Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

PennysIntoPounds

Lovely bit of loyalty card action.
Well done booking dentist appointment, never a spend one is happy to part with!
Glad the bank doings have been sorted out, boo hiss to the people who made it necessary.
Hope the cats let you relax until Mr F gets in, though I'm getting a psychic message from Soot that he is a poor starving cat who urgently needs biscuits lest he perish immediately 

ladyholly

Judging by our local petrol station everyone round here is filling their car up.When we went on Monday it was packed. With goings on in the Middle East fuel prices are bound to rise as will everything else.

EssexHebridean

MrEH filled his up yesterday morning but that was more to do with the fact that he had to move it anyway to make sure the bin-men could navigate through the turning (in spite of people leaving a Queen-Mary sized gap, they will take any excuse to take the "nah!" approach!) and as it was going to need diesel at some point before going anywhere next he decided he might as well make use of having started it up.

Makingabobor2

Hadn't realised petrol prices were on the rise. I will top it up tomorrow when I go out. Just in time for our few days away next month...typical. I will have to try and keep it topped up the next 4 weeks, as its bound to keep going up gradually. 

foxgloves

Evening Diary Readers,
I'm just having a cooling sit-down on the reading bench while Mr F waters & feeds the veg. A pleasant enough day, though too hot for me already. Today's budget-helping stuff:
*Did a few minor bits of financial admin.
*Did a survey & quit another which was wanting more of my time than I thought they were actually paying for. Shall be on for a good PA cash-out this month.
*Garden pickings: Strawberries, carrots.
*Fed sourdough jar.
*Small amount of ironing. Since I bought a large rectangular laundry basket, I am finding fewer things need ironing because I can fold them rather than just hurl them in.
*Finished my old-duvet-cover-practice-dress, pressed it & tried it on. Noted a couple of things to remember for when I make a start on the real one. Am wondering if I could possibly manage to squeak that from some lovely batik fabric I received for my birthday as that would make a nice bold summer dress.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*My stepcount was a bit low from having spent a lot of time sewing, so I fetched my secateurs (200 steps from house to shed & back!) & had a quick whizz around the garden dead-heading & thus met.my 55th day in a row of 'not being sedentary'.
*Tweaked meal plan & wrote grocery shopping list.
And that, m'dears, was it for the day!
F x

Makingabobor2

Good day considering how hot its been. 

Makingabobor2

As you are our resident garden expert, can I ask. What do you think is the best way to water veggies while away for a few days? Does the idea with the plastic bottles work? Or is there a better idea? 

foxgloves

Hi @Makingabobor2,
I have never really found a solution to my satisfaction. Best option is for a trusted person to pop in & water them, but that isn't an option for us, as our garden is only accessible via the house & Mr F utterly refuses to let anyone have a key.
It usually isn't too much of a problem as we like cottage holidays & usually go in Autumn when rentals are much cheaper & plants take care of themselves.
Last June, we had 3 or 4 nights away & I stood all my greenhouse pots (chillies & peppers) in saucers of water....the annoying plastic 'tins' from popular brands of festive chocolates are useful for this. I have bought various sets of bottle waterer spikes over the years & they've mostly been a waste of plastic & my money as they either block or the water runs through too quickly. Last year, I cut up an old towel & rammed each spike with a piece of that so as to effect more of a seep than a gush. Each tomato plant had one, plus courgettes & squash and I put one in the cucumbers' growbag. It wasn't perfect, but I filled the bottles the morning we left & everything was alive & looking fine when we got back.
You can buy various automatic irrigation systems but I baulked at the word 'buy'. I tried rigging up my own system with a bucket of water & cotton strips but it was rubbish.
Oh, & don't overlook the obvious things....for instance, moving containers into the shade or a cooler spot while you're away so they don't dry out as quickly. For smaller pots, there's also the solution of standing them in the bath on a wet bath towel.
F

