Put away your purse & become debt-averse

DawnW

Our garlic isn't great this year. Pulled it out the other day. Last year's was fab, but the bulbs are small this year. No matter, we will still use them. We don't have the leaf miner, but do get troubled by rust on the garlic and leeks. The onions, chives etc don't seem to get it.

foxgloves

You are lucky not to have it. I think it may first have appeared in the West Midlands, then it spread kind of North east, so my friend with an edge of city centre allotment got it before us, then the next year, it had reached our part of the county too. Allium leaf miner is a little fly & you don't even know you've got it until they have laid eggs in your allium foliage & the grubs have started chomping. This causes rot in the foliage which can spread down into the bulb. You then find small chestnut coloured egg or pupae cases when you cut into them. It is most noticeable on leeks, as they start to look sort of 'frilly'. And another thing about them is that there are two hatchings each season. The first lot arrive in March but just in case you think, as I did, that I'd do a later sowing of leeks to harvest in winter, the hatchlings breed just in time to decimate your later crop too! We don't use chemicals in the garden bit even if we did, nothing works against this pest. The only solution is to use insect mesh, but at least I know this works, having seen how nice our garlic was when we pulled it yesterday.
So Kantankrus & Dawn.... I'm glad you don't have this nuisance pest in your neck of the woods but am also envious!
F x

foxgloves

We are really missing our little meowy friend but I have had a decent day, all things considered. Nice yak with my sister via Skype this morming, managed to get a load of laundry dry out in the sunshine, weeded a bed ready for next beans to go in, popped to village garden centre for some straw for mulching around the strawberries & fed & watered the stuff which needed it. Mr F is on cooking duty tonight & is trying two new recipes from one of the 'Pinch of Nom' books. Relaxing evening planned watching the last episode of 'Cardinal'. Lots to do tomorrow as it will be time to do my mid-month budget check-in, as well as various other bits of admin & household stuff, so I'm not intending to be too late in bed.
My best friend has just messaged me to say they are in the middle of a thunderstorm. She's on the other side of the county to me, so I wonder if it's on its way or whether we will miss it. I think I could enjoy a bit of thunder, actually.
Take care all, 
F x

marionmgcars

I had a lovely afternoon tidying the top of our drive.  it is not very wide and years ago I had a huge compost bin the council supplied everyone with.  I had put a thin metal arch around it and planted a yellow honeysuckle.  Well the compost bin has not been used for years, so decided to empty it of the ancient dust, and return it to our council recycling centre.  I must have looked nuts washing it out, but was not going to load into the back seats of my car, and then have the job of cleaning the car.  I was delighted when I managed to snap the old thin ironwork and un-weave it from the honeysuckle, which I have not tied to the fence.  Best part of the afternoon was saving this, and finding an old hanging basket under a load of overhanging ivy which I can clean up and use.  I have managed to avoid the garden centre so far this year and used what I have in the garage, but might use some of my "personal spend" to buy a few bright flowers to pop in the little basket.
Away for a long soak in the bath with a huge glass on chilled wine.  

Humdinger1

Foxgloves 

So sorry to hear your news.  It's heartbreaking,  but at least you know that he had the best life with you. Take pride and comfort in that. 

Without wanting to be judgemental or highjack your thread Foxgloves, I find myself aghast at news of queues from here to eternity for Prim*rk and Sp*rts D*rect in our nearest big city.  I'm probably showing my naivety, and of course it may not be representative of everyone and could well be urgent purchases, but hasn't the last 3 months shown us anything? Perhaps prompted a reassessment of what's essential? Ah well, we are a select contrarian posse on here.  Grateful to be included.  

Take care Foxgloves and all readers love Humdinger x 

Onebrokelady

Awwww I'm so sorry to hear about your furry friend Foxgloves, it's awful losing a much loved pet 😟xx

Onebrokelady

Humdinger1 said:

Foxgloves 

So sorry to hear your news.  It's heartbreaking,  but at least you know that he had the best life with you. Take pride and comfort in that. 

Without wanting to be judgemental or highjack your thread Foxgloves, I find myself aghast at news of queues from here to eternity for Prim*rk and Sp*rts D*rect in our nearest big city.  I'm probably showing my naivety, and of course it may not be representative of everyone and could well be urgent purchases, but hasn't the last 3 months shown us anything? Perhaps prompted a reassessment of what's essential? Ah well, we are a select contrarian posse on here.  Grateful to be included.  

Take care Foxgloves and all readers love Humdinger x 

I don't think the majority of people will have learned anything from this experience sadly. The Sports Direct queue can possibly be explained because they are offering 50% off everything in the store if you work for the NHS, I try to avoid Sports Direct because of the shoddy way they treat their staff 

Tescodealqueen

We heard on the news that people were camping out outside our local Primark so pleased that we had decided to go to our little local carpet shop to get the carpet for our spare room rather than the bigger companies at the retail park. We were the only customers there so in, chosen, fitting arranged and out within 20 minutes. Our first venture out together since lockdown.

foxgloves

Awww, thanks for the sympathy. It's appreciated as we go into our first meowless week.
Marionmgcars - You sound like you are very busy. It's such a good feeling to get on top of jobs, especially tidying up/clearing out ones.
Humdinger/Tescodealqueen - I am aiming to support our local indie shops as my first choice (I've also seen some lovely carpet in a local shop). I also want to make sure we continue to support those local businesses which have helped us during Lockdown - local butchers & baker who have done deliveries, market stall food traders who have turned up every week to serve customers with fab fruit & veg, meat, fish, bread, etc, local windmill who started click & collect flour orders. With the recession, we need to remember that economists estimate 80p of every £1 spent locally goes on to be re-spent in the community, which benefits us all.
I don't use one of the chains you mention (today's big queues) because I don't like how they reputedly treat their staff. I don't use the other one because I dislike throw-away fast fashion. It is a polluting industry & I prefer clothes to last. I also wonder how clothes can be churned out at such low prices & fear it can only be through paying workers very poor wages.
Part of me would love a city centre trip. We need to sort out a new cooker, a blind, curtain fabric.... all things I'd rather actually see than choose online, but we have decided to wait till queues die down first. We still feel that lockdown has been eased a couple of weeks too early so will be doing pur own thing.
F x

foxgloves

And now for Monday's post. Well, with Mr F back in work much more now, it has felt a bit more like normal routunes today. I've been quite productive on the whole. I did my mid-month budget check-in. No nasty surprises. Took the opportunity to pay some money across to both 'Just for points' credit cards. Also updated grocery budget, phoned vet to pay bill, cancelled pet insurance & updated our Home Improvements budget to reflect the 14 sacks of pebbles purchased recently to finish the edges of our new patio.
On the domestic goddess front, I baked a sourdough loaf, made tomorrow's packed lunch, pulled some radishes & made a big mixed salad to go with tonight's meal. I also tackled rubber chicken duty. Mr F roasted peri-peri chicken (in 2nd 'Pinch of Nom' low fat recipe book) yesterday & there are sufficient leftovers to do chicken, salad & chips tonight, fajhitas tomorrow & Wednesday's sandwiches. The early morning mizzle only lasted a bout ten mins, so I was able to peg out my Economy 7 load of laundry & get it all dry.
Mr F has volunteered for garden watering duty tonight, so I will probably knit & read.
Hope everyone holding up ok, 
Stay safe, 
F x