What a day it has been today!! The sun has been shining and the weather was absolutely lovely. And I have ended up with a lovely sunburnt face! I suppose that could have been from sitting out in the sun in my mum's back garden whilst dad painted fences but also could have been from all the walking around I did as well!

Hubby went out and has almost finished his little raised bed and I checked on my various plants which are at points throughout the garden. No shows on anything that I planted over the weekend but it is very early days yet.

I did want to try planting garlic this weekend but have since found out that it needs planting in something like September and left for absolutely ages so will just have to wait till then and give it a try.

Even my poor babies ended up all sunkissed from playing out. I was very happy with the little one over the weekend as she really got into the planting with me. She is such a wee thing and a really fussy eater that we are hoping she will eat the fruit and veg that we grow and it will help her come on with her eating a bit. She has already been bragging to her pals that she has planted "sweet tomatoes" with mummy and she has been promising me that she will eat them when they grow. We found out sometime last year that she has a condition called Constitutional Short Stature. It has something to do with her being premature when she was born and the fact that her dad has it as well. It basically means that she is a lot smaller than the other children the same age as her, and she will be monitored for height and weight. Apparently if she has not caught up by the time she is 10 or 12, then the doctors will look at giving her some form of treatment but because they are happy with her current rate of development, they are just leaving her at the moment. And I am happy with that as I really don't want her pumped full of allsorts just to make her grow a little taller and heavier. She will grow when she grows, till then she is quite healthy and happy and that's the main thing for us.

Well, tomorrow I am full of big plans for the day!!! I have a mountain of laundry to do and a living room that looks like Afghanistan on a good day! So they are the first things that will be tackled in the morning. Hubby is taking the kids to school so I will be able to just get on with things. Then I have a letter to write in application for a part time job in town and get that emailed off with my CV and cross my fingers. Then it is off out into the garden and start clearing more weeds from a small patch.

And also I will be compiling a list of items that we compost, to try and clear it all up what we can and cannot put in the bin! The kids are getting really into composting so it will help me and help them.. I think I will post my list on here and it could help someone else who is new to composting. I know the thread on www.moneysavingexpert.com is really helpful. I think it's called "Homemade compost is so exciting!". It certainly has helped me immensely and is an invaluable source of information. As are many of the threads on the forums. Full of useful information and a great place to make friends.

So a good night to you all and I promise to post at least twice tomorrow! xx

Well a very good morning to you all! And what a day yesterday was. I never did get all my housework done, the call of the garden was too strong for me to resist, although I did try!

Hubby did rather well and has now built his raised bed, not too bad for his first attempt! He did quite well at tiling the living room floor when we moved in as well, and he had never done that before! He just needs to finish the top and then fill it with compost and whatever else takes his fancy! And here is the proof of his efforts!

He did buy the blocks from a certain garden centre but the rest of the stones are the ones he blagged on his way home from work a couple of weeks ago. We did buy a bag of cement for the base and a bag of mortar for the walled parts. And he did also use the adhesive/grout that he used on the living room tiles when he ran out of mortar! How's that for recycling!!

I was also a rather busy bunny and got loads of pots planted out. I know I'm rather late at getting the seeds planted but I'm hoping to get some crops that will spur us on for next year. And the weather up here in the North of Scotland is starting to get nice and warm so the heat may just help my little plants grow big and strong. And not to mention the special feeds they are getting from me.

My own little recipe for lovely plant food is ..... tea. Yes good old fashioned black tea. Hubby drinks loads of tea. I can get through 100 tea bags in a week and I don't like to waste anything so I follow something my grandmother. I just use hot water from the tap and steep the tea bags to get some nice strong "tea". I then put it in the watering can and water it down so it is nice and weak and use it at night to water all my plants. And the houseplants seem to be thriving on it, especially my money plant. It is from a cutting of my grandmother's big huge one and my mum gave it to me and it really is thriving on my kitchen windowsill with all the sunlight and food.

I also have a vase with 3 bamboos in it and these get fed with a small amount of tea mixed with the water and they are really growing some lovely shoots as well.

Right, I must really get my behind off to bed as I am shattered and have loads to do tomorrow. So goodnight to you all and I hope your gardens are taking shape just in time for the nice weather to come in! Take care all xxx

Happy Sunday!

Good morning all and happy sunday to you all!

