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

claudiac_2

Savea bob - Join the club! I am trying to get into the whole grow your own thing, but I am my own worst enemy. There is never enough time in the day for me. I did manage to grow potatoes last year and have a few in the ground this time instead of bags, cos I thought the 'crop' was not very good from the bags. I got a few small pots with tomatoes in last week, put them on the sunniest sill, water each day, but they just look like spindly stems with a few leafs! What do I do with them now? Feed them? Not sure if I should be moving them into a bigger pot, or putting them outside - haven't got a greenhouse so will they survive? Any advice will be much appreciated. (Mardartha, are you there?) I am in central Scotland btw.

saveabobortwo

I grew potatoes in gigantic pots these didnt do well although had big plants on them only produced very tiny potatoes. the slugs ate all my strawberries. i had one cherry on my tree a bird ate that . my tomatoes grew ever so big but would nt go red i have one windowsill thats at the back door to save waste i picked them green they didnt ripen so i made a green tomatoe chutney with them . the only thing that grew was a little bean stalk which grew along the fence. that was it and apart from one wonky swede i grew in a hanging basket it was quite wonky but i was detemined to eat it . last year i collected manure for the plants watered them regularly fed them and talked to them but i felt i didnt get enough from the effort i put in.

modern_millie_2

Saveabob, not everybody grows stuff, don't panic. Do you have a freezer? If so, maybe think about stocking up now with ready frozen veg..Frozen is quite reasonable atm and likely to go up if harvests are poor. I bought frozen beans and spinach today, mixed veg last week, all less than a pound for a big bag, because our veg is always hit and miss (more miss than hit). You will find a way. Just think what you did with yor value shop.

V. interested to hear people's views and general support for wind turbines - makes me feel v. encouraged.

Off to get DD from her bus now - will catch up later.

saveabobortwo

:)i do have a good size freezer so im going to do that i think im a crap gardener:rotfl:so maybe give that a miss

ifonlyitwaseasier

Sava & Freudian - it doesn't matter if the lease says you can't change provider as thats an unenforcable term, if you are paying the bill you can use whichever supplier you like. when you leave you just tell them who it's with.

ginnyknit

Well Mardatha those toms are wonderous! all I have is flowers but flowers mean fruit! My Ds has a trough in the backyard 18'' by 4 foot and I have crammed it full of veg and flowers plus 2 big (free)plantpots of spring onions and carrots. Next Im doing her lettuce in milk bottles. Luckily her yard is gravel so there are no slugs, lucky thing, I sometimes think I am only here to grow slug food :mad:. Can't afford any more compost so they will be getting leaf compost. I have flowers on my pumpkin and cucumbers etc but they are only just budding.

Have decided to really stock up on loo paper as you will always need that won't you. Also saved all the inners in case we end up with no power and I can cook on the bar-b-que, using the inners as fire lighters.

freudianslip

ifonlyitwaseasier wrote: »

Sava & Freudian - it doesn't matter if the lease says you can't change provider as thats an unenforcable term, if you are paying the bill you can use whichever supplier you like. when you leave you just tell them who it's with.

really? my landlord said that because he gets his boiler breakdown with BG I have to stay with them as a customer. I would love to change suppliers so this is music to my ears. Thanks for that

[Deleted User]

mardatha wrote: »

Hi Saveabob. Last year on here we all posted pages & pages of what we were growing and trying and buying and planting. But I bet by the end of the season most folk were like me - very much hit or miss. But it keeps your mind occupied, trying to fight back. Is better than being like my OH, sitting moaning & depressed and moody all the time. It makes you feel that you can fight back and not let life get you down. x

Nail on head. Its the difference between being positive or being negative

saveabobortwo

will keep this in mind i think its ridiculous that we cannot choose who supplies our gas especially now their charges are so expensive. your tomatoes look smashing Madartha i do think i tried to grow everything last year and then just got irritated when nothing worked out i shall try again but maybe started with 1 or two veg concentrate on them i really thought last year with what i tried planting id have loads of produce so was very disappointed with the result .

ifonlyitwaseasier

Breakdown cover doesn't matter as he pays seperately for that, you can't be forced to stay with a supplier if you pay the bills.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/boiler-insurance