And now we go again...

lucielle

lol @PennysIntoPounds
L

RosaBernicia

plus a tube map, a raven and utter confusion about geography north of Watford. 

EssexHebridean

ROFL PiP that literally made me LOL - brilliant! 

A nice mix of productive and restful today. We started with some garden odds and ends - relocated the potential Blue Tit des res as we suddenly realised like a pair of muppets we’d put it up right over where we are planning the mini greenhouse to go. Hopefully the LocationLocationLocation will still suit them - it’s now on the wall of the shed above the log store. While MrEH was shoving screws (reclaimed from the bit of the log store we dismantled last weekend) into the shed walls we also hung our second bug hotel too.  Chopped back a lavender which was being a bit of a bully to a pulmonaria (which is flowering enthusiastically already) and a something else which was threatening to do the same. (Not sure what it is, so we’ve been fairly conservative at the moment).  Sun was shining (and melting the heavy frost we’d had overnight) so I got the load of towels from the machine onto the line first thing too. 

Ooh - while I think, keen gardeners, can I pick your brains? I’m looking for the collective wisdom on compost brands. I know we’ve had discussion on here about the various peat free ones not seeming to be as good, but has anyone found any of the big brands which are either particularly bad, or better than others? I’m looking at Westland, Levington and Miracle Gro as options at the moment so any views on those brands in particular would be useful. In the past we’ve always bought a couple of bags of whatever is on offer but with aiming to grow more veg here, I’m interested to give it a bit more thought. 

While I was pottering about doing odd jobs I cleaned the front downstairs windows - we’ll need a window cleaner for upstairs as even with the pole at full extension I’m a good way off reaching. Having done those (and had a nice chat with a neighbour I’d not met before) I was inspired enough to take the bucket through to the back and do the downstairs there as well. Go me!  

MrEH headed off to rugby and I decided to make the most of the weather by getting out on the bike - first time this year! Had originally thought I might go out round the lanes but decided as I’d not ridden it for a while, and it’s been stored outside under a thin cover all winter, I’d be better to do a loop round the town on the cycle paths instead to check all was OK. We’re really fortunate - I did a fraction short of 6 miles and nearly all of it was on dedicated cycle paths - it makes such a difference to have that option.  Met some furry friends as I went past the horse fields on the edge of the town centre, too… 
 

Lovely to be out there in the sunshine!  And back to a lovely leftovers lunch of curry and rice too - even better! 

Following on from a discussion about people’s pantries on Foxgloves diaries, I thought I’d share my spice cupboard too. This is the stuff that gets used to the most - and which I want to have readily to hand for everyday cooking. 

The pearl barley shouldn’t technically be in there but that’s where it’s ended up as there’s no room for it in the pull out cupboard with the pulses and similar. 

lucielle

I have a list on the inside of the cupboard door, telling me what should be on each shelf. 1 shelf for herbs and 1 for spices. It saves me riffling through them to see it I’ve got a particular one. 

L

savingholmes

I agree with Jwil - that T & P councils are picking up some of what the County has stopped doing due to affordability.

On your store cupboard - I like the handles on your plastic units. At my last place influenced by Utube - I had little stacks of each type of tin produce - but my cupboard was wide rather than deep - here I might do better having pull out units like yours I have some but they aren't as deep as they perhaps need to be - so I need to consider what would work best here. 

Love the horses photo. I'm always in awe of how much you get out and about. On the compost - I think it is less an issue of brand - and more about sustainability. How do you feel about peat content and the risks that offers? How do you feel about chemical fertilisers etc?

EssexHebridean

SH the handled boxes are brilliant - they were from either H0me B@rg@ins or BeeandEmm I think - I'm leaning towards the former. I find them so much better than having things - particularly bottles - loose.  I wasn't sure about the pull out units (we have one each side of the fridge) when we first moved in but I have to say I've got used to them now, After the larder nothing feels quite "big enough" is our main issue - we were thoroughly spoiled with our beautiful 1950s larder! I keep a small number of tinned products in one of those, with the "stocks" of them living in a lower cupboard and being replenished as needed.  

I'd definitely sooner have peat free compost - in fact it hadn't occurred to me that you could still get anything else these days! As for fertilisers - we've never used much beyond tomato feed (good for so much aside from tommies!) but have of course for the past few years been spoiled with the soil at the flat being pretty decent through years of us working to make it so! 

L I love the idea of your lists but I already know that I would never keep it updated - this is where being able to at least mostly see the herbs and spices works for me. 

