Buying a little piece of Middle England; Manifesting my way to mortgage free.

~FlowerPot~

yey!!!! to the money coming your way, very annoying that you had to fight for what was yours!

Boo! to the tax, but that will be recovered and very welcome when it finally comes your way!

You are working so hard in the garden, and you will be so pleased come next year when all these plant started to establish because they are all nicely nestled in!

debtfreewannabe321

Thanks all 😀 I'm assuming the tax will be refunded next April? It's been years since I've been due a refund but I think that's what happened last time. Could've done with it this side of Xmas but nevermind.

I've got lots of gardening books out this evening that DP parents kindly gave me. Plotting and planning what I'd like to grow..I will make a drawn plan for beds to go in and where I want them. We intend on lifting a lot of the lawn for this. So it will give me something to aim for. We're hoping to make beds out of some of the wood we have in the garden (lots of pallets still knocking around)..could be an easy and cheap way to make the beds and mean I don't have to save lots and wait years for this to happen. 😁
Still on the lookout for my greenhouse...I'd like to get one cheap/ free but all the ones coming up are very small 6x8 kinda size and we'd like to go as big as possible really considering we're building the space from scratch. Everyone we speak to suggests getting as big as you can fit in so I'm hoping to do this. We do eat a lot of fresh stuff so I'm hoping it wouldn't go to waste 😅

The chickpea and spinach curry went down really well and was VERY quick to cook. That will be added to the quick meals category for sure. Even fussy DD ate it! I already had leftover rice too so just reheated that in a wok whilst the spinach wilted. Whole thing including prep took half hour! 

beanielou

2 small ones?

debtfreewannabe321

beanielou said:

2 small ones?

🤨🤔 Hmmm good idea Beanie! I hadn't considered this. I will measure up the areas it can go in tomorrow and see if we can fit two in 😀

dawnybabes

Your tax code should sort itself out when you start your new job, now it’s all recorded ‘live’ you shouldn’t have to wait till April. 

KajiKita

Loving the dreaming and planning 😊
Have you had a look at what grows well in neighbouring gardens or wild spaces? 

When you do lift the turf, either stack it top to top to rot down or immediately recycle it into the bottom of any raised beds you make, turf side down with compost on top, as that will help the fertility of those beds 😊

KK

debtfreewannabe321

I read that tip last night KK! Thanks for confirming it works 😁. .. on the left of my house we have a lady with lovely crazy leggings she's likes to hang out to 'dry' for weeks on end because she forgets to bring them in. They seem to grow well as she adds more and more. She's got lots of dogs and lots of weeds. So I know they also grow well. 😅
On the right they have a perfectly manicured garden. Grass has stripes and they've a stoned area with lots of pots and a squirrel trap under a lovely arched walk through 😐...
We have north facing gardens but the gardens are long enough to not all be in shade throughout the whole day And the houses at the back of us also have relatively long gardens so we do have bits with quite a bit of sun....but I have to bare in mind the shady bits. So I'm looking for greenhouse stuff to grow and also some easy ish things to grow against a west facing wall and then north facing garden for the rest. I don't want to set myself up for failure from the off. I've grown food before but always considered myself more part time hobbyist but now with rising food prices I'd love to be able to provide proper food from the garden for more than two weeks a year 😅❤️

KajiKita

The leggings and dogs garden made me smile … Sounds like you need to wander and nose slightly further afield … 😉

With food growing, what do you like to eat? Are there any fruits or veggies that you don’t like or are allergic to - don’t waste your time on those. 

Generally, people who are growing in gardens rather than full scale allotments don’t bother with onions or spuds as they take up a lot of space and are relatively cheap. However, I enjoy growing a few red onions from seed, shallots and specialist spuds such as pink fir apple. 

Consider herbs of all types - they are the ‘crops’ that accumulate value fastest on my produce tracker. Soft herbs like parsley, coriander etc will appreciate your cooler, shady spots, as will lettuce. Woody herbs like rosemary and sage will enjoy the sunnier spots. 

