Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

@KajiKita - Yes, I am lucky because we do work very well together as a team (I sound like a training course, lol)
Glad your Big Push is going well. We are just fortifying ourselves with extra coffee before heading out to tackle the rest of the weekend's planned tasks. We reckon we can get everything finished by lunchtime. Hope so as I have a good book calling.
F

badmemory

I hope you get finished by lunch time as it is due to be pouring down here for the rest of the day.  When I was a teenager I was sure that by now they would have been able to make sure it only rained between midnight & 6am.

foxgloves

@badmemory - Still dry here. Hope we get another 2 or 3 hours as I've put another wash on. Forecast for next week looks awful. Think we will postpone our day trip up to North Yorkshire. 164 miles return journey rather heavy on petrol costs if we're going to be curtailed by rain when we get there.
F

foxgloves

Hello Sunday Savers,
Am fresh from the bath & painting my toenails so thought I'd pop my post on while they dry.
That's it! Big Weekend Garden Push completed & the veg section of our garden is looking v much more as it should be in June.....minus the obvious factor of sunshine, of course.
Today, Mr F cracked on with an even worse section of that awful bed & has been taking out roots as thick as branches. He's also cut the hedge back so that when we plant that bed, it will have more light. He also watered & fed all the fruiting veg. 
I did lots of smaller jobs:
Weeded lettuce bed 
Sowed more coriander, rocket, radish,spring onions, lettuce & cress.
Also started a big container off with more carrots.
Tied in outdoor tomatoes again
General tidy up, random weeding & topped up the worm composter. 
Also pegged out a load of laundry for free drying & have another load churning.
Well ready to relax with my book now, but am really pleased with how far we have caught up this weekend.
We are very sad about what has happened to Michael Mosley. I enjoyed his programme on Radio 4 & that he relished challenging & testing out different theories. 
F

KajiKita

Bravo for completing the Big Garden Push! 😊🎉🤩🥳
I’m afraid I haven’t made any real progress today - just too tired after yesterday. 

What are ‘fruiting veg’ - this sounds contradictory - things like tomatoes? 

Am also sad about Michael Mosley - I know some thought of him as a bit of a crank but I appreciated his enthusiasm for exploring new health and nutrition ideas and in effect, digesting them for the general public. He got more people trying small things that would help their health than any other factor I’ve seen in recent years. I just loved his curiosity. A real shame.

KK

foxgloves

@KajiKita - Yes, exactly that! The veg plants which produce fruits such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, chillies, aubergines etc, which need weekly feeding from when the first fruits have set. All our tomato plants have at least 1 or 2 tiny tomatoes so they are getting fed, ditto cukes & 'Rokita' chillies. The other chilli variety I'm growing this year - 'Hotscotch' - is a scotch bonnet so a bit later-flowering as it likes heat.
Yes, that's what I liked about Michael Mosley. I like to see new (& old) health & nutrition ideas explored & tested by people with a medical or scientific background. I like to see orthodoxy challenged. In my younger days, the weight-loss orthodoxy was 'fat-free' & I do wonder how many people in my age cohort (I've just turned 60) will be a lot creakier-jointed than necessary because of so many years spent avoiding fats, which are an essential nutrient. Artificial sweetners are another longer-term unknown. I've never used them in drinks, as I've always preferred my coffee unsweetened, but generally I'd rather have something sweetened with a small amount of sugar than UPF chemical sweetners. So yes, I liked the way that MM had a good poke around in the subject as a whole & presented a precis of the latest findings & thinking. After all, orthodox thinking & habits have produced a very overweight unhealthy nation so I welcome diversity of theory to be honest.
Hope you are starting to feel less tired & achy. My hips & thighs are complaining from all the bending & endless getting up & down from my gardening kneeler.
F

Sun_Addict

I was very sad to hear about Michael Mosley as he seemed to be a genuinely nice bloke. Such a shame ☹️

KajiKita

Aha! So those are the ones that need more TLC from me this year! 😉 My toms have only just started flowering and my cucumbers are just getting going ….

Yup on MM - all of what you said x

Moorviews

Michael Moseley showed such a lot of humility and empathy for other people in his broadcasting and writing. I always found his work very interesting and enjoyed watching him on television. It’s very sad that he was overcome during what sounded like a very strenuous walk in the heat, and that it has taken a few days to find him. It must have been so difficult for his family. 

Great work by you and Mr F in the garden! Hopefully you will both be ache free today and can admire your labours. The only times I have ever been up to date with the garden were when I had smaller gardens. This one has me beat the whole year round! I do enjoy having the space though even if it is somewhat unkempt. I must admit that it would look a lot better if I was as organised and diligent as you and Mr Foxgloves are. 

foxgloves

Morning Campers, rise & shine!
Looking like a very domesticated routine day ahead. No gardening as showers forecast all day, though I shall need to trot out to the postbox at some point. I will
*Bake bread
*Divide up yesterday's leftover roast pork joint to provide at least another 2 meals - hot pork cobs with apple sauce & pork sweet & sour for starters.
*Triage of the veg baskets. I know there are peppers in there which need prepping & freezing because a meal plan tweak means they won't get used this week.
*Do my regular Monday morning budget updates.
*Sort clean laundry & iron only what definitely needs it.
*Sort through my recycled jar stash & sort out jars for tomorrow's planned jam making.
*Surveys if any available.
Am always up early. In the week, I like to have my ginger tea, then get cracking, so off to fire up latest audio book & on with the list.
Wishing everyone a strong start to the week,
F x