Our sunday started well over at Mum's, sorting out her storage in the office. The old "room divider" shelving (which has been a straightforward back-against-the-wall unit for a good many years now) proved just as easy as I thought to dismantle - under half an hour saw it not only in pieces but also loaded into MrEH's car ready for a tip run. We were able to get a start on building the new Billy Bookcase before he headed off to the tip and Mum and I settled down for a natter while he was gone. Once he got back building the rest of the bookcase was easy enough in spite of the limitations of doing it in a fairly small room, and we soon had it upright and fixed back to the wall. It is an "Oxberg" one with doors - and it was on fitting the doors that we encountered the only issue - as they refused to sit straight and line up regardless of how we adjusted them. In the end after about an hour of fiddling we managed to get them "good enough" and Mum said to leave it and she'd see if they were OK in use - which so far they do seem to be - my concern was that with one door ever so slightly proud of the shelf behind it that door might prove to catch as Mum slid things off the shelf, but so far I gather it's OK.

Once done there, we nipped round to the Lil's on her side of town to see if they had herbs - no. Then H0m3base for some cobbles to put in the top of the pots out the front - something, I suspect the fox , has been digging into them, so we're trying this to see if it deters them. £8 for the bag so not too bad. Then finally in to T's for the last bits of shopping - a few pennies over £9 there which was much as expected.  Finally home and a bit of pottering - getting those cobbles washed and in place, and getting the mini greenhouse built - although we've not put the cover on it as yet - and in place to see if it fitted where we want it which it does so hurrah for that. 

Grocery spend this week was £33.85, and that should - no, will - be the final spend of this month so we have  managed to add a few pennies below £50 to our reserve there which is pretty decent for the second month of this sort of challenge. I think the plan for March will mainly be "just have something left from the budget" as I am well aware that we are probably starting to push against the boundaries of what is possible on really low spend months. March is also a 5 week month of course, so that will have an impact. I'll probably factor is using the cooked ham from the freezer fairly early on in the month though as I suspect Easter will see that offer appearing again - if so I will probably buy a couple more at that stage although that will of course also have an impact on the budget. 

Meal plan is mostly done for the week although it had a minor adjustment yesterday with the addition of a stir fry thanks to T's having lovely looking and well priced savoy cabbages. I've got out some minced pork to have with that, and will try to remember to throw in some of the lemongrass from the freezer as well as that could do with using. plenty of other veggies in to go in that as well. 

Money wise there shouldn't be anything else leaving the joint account this week - MrEH put diesel in his car yesterday too - and so it looks like I should be able to make the end of month OP I was hoping for, and have a bit left over in the surplus to put into the "saving for solar" fund which will probably get a savings pot opened up for it very soon! 

lucielle

Sounds like a very busy weekend. Nice to have a natter with your mum. 

L

EssexHebridean

It was - we mostly find ourselves over there to do specific things these days, so just a short while to sit and chat was nice! 

Right - while out for my walk at lunchtime I was musing over various bits we have been thinking about for the garden. the original house we thought we were going to buy (one Careful Owner, for those who remember) had a rather nice little brick planting construction across the end of the garden nearest the kitchen - it's former owner had clearly used that for various herbs etc and we'd been thinking about getting something similar built, however that will obviously come at a cost, and so I was thinking about alternatives. I have suggested to MrEH that for the time being we experiment with shifting our existing herbs in pots to line up along that edge of the lawn or on the patio, in order that we can get used to there actually being a visual barrier of sorts there. In the longer term I think we'll start looking for a nice trough type planter to go there, which we'll plant up with the various herbs plus smaller planting like small bulbs (spring and autumm flowering) and things like Cyclamen for winter colour too. Hopefully plenty of planting will then minimise the weeding needed!)  In turn that will then free up another section of patio for use for growing of edible things - in growbags, pots or sacks. Assuming he agrees with all this musing, then we would appear to have our next garden jobs sorted!  

redofromstart

Compost - I am not keen at all on the'own brand' stuff, full of rubbish last time I bought some (verve organge diy I think). It also depends what you plan to use it for, it generally has six weeks feed built in if you buy the ones with feed in, but I like the ones with water retaining gel for flower planters. You can of course add your own, if you can track any down. Eventually found some water gel in the R4nge last year. What is a bonus is if you can some compost that has been stored inside, MrM or Wickes is generally good for this.it soaks your car and is far too wet for seed trays for a few weeks otherwise, but if it is soaked at least stand it on its end when you get home.  

I buy the boxed dried coir in MrM at the end of the season when it goes to £2.50, cheap and easy to store till spring but a lot of water to rehydrate. 

Blackcats

The herb and smaller planting is a good idea.  I've got lots of spring bulbs in pots that are easy to manage and very effective.  I've done a couple of "lasagne layered" pots that have worked well.
good work on your grocery budget and this month's mortgage overpayment - inspiring as always 😇