I am rather chuffed with myself this week as I managed to blag 4 half barrels for the princely sum of just £20! There is a charity place at the back of my mum and dad's house and they had loads of these half barrels lying around in their yard so I went and asked if they had any for sale and could I have 4 of them and I managed to get them for £20. Am dead chuffed as they normally retail for around £40-£50 each so have saved a fortune! And these are proper ones as when wet, they smell of whisky!

I know one will be at the front door with some plants in it for the kids to tend and one will be next to the back door with herbs in it, just haven't quite worked out what to do with the other 2 but will find something for them really soon!

Hubby has been busy and repositioned the shed so that it is easier to get to and we recycled some paving stones he had dug up to make a decent base for the shed to sit on. It looks pretty good if I do say so myself (just don't tell himself I said that, he'll get a big head).

We have seen a rather large plot for sale just round from where we live so we are going to phone up about it and see just how much they want for it. It looks like it would be enough for a pretty decent sized house with a huge garden and a massive driveway! But will have to look into stuff first! Don't want to be getting all hopeful then find that the owner wants silly money for a patch of land!

Hope you are all well. I'm off to do my housework and then hopefully get into the garden with hubby and the kids. Happy gardening!

National Compost Awareness Week 3rd - 9th May 2009

Good morning everyone!

I have just had a quick check of my favourite website http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ and have just seen a post from an online friend of mine about National Compost Awareness Week which is running from 3rd to 9th May.

The website address for this is http://www.compostawarenessweek.org.uk/ . It is well worth having a look at this website to see if there are any events in your local area. Unfortunately there are no events in my area but there may be in your areas across the UK.

There is also a link to get some handy composting hints and tips. I have had a look and it was very interesting and I did get some rather good tips from the website!

It is truly amazing what can be put into a compost bin. I knew about vegetable and fruit peelings and grass cuttings. I also knew about loo rolls and brown materials but never knew that you could compost old woolly jumpers and cotton t-shirts! I was mildly aware about the wee issue of composting but did not understand why but this website has various links which answered my questions about the wee problem! So I have dutifully explained this to hubby and I think I may just be able to get him to wee in a bucket once a month so that it can be diluted and added to the bin.

We are truly well into the composting and if it can go in, then it goes in! The kids now have the job of ripping up unwanted paper for the bin. We have two bins and for some reason we were given two caddies so one is kept just for the veggie peelings and the other is for the loo rolls and paper waste. The kids take great pleasure in coming up and asking if various bits of paper can be composted!

Feel free to take a look - it's a free website and you may find some interesting tips there!

Happy composting to you all!!!

Can't Sleep

Well it is 5am in the morning and I can't sleep so I thought that I would come on the laptop and add a little update and another photo to my online diary as I have been rather lax at posting and I am feeling rather guilty!

My youngest daughter planted some tomato seeds the other week and I was concerned that they would not grow as it is a bit late for planting from seed and I have had these particular seeds for over a year! But on checking this morning, there are a couple of seedlings poking their little heads out of the soil! She is over the moon about this. She is only 4 and is such a fussy eater that we are hoping that she will eat the veggies that she has grown herself. If it works just watch me get her to plant all the veggies next year!!

My oldest is now not chuffed as her flowers have not grown at all yet! But try and explain to her that the seeds were free and they may not grow! But she is going to help me in the morning and do some more planting. The kids are off school on Monday for the bank holiday so should get some decent planting done if the weather keeps up!

Have also listed on Freecycle for some fence posts and fence panels so that hubby can get the garden fenced in and hopefully create a bit of a wind break as our garden is rather windy. I would rather get off Freecycle and know that I'm recycling something that someone else doesn't want anymore than pay a fortune at a garden centre when I might not have to. I was also a bit cheeky and advertised for slabs so that hubby can do a patio area and hopefully slab our driveway at the front. Then I topped it all off by asking for pots and stones/bricks for the raised beds. Hubby has also got into the recycling mode as he always stops and checks any skips that he sees now. So far he hasn't seen anything that he could use but you never know what's going to happen.

And I have finally opened and ISA to start saving for my dream ... a house with land!!! I have only so far paid the £1 to open it but will be adding to it as I get some spare cash. I think dream number one is to be debt free but the big dream is definitely a house where hubby needs a sit on mower! It's been a dream of ours since our youngest was born. Somewhere where we can keep chickens and ducks and geese and maybe a couple of piggies and possibly be a self-sufficient as possible but that's a dream for another day!

Right am now starting to get tired! Typical, just when its almost time for me to get up, that's when I get tired! Well I will heed my poor aching fingers and go off to bed and will post more later on! Take care all xxx