As The Workhouse Approaches....How To Do Everything To Avoid It, the Old Style Way

bonsibabe

Hi all, I'm a bit of a lurker and haven't posted much in a while but really wanted to as ChocClare if French beans are easy to grow? We are finally attempting some carrots, spring onions, beetroot (DD2 loves the fresh stuff) and sweetcorn. We already have a pretty good herb garden and I'm on 2 weeks hols as of tomorrow so hoping to get some salad greens planted, transplant the toms to outside and hopefully get some other goodies planted out. I haven't seen french beans on sale anywhere near here but would love to try growing them. I would love to have chickens but we don't really have a big enough garden for them. If I won enough on the lottery to buy a house we saw the other week then I could have chooks at the bottom of the garden where its nice and secluded but I don't think that will be happening for a few years yet lol.

Not sure what I can still plant out but off to have a read soon, I'm on FB too much so trying to take a break from it!

Cheers

r.a.i.n.b.o.w

ChocClare wrote: »

Not cheeky at all, rainbow. I got them in France - always hit the garden centres whenever I go.

Sorry not to have an English supplier! PM me if you want some - I've got loads.

Thanks for that - I was hoping they were mail/internet order, so I can stock up like a mad bean woman:rotfl: - I do luv me beans

I'll decline your offer for the moment, but thanks anyway

GreyQueen

Went to my lottie after work last night and discovered the lid of my h.m. coldrframe, which was a cast-off metal framed window from Nan's 1950s bungalow, had fallen off it's prop and smashed.

I'm so cross with myself for leaving it on the prop, plus the glass shards fell down onto the runner beans and ruined quite a few of them by slicing off the growing tips. Grrr, that's teach me not to do that in the future.

Good job I can't afford a gym membership because I'm getting a free work-out lugging watering cans around on the lottie. It's still a dustbowl up there without any rain to speak of since February. I think I might have quite a poor showing of veg this year as a result, which is galling as my instinct in these hard times is to grow and harvest like a mad woman.

I second ChocClare's raving fandom for the french bean, they really are little sweethearts, so easy to grow and incredibly prolific. The runners were out last night and the french beans go out tonight (clubbing, in skirts which are far too short.....:rotfl:) minus the 8 I delivered to a friend's place on my way home.

Just re-read my on-the-run last post and I meant to say maincrop and autumn CARROTS not cabbages. I haven't planted my own carrots yet, it'd be like consigning them to life in a sandpit. I'm going to leave it until mid-June to see if normal British summer weather resumes but if the drought continues, I shall plant them anyway and resign myself to yet more watering.

The broad beans and the peas are enjoying the milk-bottle watering points and are so well-grown that I can't see the bottles and have to go hunting them. Beans are now past my knees and flowering prolifically with the lowest pods setting but still tiddly. Oh, and my first self-sown pot marigolds are about to flower. I do love the old country-garden type of flowers, and these are saved seeds from my Nan, as are the broad and runner beans, so they have a sentimental value as well.

These are worrying times for us all and I am astonished at the lack of awareness which I see all around me. I suppose this is my 3rd recession as an adult, and I am just about old enough to remember the early 1970s Oil Crisis and the stagflation then, but I have to bite my lip when I see younger colleagues wasting money hand-over-fist. I hope that they don't end up suffering for it.

Heads up: I don't know whether this is common knowledge yet and whether is could potentially impact on anyone reading here, or perhaps someone you know, but I'd like to put it out there in case it might be of benefit.

It concerns people who rent in the private sector and are under 35 years old. At the moment, this rule affects the under 25s but the government have made serious noises that this will be extended, from January 2012, to the under 35s, too. It's not law yet but all the benefits trainers in the local authorities are expecting it to be forced thru parliament any month now.

If you lose your job and claim housing benefit to help with your rent, it's called the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) if you rent privately. The LHA rates fluctuate month-on-month and have various tariffs; one room rate in shared accomodation, one room self-contained, 2 bed, 3 bed, 4 bed.

