Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

What an odd day weather-wise. It keeps swapping from cloudy & muggy to strongly breezy. Not too hot to get a few jobs done though, thankfully. 
Hello Readers & thank-you for all your comments & contributions which are obviously so much nicer than sitting here 'talking' to myself.
I feel I've been fairly productive. Budget-positive stuff as follows:
*Planned a very low-spend outing for tomorrow which is Mr F's new day off now that he has moved to compressed hours. Flask out ready for filling.
*Tonight's share of leftover roast chicken will be turned into spicy wraps which will be served with stir-fried veg.
*Transplanted 2 trays of lettuce - some in modules to replace earlier-sown full-sized ones as we use them, some squeezed into gaps in raised beds & some in troughs for cut & come again leaves.
*Garden pickings: Courgettes.
*Ironing. Did that first thing as it can become a bit of a 🐸.
*Cut out my dress. I was technically 0.2m short on fabric but I think being a beginner-friendly pattern, this was an over-estimation as I was able to cut it out with sufficient leftover to cut the bias binding & probably also a matching scrunchie. It's nice fabric - magenta background with a batik pattern. Sat in the garden & pinned the seams together.
*Did a reasonable amount of weeding before breakfast & all the walking up & down our garden meant I'd achieved my minimum daily steps by lunchtime which felt like a result.
Right, I have yakked on quite long enough. Time for a little tidy.....& to see if Ash actually intends getting up at all today. He's clearly pulled an all-nighter, whatever he's been up to.
Bye for now,
F x

Makingabobor2

Yes, I was just saying to DH earlier that I wondered if they hadn't polinated properly. They are starting to look like they may grow now & certainly more flowers.  Picked 3 strawberries & 1 raspberry earlier...better than leaving them for the birds & enough for DH's porridge. 

Moorviews

One small bag of vermiculite lasts for many years and completely stops any crusting. It helps in other ways with good germination rates too. I always use it when sowing but I will try it now also as a top dressing on the pots as it might help with the overheating by reflecting light. Reading of your experience I think I am just going to feed with every watering. There doesn’t seem like there was even enough food for two weeks in my compost. Interesting about the little green beads of food; that does sound puzzling! Going into bigger pots earlier will create space issues in my greenhouse but I shall be doing the same.  

Makingabobor2

What is Vermiculite?

Suffolk_lass

I was not able to respond yesterday as the validation screen popped up at every click, and thanking and commenting were impossible. It suggests to me that there are bots, attempting to infiltrate the Forum, and for sure, there are some weird posts from time to time.

Anyway, back to the compost question. I had zero squash pollinate last year and this year it has been a repeated collapse of seedlings and young plants. Even my tiny cucumber plants, in their final positions, are still vulnerable to this. The one I gave to my cousin has romped away. I visited my aunt on Monday and it is in her greenhouse with three ready to pick mini munch cucumbers sitting there. Meanwhile, one of the three in my greenhouse has collapsed and both the outdoor ones are looking yellow and poorly!

PennysIntoPounds

I notice the site has changed the quick links box at the bottom of the page @Suffolk_lass so I just assumed a programmer had introduced a bit of code that sent other things awry.
Nice to be able to chat with everyone as normal again!

foxgloves

How frustrating to have a 2nd year of weird veg growing, @Suffolk_lass. I don't think that long spell of very hot Spring days & cold night time temperatures helped either. Squash can be sulky devils but not having any pollinate at all is quite unusual, I'd say. Hope what plants you do have start to rally soon.
F

foxgloves

Hello Wednesday Pence Wranglers,
Not a lot to report. Had a very pleasant morning out to mark the 1st of Mr F's weekly days off now that he has started his compressed working hours. Saved around £7 by taking a flask of coffee with us to have sitting by the lake.
This afternoon, I've been working on my dress. Have sewn back & front together, sewn in the sleeves & shall be ready to bind the neckline tomorrow. On the subject of sewing, I was so disappointed to see this morning that the fabric stall on our local market is closing down.....just as I have decided to improve my very basic dressmaking skills. The stallholder said he still has lots of stock to sell so will be coming to market for a few more weeks. He'd got some very good reductions. I liked the retro-vibe of the fabric pictured & bought 3m of it for an astounding £1 per metre! It's 100% cotton & will make a nice summer top. £3 for a top will be extremely bargainaceous. Intend to go for a really thorough look next week to see if I can pick up a few interesting fabrics for Autumn. 
Anyway, that's all for today,
F x

Makingabobor2

Oh that's really pretty. I love pink.

foxgloves

@Makingabobor2 - I liked its sort of 1960s/70s vibe. Aiming to fly around doing all my jobs this morning so I can devote the afternoon to sewing. I have very few summer clothes as I rarely see any I like, so I'd ideally like to get my current sewing project (the batik dress from the lovely fabric I received as a birthday present) finished in time to wear this weekend. 
F