Sat/Sun 1st/2nd August - What Small DFW Things Will You Be Doing This Weekend?

1HANNAH

Foxgloves, the goody bag sounds fantastic! I did smile when mrs snotty didn't win the item


Where do you get soda crystals from? That's something I've never tried.

allydowd

1HANNAH wrote: »

Where do you get soda crystals from? That's something I've never tried.

Tesco. £1 for a kilo bag.

Morrison's. 99p for a kilo bag.

Look in the cleaning products section. Or buy from your local hardware store or pound shop.

allydowd

foxgloves wrote: »

Hannah - Have to agree that Ally gives very good advice on mending things. Our old split water butt, which was so leaky it couldn't even hold a cupful of water is full to the brim after Ally suggested a few things we could try mending it with. Mr f set to with the two of them we'd got in the depths of our shed & so far, the mend has held & it's saved us buying a new one. Result!

Pleased it's held. :j

allydowd

1HANNAH wrote: »

Re shopitize, not sure if you do it already bit its worth having an account each for double the freebies (so long as I you buy it on two receipts)

I might think about doing that...

allydowd

Freebie:

:grinheart Free cereal bar. (Link)

:grinheart Free Drynites sample and £1 off coupon. (Link)

:grinheart Free dog food sample. (Link)

:grinheart Free digital copy of Grow Your Own magazine. (Link)

DawnW

foxgloves wrote: »

Dawn - Glad you were able to use the chilli tip. I always do some of each. They freeze really well. I still have a big bag of green jalapeno chillies I grew last year, which I use regularly for pizza toppings, fajhitas, etc. I'm short on the long thin hot green chillies for curries though, so although I managed to over-winter 3 jalapeno plants (quite difficult here, as we are a lot further north than you & our house is really cold) & will get a small crop this year, I chose to concentrate on 'Heatwave' this year. If the first picking & all the flowers & baby fruits are anything to go by, it looks like a prolific cropper, which will be great, as I love stringing up the red ones to dry at the end of the summer. By the way, I did go ahead with my 10 courgette plants, so as to give me lots for pickling (made for first time last year & we both loved them but recipe takes a LOT of fruits). However, because they are planted in different places around our veggie garden, they are all at different stages at the moment, so I'm not inundated yet! Two plants have courgettes just ready for picking now, others maybe in a week's time & the furthest behind ones are just setting the first tiny fruits. I think we possibly have more growing space than you? We have quite a big garden, so our veggie plot is around 1/3 or so of an allotment plus the greenhouse.
f x

Yes, my garden is small I only have a 'L' shaped raised bed (though quite a big one -most of the ones I have seen are tiny), with minaret apple trees planted along the back and veggies forward of those. The chicken's house and run squares off the'L'

I also have another, narrower raised bed with raspberries, rhubarb, herbs and flowers, some big pots and hanging baskets (for strawberries mostly) and a couple of old fashioned fancy metal plant stands on the patio. There is a very small garden at the front too, but this is just gravelled with pots for flowers. I keep wondering if I ought to do something different with it, but my little grand daughter likes to dig around in the gravel, so I have left it for her to play for now, as we have no lawn of anything like that. I would love a large garden again, but see it as a challenge to grow as much food as I can in the space available, and it really is surprising how much is possible

My chilli plants live in the glass box at the back of the house (if it were posher it would be called a conservatory I guess :rotfl:) and that is unheated.

1HANNAH

allydowd wrote: »

Tesco. £1 for a kilo bag.

Morrison's. 99p for a kilo bag.

Look in the cleaning products section. Or buy from your local hardware store or pound shop.

Thanks Ally, I've added it onto my Mr T delivery for the morning and I've requested the free cereal bar too

foxgloves

DawnW - Wow! You are very productive in fruit & veg for a small space. Impressive! Our garden is quite large - long & narrow, as often is the case with a 1930s house. It's only around 30' wide, but makes up for this by being about 130' long. I've got a slabbed courtyard at the house end, then curvy herbaceous borders, lawn & trees (including a pear tree) in the middle bit, then the remaining 1/3 of garden is devoted to veggie growing (plus a temperamental greengage & big old apple tree) & that includes an unheated greenhouse. The fruit trees were here when we moved in. I think it's possible to grow an amazing amount of produce in small spaces. I remember reading an article a couple of years ago about the square foot bed system.....it worked on quite a modest bed divvied up into small squares but still capable of growing a worthwhile amount of food because of the way squares were re-used as the seasons progressed & an optimum number of plants grown in each one. It was really clever.
I envy you your chickens. I'd love to have some, & I do have the space, but we don't really have anyone nearby whom we could ask to come & tend them while we're away, so it's a project we've had to put on hold for now.
f x

princess_pea

Hi Everyone


So far this weekend:
- LSD today and NSD tomorrow - needed to get some wrapping paper for OH birthday presents today
- Cleaned bathroom and pushed hoover around
- All meals from stores - we're having a stir fry weekend and padding out a small amount of chicken with lots of veggies
- FPL and surveys ongoing
- WILL hoover out the car tomorrow after I drop poochy back with my ex - don't want to take her back
- Updated spending diary and checked bank. Removed receipts from wallet and put them in the pot I keep receipts in. Also cleared out expired vouchers so just have one for double points on petrol which I'll use at the end of next week to fill the car up before the 250 mile drive to see my parents!


I resisted the urge to visit the marketing suite of a housing development just up the road from where I live. It opened today and although the houses aren't built yet they've started selling them! There is no way I can save a deposit in time so I decided not to torture myself and waste my time. Although they're doing the 5% deposit deal starting prices are quite expensive here in the South West. They're not offering shared ownership either, so I've decided to get this debt cleared and save up something resembling a deposit before I get my hopes up of owning my own home one day.


Think that's it from me - I'm off to do some surveys before bed. Night all

Bobarella

Princess - have you looked into everything they are offering to assist buyers? Some new builds come with incentives like no stamp duty or no deposit if you sign up before a certain time. Just wondering out loud really.
I don't know your area but the market in mine has certainly stalled from the peak of last year. Ridiculous 3 bed prices (up to £999,000) for a small 3 bed with very little land have been sat on the market for months thank goodness. I think the bubble caused by lack of supply has been burst.


Morning from a bleary eyed bob
I suppose I'm going to have to get used to this as standard but it's hard when you are used to certain ways. Having come home from their trip with a cold my son was up 3 times last night. Firstly, he said he had an insect bite and would I put some cream on it. So I did. Then he was up again 5 mins later because of his cold. So I gave him a spoon of paracetamol and put ready rub all over his chest and pillows. Gave him a pillow that wraps around him shaped like an elephant and he was drifting off when I left. The cat was on his bed at that point. I'd no sooner started to go to sleep when he was crying so I went back in to find the damn cat had bitten him on the hand. That cat really isn't a good one around humans. He can go weeks without misbehaving and then nip someone if they try and stroke him when he's not in the mood. So I settled him again then used the door jam to wedge the bedroom door shut in case the grumpy beast returned.

Ironically I am now up and no one else is!

Oh well. I got to see the sight of a fox peering in at our back door this morning as I made coffee in the kitchen.

Will be back later with some actual DFW chat

Bob