On my mind – unusual spaces, seeds & no kindling

Posted by louisa on Thursday 17 February 2011 in growing | 8 comments

Rhonda on Down To Earth has a weekly “on my mind” photo feature – an illustration about what we’re all thinking about today. She’s been thinking about handmade, handstitched linens today, I’ve been thinking about …

strange spaces in the garden, epitomised by this ledge behind the greenhouse. I want to increase the amount of things we grow in the garden, which means using all our space as efficiently as possible. This space is small but gets good sun – I could put herb pots on there or make a trough/window box to fit there instead. It wouldn’t be very accessible for picking things from it in the summer though – but I’d like some flowers in the garden to attract bees so maybe this is a good place for them.

I’ve been thinking about this today because this box is praying on my mind –

It’s sorted in planting order but I haven’t decided where everything is going yet or started preparing the beds…

Away from growing, I’ve also been thinking about our empty kindling boxes.

It’s my job to keep them filled them up but I’ve been slack of late… Must make time to refill them tomorrow!

Check out my proper whopper of a propa(gator)! ;)

Posted by louisa on Wednesday 16 February 2011 in growing | 7 comments

Yesterday I got a bit over-excited on Twitter because my heated propagator arrived.

I’d been thinking about getting on for a while but Fiona, the Cottage Smallholder, gave me the final push at the weekend. I got one on eBay on Saturday for £19.99 + £3.95p&p – and was quite surprised how quickly it arrived.

I was also rather surprised at the size – I had chosen one that looked a bit bigger than standard because it didn’t cost that much more and I had a feeling I’d appreciate the extra space – but it turns out that 52cm by 42cm is really pretty big! Thankfully it fits quite neatly onto the shelf in our porch – and conveniently right next to an electric socket too. One of the reasons I was resisting was a worry about the running cost. The heating element in this one is 18W, which, if my calculations are correct, will cost us 3.4p a day to run – I imagine I’ll run it for a week or so at a time, for a few months so not too much overall.

This morning I filled it with its first batch of seeds to nurse – plugs of tomatoes, chillis & cucumbers. (I told myself that I wouldn’t use plugs this year because it means more work but apparently I’m not very good at sticking to my word. The pots are more tomatoes that I sowed the other day, before I’d done a u-turn on my no-plugs rule.) I’m looking forward to seeing them get started.

It was nice to be preparing the plugs in the greenhouse – the sun had been on it for a couple of hours so it was pleasantly warm. Carla-cat followed me inside and stretched out on the warm aluminium staging for the duration. While I was in there, I also started some broad beans in pots – the end of my bought packet & some saved seeds from last year. Possibly a little early but we’ll see.

My 20 year old socks and other long-time-service clothing

Posted by louisa on Tuesday 15 February 2011 in anti-consumerism, frugal | 5 comments

Yesterday, Ilona on Life After Money was talking getting her money’s worth out of things – and referred to some really old underpants she owns. It got me thinking about my elderly underwear.

I have some knickers I bought when I first started going out with John. We’ve been together for nearly nine years. I bought a pair of knickers with a penguin on it and another pair with a cat – the penguin ones are a little scruffy but the cat ones are still almost my favourite pants and are still in regular circulation – worn probably about once a fortnight and still going strong.

Elsewhere in my underwear drawer, I’ve got some slipper socks from my mid-teens (about 15 years ago – someone dropped a BNWT pair in my mum’s shop and after sitting in their lost-and-found box for a while, I was the lucky recipient of them) and a pair of novelty socks that my childhood neighbour/friend Katie bought me one Christmas. I can’t remember what year it was exactly when she bought them for me but I suspect it was when we were about 11 or 12 (19/20 years ago). They’re getting a little bobbly and threadbare on the heel now but still wearable – and still worn regularly. I’ve never worked out what sort of animal is ice skating though – a brown penguin? a bear?

Most of my visible wardrobe is newer – because of changing styles (I’m not exactly a fashionista but my style has definitely evolved over the last couple of decades – shell suits were in style when Katie bought me those socks!) and because of changing body size – but I still wear a black wool cardigan I bought when I was 16 (and a UK size 8) even though I’m now 31 and … um, not a size 8 by any measure! I’ve also got a tiny sundress I bought the week of my 18th birthday which I still wear – it’s bias cut so stretchy so works as a long top for underneath a jumper.

