My Off-grid and need to be frugal diary

AnimalTribe

I've spent the whole day in the garden. I'm now tired but happy, as I got a lot done - weeding and planting and watering.

I've spent the evening messing about on the internet. I've just found this site which looks very interesting. I shall have to explore it more

https://the1940sexperiment.com/

AnimalTribe

DH & I went shopping in town this morning for a few groceries and I managed to get a supply of oat milk. The oat milk must be very popular as often when I go shopping there's none on the shelves (although there are plenty kinds of other vegan milk).

It has been a gardening day today, as the weather was beautiful and sunny. I did a bit of weeding, tied in fruit bushes to their supports and cut down lots of willow. The year before last year DH made willow arches to support garden fleece so I could protect tender plants. The arches had grown willow stems so I had to trim them. I stick the stems in the soil around the garden boundary – the majority of them will grow without any further help from me.

rachmac3

Do you know which kind of willow you used? I thought about willow arches for my garden but then was warned that they would sprout easily and take over my whole garden. 

AnimalTribe

rachmac3 sorry the willows were already here when I moved in so I don't know what kind they are. I will take a photo and see if I can figure out how to upload it. I do know that they are really easy to propagate as I've cut stems lots of times and planted them as hedging and most of the stems take by just sticking them in the ground.

DH and I have been out to the village today for a mooch around. We both got some books and DVDs from the charity shop and then had a nice lunch.

I've half filled some large pots ready for planting. I decided to cut some comfrey leaves and just put them in the pot before adding the rest of the soil. I did't cut the comfrey up or add any water, just used the whole leaves. I don't know how effective this will be as a nutrient but I thought I'd give the simple approach a try.

rachmac3

No worries, at some point I'll do some research, but no rush. I have plenty of other things to do in the garden more urgently. I intend to spend a good few hours in the garden tomorrow.

AnimalTribe

rachmac3 I hope this helps. These ones haven't been cut back yet, so are a little straggly

AnimalTribe

DH has attached some bean netting to the house wall so I've transplanted my beans there where they will get some sun. I've planted a few fruit bushes and rescued 3 goji berry bushes that were growing in the wrong place.

It's been one of those strange weeks. Two parcels arrived broken (I've asked for replacements), one parcel arrived with minor damage but not worth complaining about, one parcel has been lost (and I've got a refund), one delivery company has attempted to deliver the parcel 3 times without success (DH thinks that either the driver is trying to deliver to the wrong address or that they can't be bothered to drive out this far) and the dogs tracker isn't working properly (although the company have agreed to send a replacement). I'm hoping next week will be a good one.

rachmac3

What an annoying week!
Sometimes delivery drivers can't be bothered to drive up my hill. It's very frustrating. 
Here's to a smoother week next week. 

AnimalTribe

rachmac3 thanks. I don't let the small stuff worry me, but DH gets wound up.

Another fabulously sunny day here so I've been out planting more fruit bushes and rescuing some herbs that were getting crowded out by other plants. DH moved a raised bed for me and then filled it with soil - it is a large bed so it took some doing - he is such a lovely and handy DH.

As a reward I made DH a chocolate cake and a coconut cake. It's not worth putting the oven on for just one cake . DH has a sweet tooth so they won't last long.

I sorted the laundry and have some mending to do. A glove, two socks, a towel and a shirt. We are both so rough on our clothes. It's lucky neither of us are fashion conscious. 

Tonight, I thought I'd do a small cross-stitch that I bought from the charity shop for 50p. It is a small, simple pattern and shouldn't have taken long, except I made a mistake so I'll have to undo it and start again (a job for tomorrow). At least I wasn't too far into the pattern.

AnimalTribe

A fairly productive day. I've sown carrot, onion, radish and nasturtium seeds and rescued a periwinkle that was being choked by other plants. A while ago I bought a pot of coriander from the supermarket for under £1, it had a load of seedlings in it. I've been hardening it off and finally got around to planting the seedlings outside - there were loads of them. I've dehydrated some rhubarb. I've never dehydrated this before so I hope it works well. I also stewed some rhubarb to go with the chocolate cake I made yesterday along with some reduced-price single cream. The rhubarb and chocolate cake went very well together.

I hope to set the dehydrator off most days as there is a lot of stuff in the garden that could be dried, more rhubarb, herbs, wild garlic. DH has ordered me another raised bed so I'm looking forward to that coming and planting some more stuff there.