Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Humdinger1 & Honeysucklelou - My Mum used to say 'gannets' too. I use it quite a lot, especially when I have to feed teenage nephews!
Humdinger1  - We were saying exactly the same thing today re being truly thankful to have had our LBM early enough to build up an emergency find. These are very strange times we're living through. There will be learning points from all of this for all who wish to learn. I have already learned that I have obviously spent a lifetime using approx double the amount of loo roll necessary (I'm aware this is bordering on being tmi!) so have been spending twice as much on it as I should have been.....over a few decades, that's a lot of cashola........not to mention trees. Smacked hand. Will not go back to wasting.
F x

foxgloves

Northensoulsouthernlife - Am so sorry to hear about your partner. I agree with Baileysbabe that it would be a lovely thing for your little daughter & you to learn to cook together. Obviously you can be getting a bit of a head start for now. She will very soon be able to enjoy stuffing a wet tissue into an empty eggshell, sprinkling on some cress seed, drawing on a funny face & waiting for hair to grow. Then the important thing will be snipping it & showing her how it goes in an egg sandwich!
F x

foxgloves

Oh well I was going to put today's diary post on, but I think I will have something to eat first. There have been some good points about today, but I have also gone off on one BIG TIME three times this morning (all the same incident) & have pulled some muscles quite badly so that I am moving around like Quasimodo this evening. I do hope my 3 rants at Mr F out in the garden didn't provide free entertainment for anyone on our side of the street who might be self-isolating. I know I can be a proper drama queen, but honestly this morning's incident would have tried the patience of the Patron Saint of Very Patient Things.
Might pop back later........
F x

Honeysucklelou2

Another good gardening book is Delia’s Kitchen Garden by Delia  Smith.  It’s a month by month guide on what  to sow and harvest and has some handy recipes in as well.

foxgloves

Yes, I think I borrowed that one from the library when it first came out. I must say I do love going down to the veggie garden in the summer, seeing what is ready for picking. It really does provide that connection with the seasons. 
F x

PurpleFairy26

I've found the book you mentioned for less than £3 second hand so I think I'm going to treat myself to it from personal spends. I'm thinking of turning our front garden in to a big veg bed in the short term. So it would help with that and we always grow some things anyway. The smalls are keen to grow things this year too, they even bought some seeds out of their pocket money as they were so keen for them so having a book would be helpful. Thanks for the tip. 

foxgloves

Morning Purps,
That sounds like a bargain to me.  I have been gardening since I was 8 or 9, but still refer to it often, especially for its very clear 'how to' advice & all the helpful photos.
Actually, when I bought my copy many years ago (mid-1990s), a strange little thing happened which I'll tell you about. I've got a bit of time today because I wrenched my shoulder so badly yesterday that I am finding anything other than very cautious limited movements very painful today, which is going to mean lots of leisure time.
Anyway, I digress. Back when I bought the 'Organic Gardening' book, I was still very spendy. I can remember being in the city centre (a weekly event if not twice-weekly) & looking at gardening books & thinking 'Oooh I want this' but there was absolutely no way I could afford it. As I've said many times, I was into my overdraft from just after mid-month & lived with constant trepidation that my cards would be stopped at the till or cashpoint. But I don't call this the Spendy Decades for nothing. Of course I bought it. I felt bad all the way home that I had spent the money & was really beating myself up by the time I got home & was unlocking the back door. As I did that, I happened to look down the garden, for which I had so many plans & I thought 'I'll just go & pick that nasty piece of litter up from under the conifers". There had been recent gales & a lot of stuff had blown around. When I got to it, I was absolutely astounded to discover that it was a ten pound note!! It was rather damp, but perfectly intact. How was that for luck?! I felt better instantly that I'd effectively recovered over half the cost of my new gardening book! Then later that evening, I won £10 on the national lottery! Now how is that for the Universe concurring that I should definitely have had that book? I should add that nothing similar ever happened with any of my other spendy purchases, but I have used this book to learn about growing food & have grown at least some food crops each year ever since, especially since moving to our current home which has a 130 foot garden. 
Anyway, PurpleFairy, I do hope you find it as useful as I have & it's lovely that your children want to get involved with growing things. 
F x

