Get a grip woman!

beanielou

Good news on the HRT.

Suffolk_lass

Ooh @trix-a-belle, I really like the Caroline Foley books on allotments - although they are predicated on that space, the principles (what needs full sun, succession and so on) is all valid in any space. There's also lots online about companion planting and natural controls of pests, spaces for natural predators and so on. Actually, last Friday's Gardener's World is worth a (re)watch as it was all about wildlife in gardens.

Here, like you @foxgloves,  my garden tomatoes have virtually stopped and the sungold have suddenly started producing minute fruits. The greenhouse plants are still belting away and I am going to need to prepare more this week. Two full punnets of cherry tomatoes and one of those half kilo strawberry flat punnets of bigger fruits are all awaiting processing. I still have these on the windowsill in the kitchen and they ripen fully from the point where I pick them (hopefully before they get nibbled!).

I have a £10.50 off £70 voucher for Sains after buying vegetable and olive oils, and some fresh fruit and cream on Friday. DH needs a few T-Shirts to replace the ones he has got (bike) grease and paint all over, he then put them in the wash without telling me  "setting" the stains, so these would be a good top up. The Sains ones are about £4 each. He can carry on with the old ones in the garage and workshop but not when we go out! I might cut them up to replenish his pile of mop-up and wipe-down rags, just to make sure!

Back to the £70, I could go for one more olive oil, although I am sure they used to be 3l and are now 2l. I decanted half immediately I got home as I had actually run out of blended olive oils (as opposed to EV for dressings and toppings, of which I have one in use and a spare large Italian one we brought home and I packed away and forgot about, until recently re-discovered). Sugar is also really useful and their OB granulated is cane sugar, which metabolises faster than the more processed beet sugar grown in UK (better for bees and IMHO, better for humans too

foxgloves

For some reason, @Suffolk_lass, our outdoor tomatoes now seem to be ripening quicker than the greenhouse ones, at least the 'Ferline' variety ones are. 
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trix-a-belle

Ooh thank you for the recommendation i'll look that up, I think my main problem will be I want to do more than I have space for (2x ~1mx2m, 4x ~65cm diameter round pipes & a little space around the bottoms which will probably will be used for my garlics)

Does DH have any overalls for working on the bike & general outdoor/garage/mucky jobs? My dad swears by his & has a couple of pairs on rotation between 'in use', 'in soak' & 'wash & dry', maybe a C word present ~£20 from screwfix/toolstation for cotton/polyester mix ones which might save the equivalent value or more in tshirts

Suffolk_lass

trix-a-belle said:

Does DH have any overalls for working on the bike & general outdoor/garage/mucky jobs? My dad swears by his & has a couple of pairs on rotation between 'in use', 'in soak' & 'wash & dry', maybe a C word present ~£20 from screwfix/toolstation for cotton/polyester mix ones which might save the equivalent value or more in tshirts

Yes, he has overalls and a lab coat hanging in the cart lodge where the bikes are stored (its' bays are too narrow for even the Jazz). Our brains just work differently. Also he is always very hot so unless it is really cold he lives in t-shirts (and sleeps year-round on top of the duvet)

Suffolk_lass

Oh yes, the new, unused FF was collected yesterday. Two hours later the store phoned and asked for my card details so they could refund the money - you could have knocked me down with a feather at another example of excellent customer service. Our local euronics store; Stellison's. 

We discovered the crack from the adjacent window has grown significantly, indicating that heave from the big too-close cherry tree is worse than we thought. It is coming out the last week in October. We may yet have to put through an insurance claim as several other cracks have appeared and some that were filled when it was painted in June have reappeared.

Less happily, the holly tree will also now need to be pruned after a farm contractor in a tractor with a hedging tool tore off one overhanging branch and was about to tackle a second when I went out (told DH to stay there as he wouldn't punch me) and remonstrated with him. He apologised and agreed I was right. The tree is clearly in the garden and not a hedge. I might yet threaten to bill the farmer for the making-good pruning. It is clearly not hedge. We clearly maintain the hedge. If the overhang is a problem he should ask us to prune it. He has no right to interfere with it. Honestly, that farmer; a bigger t****r you really would be hard pressed to find.

foxgloves

We also have a tree problem atm, @Suffolk_lass. I've asked someone to come & look at it but I think it will have to come out. 1930s, I think, from when the house was built. Sad, but I can't see a way round it.
Hey, guess what I'm doing today. Clue: It involves jars & tomatoes! If I don't manage to post on my diary today, it'll be because I'm still knee-deep in the things or have retired to the shed with a box over my head. Only planning to do a few jars to practise, but if it works for me, I'll step up production next year. Thanks for your encouragement......right, I'm going to get on it without further ado!
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P.S A dear little bungalow for sale in Suffolk atm in the area we hope to live, but I've had to force my nose out of the details as it's several years too early for us to make the move. I'll concentrate on 🍅🍅🍅 instead!
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Suffolk_lass

We also thought our move to Suffolk was several years earlier than we had envisaged but, at the time, back in 2004 (!) I said I would take the commuting hit and DH looked for a (change of career) teaching post at this end. We are positioned relatively close to trunk roads and that meant within thirty minutes drive there were about 10 high schools, giving him plenty of options. When you are a high school teacher you may not want to see past and present students too often when you are slouching about in civvies, so teaching and living in close proximity was something we wanted to avoid. I suppose I am saying it might not be too early, if it is the right place in the right place.

We are going to take a few days away in the campervan from today so I need to get going shortly. No preparation at all yet. Last night DS came over and I basically had to lock myself away for my study group session so missed him. He and DH moved the old FF back in and DH meticulously levelled it. DH had spent the day before, after the new one was collected, filling the cracks. He sanded and wiped it all down and then painted it yesterday morning so it was all fresh and looking undamaged when the FF went back in.

I popped all the shelves back in last night and turned it on this morning. The fridge will get refilled later, I can already feel it has cooled. The Freezer will stay empty until we get back from our little sojourn, and I plan to defrost each of the other freezers in turn and vacuum their coils so they are all working as well as they can.

I gifted DS a new Duvet cover (white) from JL that I bought to tip over my £55 voucher total. It was just £8 and when I washed it (with the stripey one I bought for the campervan 2nd duvet) they both washed well (cold, minimal detergent, just to get rid of that slightly starchy quality). I think, combined with the excellent customer service over my browsing FF JL are back up there for me.

I have decided to let the £10.50 off £70 Sains voucher go. Basically no time left. Right, a bit of study group admin needed now!

beanielou

Enjoy your wee break 

Karmacat

Yep, have a lovely time, you deserve a break, you do so much - and a lot of it is charity work.