KonMari 2018 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

maryb · 18 March 2018 at 3:35PM

Yay, thanks GQ!! I've already learned something - You've already got your onion sets in and I need to get my skates on- I've always planted them at about the same time as the potatoes in the past and on checking I see they should go in earlier

Keep it coming. Are you planting your potatoes on Good Friday? I usually do (I like old traditions) but Easter was early last year and we had a vicious frost early May so my yield wasn't good.

Funnily enough, I'd had a bonfire on the potato patch the previous autumn and where the ashes were, the potatoes seemed immune to the frost and gave me some really nice potatoes.

I decided to kondo all my old half used seed packets today - I always buy new ones anyway because I find if I'm in Wilkos looking at the seeds then a) I can't remember what I've got already and b) I get an attack of 'ooh shiny' and fill my basket with everything that looks nice. Still at least Wilkos own brand are cheap dreams

GreyQueen · 18 March 2018 at 3:51PM

I sowed my onions on 11th Feb. Always do it about that time, they need a long growing season if they're to make and ripen in the hottest weather. They do nothing for a few weeks, then the roots seem to anchor on and they start sprouting their tops. Any week now, I'm expecting it.

Typically, I sow spuds on the weekend of the 3rd week of March. I dig holes with a trowel, park the tattie in, then draw a baulk up over the row of them, as tall as will stand without the soil rolling back down again. Then they can pretty much be left to themselves, apart from a bit of weeding, until harvest time. They will start to breach the baulk after about 25-30 days. We have frost risk here sometimes as late as the 3rd week of May, but with experimentation, my timing means that if they do get frost-nipped, they've not got too much top to be damaged and can re-grow. You just have to learn the typical weather of your area and try to game the calendar, although nothing is foolproof.

Easter can be a month either way, so Good Friday can be too late some years. I will be sowing on GF this year, as it will work well with my plans.

I have bonfire ash on this years tater patch, as the spuds really grow gangbusters on it, cannot seem to get enough of that potash.

Righty, have been in the airing cupboard and I have ten white cotton sheets; one on the bed and nine in the cupboard. Realised that I had previously segrated the most worn sides-to-middled ones from the better ones, which are in their own pillowcase-style bags made from an old candystriped single sheet I got from the Everything 50p chazzer. This is to mitigate any yellowing/ taking up of marks from the wooden shelves in there.

I have now identified the most-worn sheet and put that on the top of the pile ready to come into service once the current incumbent goes for rag recycling via the chazzer.

maryb · 18 March 2018 at 4:08PM

We had some building work done involving a new roof two years ago and we saved all the old roof beams and several old floorboards. The shorter ones are being kondo'd on the stove but I have plans for the longer ones involving a state of the art compost bin. Dh takes some winding up but once he has turned it over in his mind a few times I just point him in the right direction and he produces a work of art.

He turned an old oak cocktail cabinet that some friends abandoned in storage in our cellar into some useful bits and pieces for me including a point presser which is great for pressing collar seams.

We have this ritual where I say " How easy would it be to..." and he rolls his eyes and says "not easy at all" - and then does it:A

Floss · 18 March 2018 at 4:46PM

maryb sounds like your DH is like mine & relishes a challenge!

Mine was pruning apple trees on our plot yesterday - I was sowing salad & mange touts into the greenhouse bed out of the wind

Karmacat · 18 March 2018 at 7:16PM

GreyQueen wrote: »

If they were mine, I'd snap them
until they were no longer than about 4 ft and stand them up in tipi stylee to let the air and the wind dry them out. They will lose a surprising amount of moisture like that. I wouldn't bother to cover them up unless they are already pretty dry and you're planning to burn any day now.

Of course! Immediately you say that, I have a detailed visual of it, I've seen loads like that on various blogs over the years. Applying knowledge that you've only learned from reading about it .... sigh ... nothing like the practical. I have just the spot as well - I had a new side gate and tiny-width fence renewed at the side of the house, and the area at the back of that fence is exactly right for what you're describing. That will let me weed the area the branches are currently stashed, and the branches will dry out, and I'll get the benefit of the ash after all (I thought I was going to have to throw it away).

Other KM: the huge photo album is ready to come with me to my sister's tomorrow, as is another Christmas biscuit box full of stacks of photos. I've just got two more boxes to copy now ... bit by bit, I'll do it, and then the photos can be dispersed.

Igamogam · 18 March 2018 at 7:50PM

Sold about 100 items at a charity fund raiser this weekend

Not all those items have come out of storage at home but mainly items I have bought to support my working life............me and work have "fallen out" not in a bad way I am still working but after a number of us were really shafted in a 're organisation' which saw drops in salaries and increase in work load - sound familiar - I decided I was no longer going to supply my own resources - any teachers out there will probably know what I mean. So I have stripped out all my personal stuff from work and sold it

All for a lot less than I paid but I netted over £140 and a charity I volunteer with benefited too

..............4 year count down to early retirement.

Slinky · 18 March 2018 at 9:28PM

Oh dear it looks like I may struggle to get hold of onion sets if you've already planted yours GQ. I'll take a look at the variety card which is tucked above the door in the shed and see if I can track down some of the same as last year's crop was the best we've ever had. Or I'll just have to buy what I can find........

silvasava · 18 March 2018 at 10:50PM

Slinky - have a look in Pound land - I've had seed potatoes and onion sets that have done excellently.

[Deleted User] · 19 March 2018 at 8:01AM

I am reading a marie kondo book on kindle and have come to the conclusion that she has ocd, honestly why would a child have this compulsion to tidy all the time, all the rooms in her family home. She was way over the top and I think has done some clever marketing to get onto the world stage with what was/is an unhealthy obsession

On another thread I read that from a personal experience, that removers don`t do part packing, it is either all or nothing. I am looking at each of my rooms, one at a time and need to go through my craft room and my kitchen again, especially the kitchen. I need to go in with a more flexible mindset, after all most times I am cooking for one, although this does involve batch cooking.

Maryb, I used to do that with hubs, when I wanted something doing I would sow the seed and keep quiet, not nag and he would obviously think about it and then do it

greenbee · 19 March 2018 at 9:50AM

Kittie - ask the movers. Mine did part packing, so I don't see why others shouldn't. They just labelled the stuff we'd packed ourselves.

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KonMari 2018 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

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