All but three of John’s jumpers pre-date our relationship and he’s got some t-shirts from when he was about 14 or 15 – including one that feels like silk now, it’s been washed that much!

Do you have any clothes in regular circulation that are due a long-term service award?

Fruit bushes finally in the ground

Posted by louisa on Monday 14 February 2011 in growing | 4 comments

I spent what felt like all Saturday but was actually just four hours in the garden – it seems I’ve lost some stamina over the winter! It was hard work and I ached in the evening but I finally got all our fruit bushes in the ground. Well, fruit sticks which will hopefully one day become bushes. These are, respectively, one of the raspberries (Tulameen) and one of the redcurrants (Jonkheer Van Tets) that I bought as part of a super-cheap deal from Aldi last week.

The four blackcurrants look a little more alive – not just bare sticks — probably a sign I should have planted them out a few weeks ago…

I had two pairs of blackcurrant bushes – two from the Aldi batch, two from elsewhere – and there was a very clear difference between the two — even though the other ones were still cheap, their roots looked a lot more established. I guess I’ll have to see if that makes a difference in the long run. (For my future reference, they’re planted Ben Nevis, Ben Lomond, Ben Lomond, Ben Nevis – with the Ben Lomonds from Aldi.)

I also *finally* potted on the lingonberry (Ida) and cranberry (Pilgrim) bushes that arrived in the middle of the snow a month ago.

They were in ok-sized pots anyway so I just left them as they were in the greenhouse while it was cold outside. Now they’ve finally got room to stretch.

So that’s eight fruit bushes in the ground, and two in containers. Fruit-wise, we’ve also got eight trees planted this year, with a spot prepared for my cherry tree (which will hopefully arrive soon), and my strawberry runners seem to be going ok too. I think that’ll be all the fruit we’ll go with this year – now to concentrate on veg!

What fruit are you growing this year? Any new additions to the garden/plot?

Meal planning: this week’s menu

Posted by louisa on Sunday 13 February 2011 in cooking, weekly meal plans | 3 comments

Ok, last week – our first attempt at sticking to a meal plan – was a bit of a failure. It went up in flames on day TWO. We’d forgotten John was going out in the afternoon/evening for a talk so had to change lunch to make it more filling (and some people came for lunch too), and I worked late and forgot I was supposed to make the casserole anyway (John ate the sausages for breakfasts instead). Aside from that though (and having to find something else on Thursday, which was supposed to be leftover casserole day), we stuck to it and it worked well — I knew on Friday afternoon that I’d have to take a break mid-afternoon to start the pizza dough rather than waiting to start until the evening, and it had plenty of time to rise beautifully.

Here is our plan for this week – and hopefully there won’t be any unexpected events!

Sunday brunch – bacon butties, mmm bacon
Sunday dinner – courgette & chorizo frittata, with salad

Monday lunch – falafel in pittas with raita (made with leftover yoghurt), with salad leftover chicken from Saturday night, with rice
Monday dinner – fry up (leftover bacon, mushrooms, hash browns, beans, & eggs – breakfast for dinner ;) )

Tuesday lunch – sigh, I’m going to just accept it – fish and chips probably; if not, something with hard boiled eggs as we’ve some older ones to use up
Tuesday dinner – chicken & bean enchiladas, with salad

Wednesday lunch – bread with a selection of cheese, meat & pickles (our default lunch option)
Wednesday dinner – (I’m out until 10pm) leftover enchiladas, with salad

Thursday lunch – John will probably be out; I’ll have the same as Wednesday
Thursday dinner – pasta with tuna, olives, chillis & parmesan

Friday lunch – something with eggs – scrambled eggs with chorizo? boiled eggs? tbc!
Friday dinner – burgers with salad

(Not planning for Saturday & Sunday this week as I’m out all day both days; I imagine John will have eggs for brunch then possibly go out or get take out later in the day.)