke.
When I was a kid we were taught about gas works in chemistry, how they made town gas from coke before we went over to fossil methane. Step one is to burn it with air to get it hot, then (step two) limit the air making carbon monoxide - still exothermic. Step 3 send water/steam through, makes hydrogen and CO, and cools the charcoal. I guess a 2-stage process is impractical at the back of the car, so maybe he's feeding air and water simultaneously.

My dad, a car salesman in the 1970s, had a lady come in about her new car. It was over-revving, inefficient and misbehaving. He passed it to the mechannics, who could find nothing wrong. It went back to the lady, who returned with the same complaint. Bit more back and forth. Eventually the mechanic said 'take me for a drive so I can see what's happening'.
He took the passenger seat, she got in the driver's side, pulled the choke out, hung her handbag on it....
(For youngsters unfamiliar with  the choke, it's a device to supply more fuel to the engine when it's cold. You push it in gradually as the engine warms. Nowadays the choke's automatic.)

You can monitor your fuel use in Excel.
My car hasn't a handy trip meter, so I write the mileage on my petrol receipt. Get home and enter the litres (gets converted to gallons) and miles (previous miles subtracted) and out comes mpg.

A ton of tin to shift a hundredweight of human (approx). So most of your fuel goes in shifting the vehicle, so whatever the claimed efficiency, it's out!
Looking at the calorific value of veg oil, a litre has enough energy to satisfy 4 adults for a day. Or do 10 miles in an IC car.
We each have a vehicle that is a compromise, to satisfy many needs: speed, hills, safety, seating the family, luggage, weather. If we live on an estate, there could be a vehicle pool: borrow the vehicle appropriate to the job. And while we're going, does anyone want a lift?
We have a website in the UK for lift-sharing (https://liftshare.com/uk). Enter your trip and whether you're offering or asking or both.
Carlos Castaneda in 'The Teachings of Don Juan' taught you should take what comes your way, and the Rocky Mountain Institute say 'the best way to get where you're going is to be there already'. Local is best, learn and appreciate what's in easy reach.
A car has numerous screws, wires, cogs and drives - a failure in one and you're stalled. A motorway has many vehicles, all relying on those machines in front not failing. One breakdown and we're all late for work. A bike has fewer bits, but can be walked. Shoes are tried and tested!

Nancy Reading wrote:Wow! Good diversity there Patrik - Good idea to incorporate climbers. If you have an initial trellis, you might get a quick yield whilst the rest of the hedge plants establish.

Anthony Powell wrote:Cherry plum, Prunus cerasifera, will flower and fruit trimmed to hip-height

That's interesting Anthony. My cherry plum is blooming just now - most of it only seems to bloom on the lower parts. I'm not sure whether this is just the earliest flowers, or whether the shelter is more significant. I got my first fruit last year.

Cherry plum suffers a lot from pocket plum, a fungal disease related to peach leaf curl. It results in deformed fruit that drop early. Dry weather early in the season led to many trees across the UK fruiting. Fingers crossed breezy Skye will keep spores blown away.

Cherry plum, Prunus cerasifera, will flower and fruit trimmed to hip-height

For a clipped hedge, you'll want small leaves. They go with fine branches, close together.
I have Chaenomeles speciosa (Flowering Quince) - doesn't sucker like C japonica, and has larger, more long keeping fruits that are easier to use. And Poncirus (Citrus) trifoliata - hardy in UK, spring flowers, bitter cookable fruit and long thorns. Those two are a screen behind a trimmed privet hedge.