Saving

My lovely willow hurdles around the veg beds are exactly what I imagined, BUT, they are a hiding place for slugs and snails, I planted my runner beans very close to them, and therefore my beans are being munched, I'm out the every day picking off the pest. The willow stays but I will have to think of a different plan next year.

I only ever drink black coffee when I want a hot drink, I always make a filter pot, on a normal day making 3 pots, the used ground coffee is always used in the garden, I keep some of the used filters to use in the bottom of pots, I find it works better than anything else, plus it's reusing them rather than throwing them away. I have been throwing some away, until I got the bright idea of seeing if I could make small pots for seedlings, I have used my pot maker wooden shaper, I'm using an elastic band to hold the filter in place, once dry the filter should hold its new shape. I had to staple the wings to hold it together, I'm using this one to see if they work.

As a gardener your mind is always on the next season, more so if you grow veg, I started thinking about my growing section and decided to draw out a plan, looking at the space I have, I'm not about to suggest any changes, hubby would do me in and bury me in one of the beds. This is to focus on filling spaces as they empty, I am thinking of trying a butternut squash plant in the second potato bag, once I've dug the spuds out, they are flowering.

Northside Dave made a comment recently about being more self sufficient, he is a great gardener and tries successfully to reuse many items, he also grows to sell to help with the cost of growing, the question was would I have enough propagated plants to sell to pay for my compost and seeds, it's a good point. 

Over the years I have added to our gardening process, a hotbit composter, which makes compost faster, and is fully contained, so no smells, flies and rats can't get in, rats are a problem here. I dig out two bags of wonderful compost a year, I have also two dustbins which each autumn I fill with leaves and get lovely leaf mulch. These were started after our local council said they intended to charge for garden waste collections, and we have to purchase our bins, since the system has been in place we have saved enough to recover the cost of the bins, composter and a shredder. 

This year I intend to save seeds on anything and everything, I purchased three packs of marigold seeds and had very poor germination, seeds are bloody expensive these days, I have potted on some hellebores which have self seeded, and I have a few plants I need to cut back, therefore making plants to sell, I have dug out a canna lily twice, I noticed more shoots, so they are now in a pot. I already like to buy from local growers, we only have one here in the village, so I won't be a problem to anyone, Facebook market place is a great way to sell anything. 

So yes Dave I hope to make a tiny bit to help with the cost of gardening, and I have everything crossed my perennials come back next year and save me loads.