No T Words mentioned at all - a fresh start

[Deleted User]

ESTHER - it doesn't necessarily have to be expensive, I can't afford organic very often, but do the best I can on what I have as a budget. Mr.T does 500g of minced Turkey Breast for just over £3.00p, their value chicken breast fillets are two for £2.00p, if you have a Morri**ns near you their fresh meat is very reasonably priced too. We are lucky to have a really good Farm Shop with nice fresh veg and fruit within reach and I get my free range eggs there as well £3.00p for 12 large eggs so you have to duck and dive a little, but it doesn't have to break the bank.I have found that our Icel**d branch do an 850g pack of bacon pieces for £2.00p Hope this helps, Cheers Lyn.

[Deleted User]

I bought myself 4 new summer tops from BM and they`ll last me two years. I reckon that I am quite cheap to keep now that I am retired. . I stocked up on cool cotton trousers 3 years ago and still have 3 lovely cool kaftans, so that is me sorted. Holiday and fancy clothes are still pristine and hanging in a spare wardrobe, some stuff is just hardly used. I would love to be a capsule girl but I have too many hands and knees hobbies

I spent yesterday, trying to sort out space for my tomato plants and re-potting chillis etc. I can`t keep up with my plants and I`ll be very glad to get them all into final positions. I have already popped tomatoes into place in the 2 patio grows and in the larger polycarbonate greenhouse as I can easily protect them further with fleece. I have 3 (bargain) pop ups from lakeland, which I got excellent results from last year. They go over gro bags and the weather will be set fair for me to plant up in them next week. Tbh, it is the same every year re sowing seeds and onwards but I am almost on the last stage and I have spent today washing pots and trays for storage. Marigolds, calendulas etc are all 100% out in the weather now

Think I`ll do some batch cooking next week as it has been very handy having ready meals in the freezer. Lamb hotpots perhaps as I have a stack of dehydrated onions and potatoes. I have to make a concerted effort to release space in my freezer :cool:

Kaz2904

Kittie, I too have bought some new (to me) clothes today. I was lucky enough to get a monsoon dress for £6.50 and a noa noa dress for £3 from a sue Ryder shop. Later on I managed to get DD 3 pairs of long denim shorts (next) and 2 monsoon skirts all for £16.95. Very happy with our bargains there and we're set for our holiday now. Also got all 4 of us a pair of flip flops from the 99p shop. Apparently we'll need something like that for our feet to wear by the pools in the water parks when we go to Florida. Personally, I hate flip flops but I hate burnt feet more!

scottishminnie

Kaz and Kittie - I'm impressed with your bargains. I was having a fat day (I really mean fatter than usual) today so decided to treat myself to something for the house rather than clothes. I ventured into TK Maxx and picked up 2 beautiful baby blue Le Crueset dishes, one flan and one rectangular for £7.99 each. I'm very pleased with them although I didn't get the cutlery which was the purpose of the trip:o
They had lots of great buys although I'm ashamed to say I hate places where I have to rummage so it's not somewhere I visit often.
I also popped into Mr T for a newspaper and got some countrylife butter at £1 - Mr A had Lurpak spreadable for £2 (500g) last night which I think is the cheapest around and picked up 2.


Kittie - I told my mum about the weather website and she thinks we should take out an immediate subscription - she's quite excited about it so it's a definite.

I've been trying to work my way through the contents of both freezers however I keep picking up reduced items which make their way in. I must make a more concerted effort this week. I have lots of frozen double and whipping cream which should be ok for making butter so that will be one of my objectives before next weekend.

My other priority is working out when I will need to repot my tomato plants. They are now about five and a half inches tall and thriving but are in tiny pots - think they were three inch but could be wrong. I have a huge readers digest gardening book which mum bought me one Christmas so I'm off to pore over it - with a nice glass of wine since it's the weekend.

[Deleted User]

Oh surprise its raining AGAIN! I know we need the water, but I am getting really fed up with the stop - start of the rain, it never stays dry for long enough to get a job finished. Rant over, Have just been up to the polytunnel and pea plants put in last week are now flowering, we have put in a short row of both radishes and beetroot which are both showing sprouts, and I have just put in 3 rows of dill. We were going to sow some coriander in there too but I must have finished off the seeds last year so will have to get some more. The asparagus bed has little noses poking out all over, can't cut it this year but next year woohoo! DH currently watching the 20 - 20 cricket on the tv, the lurcher is under the desk again so something must have upset him - or maybe he's fed up with the weather too! Hope all is well with you and yours and you have more dry bits to your respective days that we do - Cheers Lyn.

