Light the fire...

savingholmes

Your garden sounds lovely - I am a great believer in companion planting. In one of my first gardens I made a bit of a compost heap - added newspapers then sowed beans and nasturtium directly on top  and then spread grow bag soil over the top of that. I am a great believer in 'no-dig' solutions too. In an ideal world I would have a smallholding so this  year is a great time to get started in veg growing (we already grow fruit).

woodfired

Oooh thats interesting SH, funnily enough, we have a few compost heaps round the back of the garage.  A few are rotten and collapsing and we are planning to replace them but I may be able to plant some veg in the remaining ones.  I hadn't thought of that! Thank you! I do think we are going to go down the companion planting route, eventually we will get some extra 'proper' beds put in but for now we will try that. Thanks again.

savingholmes

Glad the suggestion helped. I believe its called a hot bed when you do that. Also beans are great for fixing nitrogen in the soil so that will help too with future planting.

woodfired

If the damn things ever sprout SH!   Planted several from different old packets and no success yet.  Have found a seed website promising quick delivery so have ordered 7 packs of veg seeds.  Hopefully will be here soon so we can get them going.  

woodfired

We are having a very lazy day today after a busy week.  I am sat by the fire and have been for most of the day!  I have moved only to sort out lunch, water the plants in the greenhouse and get a tea loaf going, the later is now in the oven after soaking the fruit this morning.  Looking forward to a buttered slice later with a cup of tea.  Yum.  It does taste so much better when a few days old but never lasts long enough to experience that! 

In a minute I may go and make a dough for some naans for homemade kebabs for dinner, using up leftover chicken from last night.  Or I may not bother and we could have pizzas from the freezer?!  It really is one of those days!

In money news, still looking OK, did a huge supermarket shop the other day (£270!!) but I hadn't been for 5 weeks and they are basics including spices and condiments that will hopefully last me almost as long again.  I did also get lots of fresh treats that we have been doing without so I am carefully eeking them out whilst making sure they are used within date so as not to waste anything.  It has been nice to have a fridge full of goodies once more and some easier meals off the back of them but I am keeping away from supermarkets as much as possible so will be back to what I can get from our own little shop by next week.  The cat was happy too, by the way, he loves T£sco own brand food and is enjoying the 5 boxes I picked up!

savingholmes

The seeds can take 14-21 days to sprout - give them time. Yay to a big shop - and then not having to go again. So pleased for you that your shop is still going well. 

woodfired

Garage News!
Morning all.  Yet another gorgeous sunny morning with the birds singing outside.  We are getting used to our new normality and making the most of it.  DH has been sorting out the garage this week.

When we moved in the garage was sub-divided into lots of little dark rooms, some with bits of old kitchen fitted but generally an unusable, messy space.  We ordered a skip and have taken down all the dividing walls and stripped out all the kitchen units and other shelving units.  We were left with a huge garage, approx 30ft long and 18ft wide.  We have split that into two rooms, both around 15x18 using a stud wall that DH put up.  We now have a full width room that the big garage door opens into that DH has cleverly repurposed some of the old kitchen units and worktops along with some shelving and I have painted it all one colour (a blue-grey) to unify it.  We have painted the walls white and the floor, once it has had some levelling compound put down, will be painted grey.  It still needs one large cupboard that DH will make this week for golf clubs, lawnmower and strimmer etc. but we are almost finished and it looks lovely.  I wanted it to look really tidy and smart as we usually have the door open when we are at home as DH is backwards and forwards for tools and building materials and it looked so messy before!  I love it now. This is what lockdown has reduced me to, a woman excited by a tidy garage

The second room, which sits behind the main garage area, is going to be DH's man cave.  He is going to install some french windows onto the garden, a new window and board it all out ready for plastering then it will be a games room with a snooker table, a woodburner, TV and a darts board. I'm keeping out of that project!

Elsewhere, some of the seeds have germinated, others I am still waiting for.  I have planted out more of my baby cabbages and I am potting on the courgettes each week as they grow like tryffids.  Our tadpoles are eating lots of fish food and growing like mad, the children love feeding and watching them.  The newts in the other pond are laying eggs and birds are nesting in the nest boxes all around the garden.  

We had a zoom quiz with a few friends last night which was a lot of fun and lovely to catch up with them on a Saturday night over a few drinks. 

Today will be more pottering in the garden & garage, I'm saving cleaning the house for when the weather turns, which I believe is expected fairly soon.  We could do with some rain but I will miss the lovely sunshine and having the doors and windows all open.  Enjoy Sunday everyone.x

Fortune_Smiles

It all sounds wonderful Woodfired - I knew you wouldn't regret the move.  We've been having video calls with the family too.  It's so nice to 'see' faces.

Like you, I'm saving indoor chores for when the weather changes which I think will be this afternoon for us.

Fortune x

savingholmes

The shed sounds awesome. My DH would love something like that. He has what should be the dining room currently as a study though so he's doing okay. We are currently trying to empty the shed a little so he can do some woodworking. The kids also want to do that. 

woodfired

Morning All.

Another fabulous morning.  I've just been out to the greenhouse with a coffee to check on progress, does anyone else do that first thing in a morning?  I love it, especially on a beautiful spring morning like this. 
The peas are starting to come up and the  tomato seedlings I thinned yesterday look like they've all survived even though some were tiny.  DS and I have been using 2ltr plastic milk cartons with the top chopped off for some of the tomatoes and they look they will have plenty of room in those for a while.  That's good because I'm running out of larger pots (I didn't used to sow so much inside or indoor plants as we didn't have a greenhouse) so reusing household waste is a good help.

In less happy news, two cabbages I planted out yesterday have been savaged by slugs.   I need to save the eggshells from breakfast this morning and sprinkle them around the other plants.

In money news, I couldn't resist a small OP of £124 to round down our balance.  May do another on Monday once I have the updated balance after the regular payment has shown. I love OPing!

I transferred £11k savings into P bonds last week then DH bought a car .  Our current car is leased through the business but since i stopped teaching it has barely done 3000 miles (in 22 months) so it does not make sense to pay for a lease.  It is due to be returned early summer so we did need a car.....

I think I am going to borrow the cash from the business account then bring back some of the savings at a later date.

Right, off to do my order for the shop.  Happy Sunday!