Also, things that spoil easily so are either not available in shops; more unusual types of soft fruit(have a look at the Pomona website) or alpine strawberries (the taste is sublime … 🤩❤️), or only come in robust, travel well, fairly tasteless, varieties - tomatoes! 😉

Think vertically as well, so beans, peas, squashes can all be grown upwards - if you are careful with their location they won’t shade anything precious but it will minimise their foot print within your growing space. 

Ask for gardening vouchers, strawberry plants or even fruit trees / bushes for Christmas this year 😉
You might want to consider a patch of comfrey (Bocking 14 variety, sterile so it doesn’t seed itself everywhere) if you have a quiet, out of the way patch of ground that it can grow in - it’s good for mulch, adding to the compost heap or turning into liquid feed. 

Never, ever have more than two courgette plants ….! 😂😂

Sorry, rambling on now … 😂

KK

debtfreewannabe321

KajiKita said:

The leggings and dogs garden made me smile … Sounds like you need to wander and nose slightly further afield … 😉

With food growing, what do you like to eat? Are there any fruits or veggies that you don’t like or are allergic to - don’t waste your time on those. 

Generally, people who are growing in gardens rather than full scale allotments don’t bother with onions or spuds as they take up a lot of space and are relatively cheap. However, I enjoy growing a few red onions from seed, shallots and specialist spuds such as pink fir apple. 

Consider herbs of all types - they are the ‘crops’ that accumulate value fastest on my produce tracker. Soft herbs like parsley, coriander etc will appreciate your cooler, shady spots, as will lettuce. Woody herbs like rosemary and sage will enjoy the sunnier spots. 

Also, things that spoil easily so are either not available in shops; more unusual types of soft fruit(have a look at the Pomona website) or alpine strawberries (the taste is sublime … 🤩❤️), or only come in robust, travel well, fairly tasteless, varieties - tomatoes! 😉

Think vertically as well, so beans, peas, squashes can all be grown upwards - if you are careful with their location they won’t shade anything precious but it will minimise their foot print within your growing space. 

Ask for gardening vouchers, strawberry plants or even fruit trees / bushes for Christmas this year 😉
You might want to consider a patch of comfrey (Bocking 14 variety, sterile so it doesn’t seed itself everywhere) if you have a quiet, out of the way patch of ground that it can grow in - it’s good for mulch, adding to the compost heap or turning into liquid feed. 

Never, ever have more than two courgette plants ….! 😂😂

Sorry, rambling on now … 😂

KK

I have a whole list of stuff I'd like to grow we pretty much eat most veg and fruit - Only things we aren't keen on so far are chard, artichoke and runner beans (we had a glut of runner beans last year and we really didn't enjoy them even though they're easy enough to grow I would rather not do them again and DP parents have a garden allotment and gifted us the other things and we did not like them).
I already have a fair bit -3 apple trees, 1 pear tree all very established (although one apple tree is covered in mistletoe but we had plenty of apples off it when we moved in), i've just put the fruit bushes in- raspberries x 3, logan berry, blackberry and red currant. I have sage, curry, in the herbs but I left a lot behind at old houses so need to re-buy rosemary and a few others. I have just been out to measure the plot and got all confuddled I was putting some measurements down in cm, some in m, some in ft, some in inches this is why this is usually DP job lol. I think I almost have it all right now thanks to an online conversion tool , and can figure out where I can put stuff...but I should probably get DP to re-measure some bits. I worked out (if my calculations are correct) that we have approx 230sq m of garden, but we do have buildings on some of that, sheds x 2, summer house, garage etc so need to figure out better what bits and how much is usable. I got so confused and it started spitting so I came in DP has offered to try and build raised beds from old pallets though to save a bit of money, and I have decided to clear one patio (we have three 😵‍💫) as it is on the west facing wall, I have seen on p1nterest some nice raised beds with trellis attached to one end which goes against a fence...so that would be great for that area. That patio is 25ftx5.5ft so I am going to work out how many raised beds I can get in there, and at least we have sun there for most of the day so I can grow sunny crops. I need to move the shed that is there currently, although it is dilapidated and half has rotted away so i think that is a skip job rather than a rescue job - we will see though as perhaps we can even use some of the wood on the shed for raised beds to reuse it. I am tempted to pull some bushes out of one bed too, I hate killing live things though so am umming and ahhing but that would be a good bed to put lavender and some other bits like that....