At the moment, the self-contained one-bed rate around here is £40 a week higher than the one-room shared accomodation rate. After Jan 2012, the belief is that the Government will have altered the legislation so that unless you're over 35, you'll only get the shared room rate even if you have your own self-contained accomodation.

This is potentially ruinous to the people who will find themselves in this situation, as if they can't cover the difference themselves, they'll slip into arrears and could get evicted.

So, if you know anyone who may be caught out, please give them a heads-up that this is incoming so that they can squirrel some savings away before it's too late.

BTW, I'm in England and don't know if the rules about LHA are the same in other parts of the UK so if you're there, don't assume that what I've just said is relevant without checking.

Oh well, time for a cuppa and some brekkie, hope everyone is having a good start to Friday.

Kimitatsu

Just to add Grey Queen that applies to people who are single without dependants. If you have children or are part of a couple then your housing needs are different Its still going to cause a whole lot of angst though, am bracing myself for the onslaught of letters which will arrive with people!

More information here:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/paying_for_a_home/housing_benefit_and_local_housing_allowance/future_changes_to_local_housing_allowance

Well the garden is still as dry as a bone here, put down more weed matting and mulch yesterday and have planned the veggie garden out so that the gardener has a clear plan of what he can do over the winter months too. I was looking at the house yesterday and thinking what I can do to improve the heat efficiency, think I will have to bite the bullet and get all of the curtains interlined, I have never done it before, and although it cant be that hard........I think I am a bit nervous lol!

With oil at the ridiculous prices it is at the moment, the new boiler will be installed over the summer which should make it a bit easier (and hopefully more efficient!) but even so, if it goes up much more I think we will all be wearing more layers of clothes.

Potatoes are coming on well, and the book that was recommended should be here today, so am going to get more put in pots over the weekend until the veg garden is properly sorted. Potatoes are coming on well, and the strawbs are wonderful. I had to put water in the pond yesterday as we have had nowhere near enough rain to even start to fill it up Dont know about anyone else but our frogspawn has been down this year too.

Interesting to hear other people talking about the seasons resetting themselves, I had that conversation with someone the other day! However it doesnt bode well for the forthcoming winter - it seems more like the winters I had as a child are coming back, with cold winters and shorter summers.

Ceridwen - kitten pics will follow

ceridwen

GreyQueen

Just as well that you are warning peeps under 35 in rented accommodation about this. It is a form of age discrimination - so I wonder if anyone will issue a legal challenge against the Government about it?

I'm at the other end of the scale and reading that one of the proposals re funding people in care homes is to charge OAP's a higher rate of tax than other agegroups:eek:. Somebody didnt engage braincells before putting that idea into print - the Government would darn soon have an age discrimination claim brought against them if they went:
- at age 69 you pay the normal rate of tax
- but at age 70 you will pay a higher rate of tax on the exact same income.

I imagine Age Concern would probably be the ones bringing the age discrimination legal claim if they tried that and I know they would certainly have volunteers to be the "test cases".

So - I imagine that "bright idea (not)" will soon be dropped....ie as soon as someone utters the magic words "potential legal claim" followed by "European Court":rotfl::rotfl:

freudianslip

Is this government just bumbling along then? I was stupid enough to think they (because they were so forceful in their argument that it HAS to be THIS hard) that they knew exactly what they were doing. Are they still borrowing, increasing that deficit or are all the cuts beginning to 'pay it off'.

Do you think they thought it was going to be this hard for the have not's, do they even realise it's this hard for the have not's and do they even care as they 'have'.

No one can really answer my simple minded silly questions I know but the thought of it getting harder than this scares me. I know it will get harder but it just feels like those of us who work damn hard to keep a float are the ones who are being targetted. Where have all these quango job losses gone. I haven't heard dicky bird about that, it's all been council cuts and blows to basic living costs for us. Maybe it's just how I feel and not a reflecion of what is going on in the real world.