[Deleted User]

I wish I had the space for a polytunnel, mrsLW how do you shade it?

When I was a young mum I used to try and do something `positive` every day, something that made me feel good rather than just cleaning. I think I still feel the same way, 30 years on and I still get a buzz if I have helped the feng shui in my life. Yesterday I got myself into the garage with a radio and I tackled all the gardening stuff on the shelves and floor at the far end. It helps that it has costco flooring down, the soft stuff that is like big jigsaw pieces, it is very comfortable for kneeling on. So now, the car boot is full, ready for the council tip and I found things I had been looking for and I got to hear the archers omnibus and tbh, I enjoyed my time doing it

It feels awfully like a wet autumn here, so I`ll have to find another feng shui project today or I`ll just procrastinate. Maybe it will be wool as I have a big stash of really good wool and using it will free up two good storage areas in leather pouffes (ebay in cream, I love them). Maybe I`ll start some wine off, either way it will only be one project today, as we have a week of wet days ahead

I am itching to get the climbing bean sticks into the ground but no hurry this year as the soil will be soft enough for ages. I put my tomatoes into final positions in the various greenhouses that I have, so 11 are now properly homed. I just pop fleece over at night just in case and they are looking green and healthy in their new soil. The old stuff was depleted and the green wasn`t as bright. I have lots of spares tucked away for outdoors but they will have to stay put for now

[Deleted User]

Morning KITTIE - I'm not sure what DH has in mind for shading, the polytunnel is situated in a very sunny corner with no tree shade on one side and the new Mini Barn Shed on the other, I think we may have to use netting but haven't a clue how we would install it. However, if the whole summer is similar to what we currently have it probably won't be needed will it? We hade the mistake of letting the lurcher up to the veg patch yesterday, he looked so sad standing by the gate, that was the first mistake, letting him into the poly was the second. It's lovely sieved soil to dig in apparently, and as we have three beds and two paths inside it they make the best race track for lurchers that are frisky. Still not too much that can't be repaired. Have a good day all. Lyn and Doc x.

[Deleted User]

KITTIE - a very soggy DH and his boy have now been dried off and given coffee! DH says we probably won't have to shade the polytunnel, but if we do apparently mesh netting is laid over the outside of the existing polythene, the polythene is opaque which will give some protection but alternatively you can grow a vine type plant ( climbing french beans etc) on the sunny side which shades the rest. We currently have peas growing up a netting support in the middle bed which will shade half the tunnel and the sunny side is set against the 4 foot fence which is the boundary. If you are interested 'First Polytunnel' have some interesting videos which give all the relevant information. DH says they are very informative! Lyn x.

[Deleted User]

I can`t help myself, when something needs doing which will give good results then I set too, no matter what. Forget the wool, I was reading ken muirs booklet about strawberries and realised that I should have re-potted last autumn`s plants in fresh compost. Most survived the winter fine but I was crossing my fingers re the puny ones. I bit the bullet and re-potted about 20 (in the rain), got rid of 3 and left the others, which are looking strong. I stroked the roots as he said and trimmed a little off the bottom and planted as straight down as possible.

It hasn`t stopped raining and I was getting concerned about waterlogged plants so I moved some of the troughs to drier places and put the marigold layers at the top of the tiered planters, that will stop a lot of the rain getting in. I realise that I am becoming a strawberry growing fanatic. I have 15 strong growers on the allotment, 17 in troughs and 39 in tiered planters, oh and 9 in buckets. Varieties are Lucy (doing very well in the rain, alice, mara de bois, gariguette, calypso and cirano. Most have been grown on from runners and I am expecting 3 good years from them

I am confessing to spending on a new strawberry system. Table top growing and KM has a very good offer for a system on his site. So I have bought one plus 20 more plants. It holds 2 tomato grobags above ground and each will take 10 plants and it comes with a net cover and a pvc cover. You use those same bags for 3 years and I bought them today at £2.65 each. My aim is to eventually just use that system not the troughs. It`ll be a lot less work

edit: the weather station is saying that pressure has dropped considerably so no end to the rain

Rosetta92

Kittie your strawberry growing is very impressive. I have tried them in the past, but been a bit neglectful so have mostly fed the birds and the slugs :mad: How many plants would I need for a household of two?

R