Window cleaner has cancelled. I am suspecting he forgot about me. I messaged him this morning and he said I will be with you at 11 for a quote. I replied back, you quoted last week? He replied, oh yes sorry was confusing you for someone else (hmm) I will still be with you for 11. Just now, sorry my son is ill, I am a single dad I can't make it,  (very long message of feel sorry for me but he's blatantly forgotten lol- I should've used the single mum card more often it clearly works for him ) I said no worries and he said he can do tomorrow. If he flakes out again I will cancel and find someone else. 

Should now be a NSD because of that.

I need some bits from the online big river shop but am holding off till pay day well, month re-set as we have all the pay sat there staring at us. 

I have been added to the bills account finally- YAY! It has only taken a month to do *rolls eyes*. 
DP birthday treat is this Friday evening -tix already paid for but probably need drinks money but honestly I am happy to just go and enjoy the live music and have fun dancing with a cola in hand (omg where has the old me gone where i'd be blotto 3 hours in I cannot handle the 3 days to recover any more) so I will probably drive down there and DP can drink if he wants and we will save cab fares & money.

I start job on Monday but haven't heard where or what time yet......so.....I will chase that up tomorrow (HR lady said to give it till Thurs). My friend hasn't yet been asked for a reference for me which is a little worrying 🤔

Lots of washing to do today and I am resting my back, I stupidly didn't check the painkillers I took last night and they had caffeine in so although the pain went so did my desire to sleep - I have probably had 4 hours at best! I intend on doing very little, I will probably spend an hour or so adding my vinyl collection to disc0gs that my son got me to join. I can see his collection and he can see mine- it's quite fun and handy to have when we are out and about and are like....umm do we already have this one? I need one for dvds now too....

Dinner will be plant balls and perhaps mash, but if not enough potatoes then pasta.  I have GF in already for me. Tomorrow's dinner I will do a spag bol I think or maybe another cottage pie...I think I will have to go to shops at some point as food is quite low. I will make a meal plan today too, I can do that with a cuppa in hand whilst resting poorly shoulder and back  

debtfreewannabe321

Right I have done a meal plan, a really really boring, repetitive one for a couple of reasons- 1 it is cheap, 2 it's all easy meals to make for me and with starting a new job I will be super stressed if I am trying to make something complicated and tired after a day of work. I have repeated a lot of meals in the hope I can bulk cook a lot of this and just get out of the freezer to reheat on the day. DP is really busy at work lately, not even taking time out for lunch, which I told him is prob not the best way to start....ya know start as you mean to go on. But he's wanting to make a good impression. His birthday is next week and he has to travel to HQ on his birthday for a company induction the next day, so I have put in sticky cauliflower & rice as it's one of his faves, but aside from that everything else is easy (and here is to hoping this will mean I won't be wanting to say ah heck to it let's get a take away when I am tired).

WEEK 1
Jacket Potatoes
Black bean burger & wedges
Tofu & Rice
Chickpea and spinach curry
Shepherdless pie
Pizza
Plant Balls & Mash
 
WEEK 2
Sticky Cauliflower & rice
Sausage & Mash
Pasta & Salad
Jacket potatoes
Tofu & pasta
Shepherdless pie
Fajitas
 
WEEK 3
Black bean Burgers & chips
Plant Balls & Mash
Tofu, stir fry veg & Rice
Pizza
Shepherdless pie
Curry
Ratatouille
 
WEEK 4
Sausage & Mash
Blackbean burgers & rice
Jacket Potatoes
Pizza
Curry
Spag bol
ratatouille