*throws her hands up and mutters "who knows"

grandma247

GQ you still have time to sow if you get your skates on. See here.

freudianslip I think they make it up as they go along. I remember the thatcher years and we lost our home because of it, crime was sky high because there were not enough police on foot. They were all in fancy cars driving to fast to see anything.

I can not understand (well except for the fact we have dishonest people who milk the system) why we cant have a system of a safety net so if a person is out of work but gets two weeks fully paid employment offered they could just have their job seekers downgraded for that two weeks instead of having to turn it down or loose their benefits and have to reclaim.

Apprenticeships in Western Australia work like this. They have a points system and so much money goes to the parents for the apprentices upkeep but if any pay is recieved they have to ring a number and say how much was earned. Then if over a specified amount the maintainance amount goes down in a percentage of how much above that base rate it is. The Apprentice is then expected to pay the parents the amount they will loose. This is apparently done on a weekly basis.

saveabobortwo

yes it would be interesting to know whether all these job losses etc have been worth it , and whether the deficit is being reduced. been observing in the news with the amount of job losses and dont see many new positions being created.not many jobs full stop. the government needs to drum up a bit more business or at the very least a distraction from the downward spiral which don t help ie for instance remember mrs thatcher bought in the youth training scheme and a very good enterprise scheme for new business the government definitely needs to do more because the uk is starting to wobble now aswell not good andi too am very very concerned about the future.

Mrs_Veg_Plot

It's another beautiful day here today. Will be venturing out in a summer skirt and top with sunglasses to prevent snow blindness frommy white legs.

Tied up the broad beans last night and found lots of little pods on them. Looking forward to a good harvest. Planted the purple sprouting brocauli out as well. Have decided to try growing main crop peas in a large pot by the back door. It used to have a lovely passion flower in it my late FIL gave me but the winter put paid to it last year.

Will be grocery shopping this morning followed by a pamper session with the girls at home this afternoon.

My frugal ways are rubbing off on the girls. I found the youngest watering the herbs with the water out of a re usable drinking bottle because she wanted to wash the bottle but did not want to waste the water.

Looking forward to a relaxing day with the girls before starting to work a 7 day stint tomorrow.

r.a.i.n.b.o.w

freudianslip wrote: »

Is this government just bumbling along then? I was stupid enough to think they (because they were so forceful in their argument that it HAS to be THIS hard) that they knew exactly what they were doing. Are they still borrowing, increasing that deficit or are all the cuts beginning to 'pay it off'.

Do you think they thought it was going to be this hard for the have not's, do they even realise it's this hard for the have not's and do they even care as they 'have'.

No one can really answer my simple minded silly questions I know but the thought of it getting harder than this scares me. I know it will get harder but it just feels like those of us who work damn hard to keep a float are the ones who are being targetted. Where have all these quango job losses gone. I haven't heard dicky bird about that, it's all been council cuts and blows to basic living costs for us. Maybe it's just how I feel and not a reflecion of what is going on in the real world.

*throws her hands up and mutters "who knows"

They're still borrowing. Don't know whether to be :mad: or - bit of both, I think.

I honestly believe they don't give a sheet about the have-nots. As long as there's free basic services (healthcare, education), and a few pennies to live on (because we all know that JSA is enough for a weekly shop, bills, debts, travel to job centre/interviews, clothing and interview clothing *rolls eyes*), then nobody's going to die of poverty (/sarcasm). They prove it with the hollow "we're all in this together" rubbish. While I believe in the CONCEPT of that statement, it's born out of the tories doing what they do best - squeezing the financial life out of everyone and everything and leaving Joe Public to pick up the real, ground-level cost.

Thatcher stripped society of "society", and now Cameron's pretending he wants to glue it all back together. Shyeah.

*steps off soapbox*