Our veg patch is looking superb at the moment. Everything is full of promise and bursting with life. We don’t use any chemicals or fertilisers on the garden so I’m constantly finding things to compost down to improve the soil. Even so it’s a struggle to make enough compost for the whole garden, especially the large impoverished looking borders in the front garden.
I decided to buy some bags of soil improving stuff from B&Q to mulch around the plants. I was amazed at the price! £4 for a small 50l bag of manure. I bought a bag and it barely mulched around 4 rose bushes.
Being the skin-flint I am I took matters in my own hands and called up a local riding stables to try and blag some manure at a slightly better price. ‘Of course!’ said the nice stable lady. ‘If you dig it out yourself you can have as much as you want’.
I admit, there was a moment when I nearly lost a welly through suction from the enormous dung heap that I wondered if perhaps £4 for a nice sterile bag from B&Q was the more sensible option, but now I am the proud owner of 12 sacks of lovely crumbly rotted manure for the princely sum of £0 I have changed my mind. What could be nicer than spending an hour digging on the world’s largest pile of horse poo on a sunny evening in June?
The son of the stable lady drove me over the fields to the dung heap, and helped me stack the sacks in my car boot so I gave him a fiver for his troubles. A small price to pay for what would have cost me the best part of £100 at B&Q.
Tips on collecting manure from a stables
Phone up first, and offer to dig it out yourself.
Ask which is the oldest poo and dig from that. If it still looks like straw and poo you don’t want it because it will burn your plants. The heap I was taking from was about the size of 2 tennis courts (I’m not kidding) and the stuff on one side was about 3 years old, compared to the younger stuff which was still very fresh and a bit stinky. The old stuff won’t smell at all, and should look black, crumbly and just like expensive compost. If it’s full of worms you know it is good stuff.
Take wellies and gloves. Dung heaps are the perfect environment for nettles who love a rich soil to grow on. If the heap is covered in nettles you know it will be old enough to have broken down.
Clear off any nettles and plants and remove the top layer to make sure you aren’t importing weeds into garden. The whole point of mulching is to reduce your weeding, not bring more in!
Use strong bags as manure is very heavy. Reusing old plastic compost bags is ideal as they are tough. Those woven plasticy mesh sacks you get coal in are also good. I had some very thick rubble sacks as well. Normal bin bags won’t be strong enough.
Showing posts with label recycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recycling. Show all posts
Thursday, 5 June 2008
Where there's muck there's brass
Monday, 18 February 2008
Air Freshener
This is the ultimate green cheap tip, and I got the idea from Anthea Turner's Perfect Housewife, which I have to say I've never seen in my life. I did however, while it was on, get her handy weekly tips off the internet. I don't often admit to that.
Ok, so if you are using Air Freshener regularly, you are a) fairly gross and not very clean, or b) you live above chain smokers that fry bacon and don't ventilate. However, if Anthea needs it then what hope is there for the rest of us? This is great to have on hand when you've just had fish for tea, or have just been to the loo and people are arriving in 2 minutes....
Green Air Freshener
1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 glass cold water
Put it in a squirty thing (also recycling!). You could also add essential oils to smell nice, but this is all you need to neutralise nasty pongs. If it's really nasty, you will need several squirts, but you can do so with a clean conscience knowing it's super-green!
Ok, so if you are using Air Freshener regularly, you are a) fairly gross and not very clean, or b) you live above chain smokers that fry bacon and don't ventilate. However, if Anthea needs it then what hope is there for the rest of us? This is great to have on hand when you've just had fish for tea, or have just been to the loo and people are arriving in 2 minutes....
Green Air Freshener
1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 glass cold water
Put it in a squirty thing (also recycling!). You could also add essential oils to smell nice, but this is all you need to neutralise nasty pongs. If it's really nasty, you will need several squirts, but you can do so with a clean conscience knowing it's super-green!
Monday, 11 February 2008
Easy and virtually free patchwork quilt – Part 1
Don’t be overawed by the thought of making a quilt. It won’t take you 2 years like in the olden days, and it’s not hard if you have half a brain. You don’t have to make a huge monster for your bed either. For starters I would advocate making a smaller ‘lap quilt’ which you can use on the sofa. This not only looks good folded up over the arm but is lovely to snuggle under if you are trying to reduce the amount you spend on your heating bills.
The following instructions are for very beginners. However, I’m assuming you’ve got (or can borrow) a sewing machine and can figure out how to sew 2 bits of fabric together in a straight line.
Buying all the fabric you need to make a quilt for your bed or the sofa can cost a bomb, and collecting scraps that match can take forever. Do not fear though. When I am strapped for cash I head on down to the local curtain shop and beg for their old sample books. In most cases they tell me to look by the bins because they normally just throw them away. What a waste!