Humdinger1

That was definitely a resounding yes from the universe, Foxgloves! And spookily, the exact amount! Humdinger x

foxgloves

So, back to yesterday's garden drama queen saga.........Mr F & I had both planned outdoor tasks. He was chopping up the last of the two felled trees for the council green waste bin & I got on with scrubbing the outside of the greenhouse. I haven't done this properly since 2016, as during the two times of year I would generally do it, I was completely overwhelmed with events with very sick & dying parents. So the glass was very green with algae & lack of light isn't helpful for seedlings. Felt this was a positive thing to do - I am the sort of person who really needs to keep busy during a national emergency - didn't need to buy any fancy products - my dilute solution of 'St*drops' in its recycled spray bottle & some cloths made from old cut-up towels was really fetching off the gunk brilliantly. Then it all went wrong........
I asked Mr F if we still owned a long-handled window cleaning squeedgie jobber. He said we did, & as he'd already finished his task, fetched it & started cleaning the greenhouse roof. That was lovely of him. He is, however, built like a brick privy & doesn't know his own strength. On his fourth roof panel, he pressed too hard & smashed a pane of glass. I would normally have just been annoyed about this, but because I'm sure non-essential businesses will be shut, I couldn't see I'd be able to get a replacement piece of glass & it is too cold for little seedlings & tropical-type veg to be in there with a whole pane missing. So I went off on one.....#1.
Then I thought I remembered seeing a couple of spare panes of glass in the shed. I asked Mr F if we still had them. He said no, he hadn't seen any recently. I felt sure we still had a couple, so went to look & found two, very carefully stored behind some other equipment. I cheered up & retrieved them, as we have plenty of glass fixing clips & would be able to get on with the job straight away. And would you believe it? BOTH of those stored panes were broken! So that was me going off on one #2. Basically along the lines of "Why the Flying F**k would anybody in their right mind keep 2 sheets of broken glass??" His calm response that they "might have come in useful" did nothing to calm me down. Well, we inspected both of them, on the grounds that something might be better than sweet b*gger all on the repairs front & one of them wasn't too bad. Yes, it was broken, but not too badly, more of a thin crescent of glass nibbled out of one edge. We decided we'd be able to use it as a temporary repair until we could buy a new pane. Calming down at this point.........
So he fetches the ladder & starts climbing it. Only it was half on the lawn half on a strip earth & was at a dangerously precarious angle. Mr F just about has kittens if I so much as mention I'm thinking of going up the ladder any time during the current year, yet he was showing scant regard for his own safety despite the fact that he needs surgery (which almost certainly isn't going to happen until the Virus is well under control/vanquished). So I'm afraid his refusal to move the ladder to a safer position & his looking at me as though I was some kind of mad woman precipitated me Going Off On One #3 !! "I can't believe you'd be so stupid as to climb up a ladder leaning at a 45 degree angle, which is wobbling like crazy WHILE CARRYING A LARGE SHEET OF GLASS"!! His remark that it wasn't leaning as far as 45 degrees did not improve the situation as I said I didn't give two you know whats if he wanted to go & fetch the youn-know-wotting spirit level, he wasn't going up that bleep ladder while I was there to stop him. So he got off & moved it to a safer space. 
The piece of glass fitted quite well - it was the right size - & left only a small gap, so I was pleased we'd gone ahead with it & thanked him for helping me & that I was only cross about the ladder because his safety is important to me, as mine is to him.
Calming down nicely......
Then he gave the replacement pane a final firm press into position......& it cracked......right across.
And that was #4.
I hadn't got the energy for anything after that. It had been raining for the last hour & we were both soaked. We decided to be friends & go in for a nice hot bath & change of clothes. So we did that, then made some lunch & sat down & ate it together......then we decided to get on with things, so stood up simultaneously....which was when we realised that Mr F had hurt his dodgy back muscle while doing all the bending sorting out the last bits of tree & I'd seriously pulled a group of muscles between my neck & shoulder blade. I was in pain for the rest of the day & still am. Even Co-codamol doesn't really have much impact. So there you are. Ever wished you'd just both stayed inside?
Off to crank up coffee machine.
F xx

Baileys_Babe

Oh @foxgloves what a sorry tale and at the end of it you both sustained  injurys. Would it be possible to block the hole with  something weatherproof, even if the light can't penetrate at least your vulnerable plants would be protected?