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams,
Oh my giddy trousers, it's HOT! And hotter still to come at the weekend. 3 out of 4 of us do not enjoy the heat. Ash is happy rolling around in it having dust baths, but Mr F, Soot & I wilt in anything above 25°. 
So I haven't done today's planned task of getting right in the back of one of our big borders to cut down finished stuff & dig out the latest hawkweed/bindweed incursions. Nope! Not doing it. Far too hot for that. That's a one-way ticket to a headache. Instead, I've pottered about at a more sedate pace getting all sorts of things done.....& I must have been busy as I'd hit my.minimum daily steps by 3.15pm without any 'filler' like marching up & down the garden. Just goes to show how much ground can be covered on a succession of random jobs! 
Despite not enjoying hot temperatures, there have been some sunny positives today:
Too hot to fancy going out so a no-spend day for starters. I did some laundry which dried in an hour. Must take advantage of this & get a few blankets & coats washed. Picked lettuce, spring onions & herbs while the sun was still at comfortable levels & felt grateful that we have the space to grow food.
Also enjoyed stepping into the greenhouse & finding it redolent of summer picnics with the smell of sun-warmed basil. The heat has brought out the insects so the swifts have been entertaining me with their aerobatics & one of the chicks has been peeping out of the nestbox.
I've watched damselflies over our pond & been visited by a handsome cinnabar moth. The more tropical veg are enjoying the sunshine. The mutinous jalapeno plants I almost composted are flourishing & setting fruit, setting Mr F off on musing (aka blatant hints!) about whether there will, after all, be some jalapeno sauce this year.
The greenhouse tomatoes ("Roma") are starting to set fruit & that feels like a perfect circle, as I have today used the final two jars of my bottled ones from last year's crop. I was bottling back in August & September & we haven't bought any tinned tomatoes since then.
Well, I'm out on my reading bench with my book to hand, though first I intend to progress the stashbusting pair of socks I'm knitting for the presents bag. Tonight's dinner is in the slow cooker, so feels effort-free. Time to get those needles clacking.
Love F (& a hot & fed-up Soot.....Oh, I know, I'll give him his treats, that'll cheer him up) x

Makingabobor2

foxgloves said:

Hi @Makingabobor2,
I have never really found a solution to my satisfaction. Best option is for a trusted person to pop in & water them, but that isn't an option for us, as our garden is only accessible via the house & Mr F utterly refuses to let anyone have a key.
It usually isn't too much of a problem as we like cottage holidays & usually go in Autumn when rentals are much cheaper & plants take care of themselves.
Last June, we had 3 or 4 nights away & I stood all my greenhouse pots (chillies & peppers) in saucers of water....the annoying plastic 'tins' from popular brands of festive chocolates are useful for this. I have bought various sets of bottle waterer spikes over the years & they've mostly been a waste of plastic & my money as they either block or the water runs through too quickly. Last year, I cut up an old towel & rammed each spike with a piece of that so as to effect more of a seep than a gush. Each tomato plant had one, plus courgettes & squash and I put one in the cucumbers' growbag. It wasn't perfect, but I filled the bottles the morning we left & everything was alive & looking fine when we got back.
You can buy various automatic irrigation systems but I baulked at the word 'buy'. I tried rigging up my own system with a bucket of water & cotton strips but it was rubbish.
Oh, & don't overlook the obvious things....for instance, moving containers into the shade or a cooler spot while you're away so they don't dry out as quickly. For smaller pots, there's also the solution of standing them in the bath on a wet bath towel.
F

Thanks FG, yes normally we would ask DD to come and water stuff, but they will be away for 18 days this year, and we have 4 days away in the middle of that.  We try not to go in July if possible, but this is just a short trip down south. There is no one else we can ask.  I will soak everything on the morning we leave, a Monday, and we will be back by the Friday afternoon, so hopefully all will be well. I will move some of the things where I can.  Who knows, the weather could have changed in the next 3 or 4 weeks anyway.