Gardening Course

Last night was the 1^st night of the 5 week Spring Growing evening class.  My friend unfortunately was ill so couldn’t come but I went anyway and collected lots of info for her.  It is being held at the Environment Centre in our city.  The building itself is set in a 24 acre nature reserve.  It has solar panels, collects rainwater and has a very cosy wood burning stove.  They seem to run lots of courses, either free or some of them for £1!  http://www.stnicksfields.org.uk/ Hope the link works.

There were about 20 people there and it was interesting to see how we all seemed to want something different from the course, hard for the man taking it and trying to cram it all into 5 weeks!  Some people had been growing fruit and vegetables for a while, others have just got an allotment and there were a couple of people from different community gardens.  Our city has a project running where throughout the city in unsuspecting places there are vegetables growing for anyone to eat. 

I think the course will be good.  I’ve already got a bit more of an idea what to plant and also thinking of getting another little plastic green house.  Who knows we might actually get to eat something I grow this year!

Not going to Plan

Well I had hoped to be saying how much we had managed to overpay on the mortgage, however my OH only got paid half his wages this month (they “forgot” his holiday pay) so things are a bit tight. We are lucky that we have savings should we need them but will try and hold out until we get the other half.

So this month there has been lots of NSD and a lot of invented meals from what we have in. The freezers in the shed have been emptied and there is not much left in the in the kitchen. I have menu planned for the last two weeks and it has been so easy to know what we are eating each day, if it’s something from the freezer I just take it out on the morning before going to work. Also it is great for the shopping list and budget.

We had a nice day out on Bank Holiday Monday. As I work Mon-Fri and my OH works weekend nights we don’t often get to spend a whole day together so this was great. We went walking at Dalby Forrest. It cost us £7 to get in and I took a pack up and flask with us for lunch. We only walked just over 3 miles but it was quiet hilly and so peaceful we only saw a couple of people on their mountain bikes. It got my heart pumping and the fresh air certainly blew the cobwebs away. On the way back we called into a little coffee shop for a hot chocolate. (I did take pictures but can't work out how to get them onto here from my new phone!)  So for less than what we would spend on a takeaway we got some quality time together, getting some exercise in the fresh air – perfect.

Bit of an Update

I’ve had a busy, but good weekend. It now seems very likely that Mum will be able to stay in the home she is in, which is great, we just need it confirming. So tomorrow I will give 4 week notice on her flat. We nipped up there yesterday morning and my lovely OH (after coming off a night shift) helped me load the car up. We still have a lot to move/get rid of but now I have a deadline to have it empty I have to do it. I need to ring round and get a few quotes for bringing the furniture we want to keep here. I have written a little note explaining mums health problems last year and am going to send it, with an Easter card to all her friends that sent Christmas cards. Unfortunately I don’t know who some of them are but hope that they all still keep in touch with Mum. We have asked the joiner that did our loft hatch for a quote to board out part of our loft. We had free insulation fitted so he needs to raise the joists. I have no idea how much it will be but hope we can soon save up for it. We only have a small two bedroomed house and storage space is lacking so it would be so useful to have it done. I have spent most of today in the garden. Last week a friend and I went on a free 2 hour course/lecture to learn about growing fruit and vegetables in pots. It was interesting and certainly gave me lots of ideas of what I want to plant this year. The couple that held it where very environmentally friendly and I learnt about where I’ve gone wrong with composting. So with the composting in mind I did what they advised which involved emptying my compost bin and then putting it all back in but with more cardboard and paper as instead of compost I had mud. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be and hopefully it will work. It amazes me that all the veg peelings and things from the garden rots down into something I can use to grow plants with. I also planted some vegetables. I maybe a bit late with some of the plants but may as well give it a go. From this course we came away with lots of info to read and found out about a 5 week course to learn more which we have booked on, again free. It is once a week and we will take it in turns driving there. We feel very lucky in finding these courses, like the ones last year on crafting. Hope you all have had a good weekend too xx