Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

GreyQueen

meritaten wrote: »

I second looking for old garden tools at boot sales - the ones my dad 'rescued' from the shed were probably brand new in 1910 (the year the house was built) and although dad passed away many years ago - MY sons still use those garden tools on mums garden. they will probably last another 100 or so years!

Brilliant. A metal detectorist would have a field day on my allotment as each forkful of soil turns up at least one rusty nail, and I have been removing them on sight for years. I think they grow when my back is turned. Have harvested over a kilo of nails in the last 3 months.

If rummaging in old sheds turns up otherwise good tools which have damaged or worm-eaten wooden handles, it's worthwhile re-hafting them. Handles are easily bought in hardware stores and, if the metal part of the tool is of a superior quality, it's worth preserving. Both here and in the US, I've heard gardeners say the old stuff is far better quality than the new.

If a damaged handle can't be extracted from the metal part, the traditional work around was to shove it in a bonfire. You'd want to have only the affected bit in the fire and for the minimum amount of time so as not to damage the temper of the steel, but it's do-able

I have the hand-sickle belonging to one of my grandads who died in 1967, and some other bits and bobs which predate WW2. I get the warm-and-fuzzies using them plus they do the job very well. I also use a battered 1950s shopping basket fished out of a rubbish pile when harvesting stuff around the garden, much cheaper than trugs, although I do regret passing on one of those wire-netting style trugs at a charity shop a few years ago, it wasn't expensive and I should have bought it, sigh.

villagelife

Been lurking on this thread for a while and thought I would post to try and motivate myself more.

Yesterday I painted my kitchen walls with the paint my DH bought about 18 months ago to do it! The ceiling needs doing but I've got to try and find some white paint for it.

I repaired a jumper and t-shirt the holes were small so could be repaired easily and look good and can still be worn for going out in rather than relegated to garden/decorating clothes.

Last year we managed to buy about half an acre of land behind our house. Last year we mainly tried to clear as much as possible and put up a fence and planted hedges. We have also put in fruit trees and some fruit bushes. Planted some seeds a couple of weeks ago and am busy digging vegetable beds. I suffer from a bad back so digging can be slow work as can only do it in short bursts.

vhalla1478

Morning All,

What a glorious day here; hope it is near you. All your lovely suggestions for my garden have really got the ideas germinating and buzzing around in my head and I'm raring to go! Unfortunately the plant pots I threw away were the horrible, splitting (and stinking, because they had stagnant water in them) plastic variety. I have quite a few hectically coloured pots which I bought for my last but one garden where I had a bit of an YSL theme; I don't like them here as 'proper' plant pots would be more appropriate but if I can bring myself to 'accidentally' break them, I'll now know what to use them for. Or, of course, I could just fill them so profusely that you couldn't see their colours, which would be a bit more make do and mend!

Hopefully my DB is coming for the weekend and he has a wonderful garden in Norfolk so I can also talk to him about this one; the thing is, I want him to have a really relaxing weekend as the house problem in Krumlov is not resolved yet and he has to go back again next week; I'll play that one by ear if he does manage to get here tomorrow night, fingers crossed.

I don't know if any of you remember my saying that I thought this thread would make a wonderful series/play/film along the lines of the Charing Cross Road film - well I've now got an idea for how it would start, with you of course, Cheerfulness as you began this thread. I'm going to do a bit of research online and you never know it might be developed further if no one objects, of course. Next year we'll all be millionaires!

Speak later and have a good day.

Viv xx

silvasava

Vhalla - come on - be MS & MMM - buy a small sample pot of emulsion or the paint that goes on outside walls (Sandtex) & repaint the pots! I've been zhushing up (technical term) my pots for year like this - every few years I have an urge to change the colours - at the moment they are all dark green but a few years ago they were bright blue!

If your 'Charing Cross' idea gets off the ground Cheerfulness needs top billing!

vhalla1478

Indeed she does, silvasava. I can see I'm going to have to wield the paint brush along with flexing my typing fingers! I've found a site where you can submit your ideas in a couple of sentences; TV but we could be as long-running as Coronation Street, but much nicer, of course.

Viv xx

ModestyB

Hi all, I've not posted on here before but I've enjoyed reading your posts, tips and recipes. Thank you all. I just saw this and thought some of you might be interested.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/promotions/great-british-sewing-bee/11465541/sewing-bee.html

Snorkypants

Hi All,


I've been following the thread and have done some mending etc but haven't been posting. Anyway I read this blog post about visible mending and thought you might find it interesting. So far, I've always tried to keep my mending as subtle as possible....


http://www.kestrelmakes.com/2015/03/learning-about-darning.html

ModestyB

Hi again, reading about items found in gardens reminded me of when a friend moved from her flat to a house with a garden. She and her dad started cleaning it up only to find a large settee buried in it! :eek:
I have no idea how the previous tenants managed it, surely it would have been much easier to take it to the tip, recycle it or have it taken by the council. It was such a shock to find it. :eek:

cheerfulness4

What interesting links, thank you.

Top billing, me? Oooh no. I'm more of a blend into the background sort of girl.

And before I forget, Viv, don't forget good gardening gloves or your hands will be a mess. Every winter I grow my nails and get them in good condition and then spring hits! Give it two weeks in the garden weeding and pruning and my nails are ruined and my hands rough, not to mention the colour of my finger tips even after washing. :eek:
I also agree with Silva about the secateurs. Always have a pair in my pinny pocket when I'm gardening along with my cordless phone. I'm not quick on my feet and everyone and their aunt phones the very second I get out in the garden.

DH loved the 'cheats' fish pie that I made for dinner today thank goodness. That's virtually the end of my wet fish in the freezer now. I've a pk of 2 plaice fillets and that's it. Scary!

Villagelife, hi. I also have paint that has been waiting far too long to go on the walls. I'm pretty dependent on the male folk in the house to deal with that but I love a little bit of painting.
I've decided that my area will now be revamping the furniture pieces that have been waiting years.
I'm going to start small on a little coffee table that holds the printer to begin with. The shabby chic thread advised me to start small. I'll leave the dresser until last then, I guess.

Will catch up with my spends now I've fished by receipts from DH's wallet. I forgot my purse. Never done that. I'm so careful normally.

cheerfulness4

ModestyB wrote: »

Hi again, reading about items found in gardens reminded me of when a friend moved from her flat to a house with a garden. She and her dad started cleaning it up only to find a large settee buried in it! :eek:
I have no idea how the previous tenants managed it, surely it would have been much easier to take it to the tip, recycle it or have it taken by the council. It was such a shock to find it. :eek:

We dug up a fridge, a bike and a single bed frame in one of our gardens. We just thought we were removing a rather ugly huge rockery but the neighbours told us that when the previous owners put the house on the market they mounded up the soil left from a pond they'd dug over all their rubbish.