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The ups, the downs and the insides out of growing your own in 2024!
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Thanks both of you. I have bookmarked the page and will have a consider in due course. It did occur to me that we could take a cutting from the current trees and graft on to a different rootstock. We will have to do some thinking, and discuss here at Suffolk siege HQSave £12k in 2025 #2 I am at £4863.32 out of £6000 after May (81.05%)
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I am at £1286.68/£3000 or 42.89% of my annual spend so far
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My new diary is here4 -
KajiKita said:
Also can I ask about your produce counter? Are you keeping track of how much your garden is saving you by GyO? Thats a great idea
Time to find me again5 -
Right
well I am my own worst enemy.
I sat down last night to realise I have 3 types of potatoes and only 5 bags to put them in so I sat this morning to buy some more bags to grow in and accidentally ended up adding a blueberry bush and cucamelon seeds.
Now having to sit and plan my garden out for where to put everything this growing season but what I do know is I am going to be a busy girl this year!Time to find me again4 -
sammy_kaye18 said:KajiKita said:
Also can I ask about your produce counter? Are you keeping track of how much your garden is saving you by GyO? Thats a great idea
It’s just a spreadsheet where I record what it would cost me to buy what I produce from the garden as organic produce from an online seller. Herbs rack up really quickly! I set myself a target of £100 last year and got to c. £178 I think, this year I have set a target of £300. I’m hoping it will act as an incentive to persist as I keep being defeated by the bindweed - not helped by working full time with a significant commute and doing DIY on the house as well.KKAs at 15.07.25:
- When bought house £315,995 mortgage debt and end date at start = October 2039 - now £233,521
- OPs to mortgage = £11,338 Interest saved £5225 to date
Fixed rate 3.85% ends January 2030
Read 37 books of target 52 in 2025, as @ 23rd July
Produce tracker: £223 of £300 in 2025
Watch your thoughts, they become your words.
Watch your words, they become your actions.Watch your actions, they become your reality.6 -
Managed to get outside Yesterday for an hour and weeded the strawberry patch. Very glad I did as the weather today is filthy! So wet and windy!
I think i will get my seeds out and see what I need to order i definetely bed cucumber seeds and prob tomatoes.....♥️ ♥️ ♥️🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸Decluttering 2025 So far 403 / 2025
Decluttering 2024🏅🏅🥇🏅🏅🏅⭐⭐⭐🌸 DS2🏅🏅DD🏅🥇🌸
25 in 25 So far 1 /25
⭐My rambling savings Diary ~⭐5 -
KajiKita said:sammy_kaye18 said:KajiKita said:
Also can I ask about your produce counter? Are you keeping track of how much your garden is saving you by GyO? Thats a great idea
It’s just a spreadsheet where I record what it would cost me to buy what I produce from the garden as organic produce from an online seller. Herbs rack up really quickly! I set myself a target of £100 last year and got to c. £178 I think, this year I have set a target of £300. I’m hoping it will act as an incentive to persist as I keep being defeated by the bindweed - not helped by working full time with a significant commute and doing DIY on the house as well.KK
Thats a great idea too about keeping track. I think once I have actually started growing things and harvesting - maybe I will keep track of what I am buying / producing and saving and see how much it actually adds up to as I imagine like you said it can be an eye opener. Also I use a lot of mixed herbs so I was looking at a dehydrator to actually make my own.~FlowerPot~ said:Managed to get outside Yesterday for an hour and weeded the strawberry patch. Very glad I did as the weather today is filthy! So wet and windy!
I think i will get my seeds out and see what I need to order i definitely bed cucumber seeds and prob tomatoes.....
I am waiting in today for a delivery from B&Q with fencing mesh, canes, a wood saw, pot and compost, and Im sure there is other bits on there so I will be ready to garden once the rain decides to give us a break.
Also asked a friend who is a gardener to help me cut my hedge down at some point. Its about 10ft high and so hard to cut so I want to take it down to about 5ft so its manageable and before any birds start nesting in it for the year.Time to find me again6 -
sammy_kaye18 said:Right
well I am my own worst enemy.
I sat down last night to realise I have 3 types of potatoes and only 5 bags to put them in so I sat this morning to buy some more bags to grow in and accidentally ended up adding a blueberry bush and cucamelon seeds.
Now having to sit and plan my garden out for where to put everything this growing season but what I do know is I am going to be a busy girl this year!
(Three tubers each of vivaldi and maris piper, 5 of charlotte but they're a bit smaller).I'm not an early bird or a night owl; I’m some form of permanently exhausted pigeon.4 -
I put some chilli and tomato seeds in trays yesterday. I don't have propagators, so they're just on the window sill, but it's above a radiator so maybe something will happen.5
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I sorted out the veg bed last night. Cardboard laid, then put some pine cones/needles that had rotted down in the corner of the garden over the top and then covered with a couple of inches of compost. It's not pretty and it's not got any sides but hopefully it'll be better for the plants I eventually put in it.
OH has put my peas, onion + shallot sets and potatoes somewhere and I don't know where that is so I'm trying not to fuss about them for now. I need to get some more compost as I used all we had on refreshing the bed.
I am slightly worried as I... ermm... found a couple of bags of old compost in the back of the shed to put on the veg bed (it was looking a bit sparse) and one of them was definitely quite mouldy. Will it be ok? Or should I not risk planting into it? OH said "well you'd plant into horse poo!"£2023 in 2023 challenge - £17.79 January3 -
kiss_me_now9 said:I sorted out the veg bed last night. Cardboard laid, then put some pine cones/needles that had rotted down in the corner of the garden over the top and then covered with a couple of inches of compost. It's not pretty and it's not got any sides but hopefully it'll be better for the plants I eventually put in it.
OH has put my peas, onion + shallot sets and potatoes somewhere and I don't know where that is so I'm trying not to fuss about them for now. I need to get some more compost as I used all we had on refreshing the bed.
I am slightly worried as I... ermm... found a couple of bags of old compost in the back of the shed to put on the veg bed (it was looking a bit sparse) and one of them was definitely quite mouldy. Will it be ok? Or should I not risk planting into it? OH said "well you'd plant into horse poo!"Statement of Affairs (SOA) link: https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.phpFor free, non-judgemental debt advice, try: Stepchange or National Debtline. Beware fee charging companies with similar names.3
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