This is a quilt I made a couple of years ago using a salvaged curtain sample book and a bed sheet second that cost £2. The one we are going to make here is even simpler, so don't panic.
The advantages of using curtain sample books as that the fabrics will be of the same weight, and will coordinate beautifully. The disadvantages are, for a beginner, they are more tricky to sew with than quilting fabrics as they are thicker and usually more coarsely woven, so fray easily. Don’t be put off though, who cares if it goes wrong? It was free.
Step 1: Preparing the fabric and cutting the blocks.
This is my sample book. Yours wil be different in size, but it won't matter, the principles are the same.
First, you need to prepare the fabric samples. Lever off the bindings with a screwdriver to liberate the fabric. The books are held together with dangerous spikes, so I asked an adult to help me with this part.
If there are paper labels on the back these are best removed by soaking in a bowl of warm water. I would also advocate washing the fabric at this point, but if truth be told I very rarely do this. (True quiltmakers would be horrified by this admission.) It is prudent to avoid any nasty colour running accidents or ugly shrinkage in the future. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Hang the fabric out to dry then press them flat.
Right. Now you are going to trim the pieces so they are all the same size. I can’t guide you here – my sample book here is quite small, yours might be massive. It doesn’t matter as long as the blocks are all identical at the end.
Some samples have a sort of plasticy glue down the edges to stop fraying. You should remove all of this in the trimming process. I also cut off the tops of my pieces where the spikes had punctured the fabric. I use a rotary cutter (like a pizza wheel for material) and a cutting mat to trim and square up my patchwork pieces, but scissors work just as well.
I’ll be back with part 2 later in the week, when I’ve trimmed me bits, so to speak. I’m making this quilt and writing about it as I go, so I hope it doesn’t go horribly wrong!
The following instructions are for very beginners. However, I’m assuming you’ve got (or can borrow) a sewing machine and can figure out how to sew 2 bits of fabric together in a straight line.
Buying all the fabric you need to make a quilt for your bed or the sofa can cost a bomb, and collecting scraps that match can take forever. Do not fear though. When I am strapped for cash I head on down to the local curtain shop and beg for their old sample books. In most cases they tell me to look by the bins because they normally just throw them away. What a waste!
This is a quilt I made a couple of years ago using a salvaged curtain sample book and a bed sheet second that cost £2. The one we are going to make here is even simpler, so don't panic.
The advantages of using curtain sample books as that the fabrics will be of the same weight, and will coordinate beautifully. The disadvantages are, for a beginner, they are more tricky to sew with than quilting fabrics as they are thicker and usually more coarsely woven, so fray easily. Don’t be put off though, who cares if it goes wrong? It was free.
Step 1: Preparing the fabric and cutting the blocks.
This is my sample book. Yours wil be different in size, but it won't matter, the principles are the same.
First, you need to prepare the fabric samples. Lever off the bindings with a screwdriver to liberate the fabric. The books are held together with dangerous spikes, so I asked an adult to help me with this part.
If there are paper labels on the back these are best removed by soaking in a bowl of warm water. I would also advocate washing the fabric at this point, but if truth be told I very rarely do this. (True quiltmakers would be horrified by this admission.) It is prudent to avoid any nasty colour running accidents or ugly shrinkage in the future. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Hang the fabric out to dry then press them flat.
Right. Now you are going to trim the pieces so they are all the same size. I can’t guide you here – my sample book here is quite small, yours might be massive. It doesn’t matter as long as the blocks are all identical at the end.
Some samples have a sort of plasticy glue down the edges to stop fraying. You should remove all of this in the trimming process. I also cut off the tops of my pieces where the spikes had punctured the fabric. I use a rotary cutter (like a pizza wheel for material) and a cutting mat to trim and square up my patchwork pieces, but scissors work just as well.
I’ll be back with part 2 later in the week, when I’ve trimmed me bits, so to speak. I’m making this quilt and writing about it as I go, so I hope it doesn’t go horribly wrong!
Saturday, 9 February 2008
Mother's Tip no.1
With age comes wisdom. Who do we know is both old and wise? Mother!
We have invited our Mother to impart some of her pearls of wisdom. Here is her first effort:
Rediscovering The Library.
If you haven't been in a library since school or college , or since your mother took you to Storytime on a tuesday afternoon, can I urge you to walk through the door and register for a library ticket.
They are changed places.
Firstly they are noisy and bustling and all the lending rules and renewal systems have improved beyond measure. If, like us, you have no more room on your book shelves, it has got to be the answer. Also, all that recycling and rereading of books must be better that buying new cheap paperbacks every time we need something to read. Think of all the trees we could save.
Here in North Lincolnshire, I can take out 6 books at any one time. They can be renewed online and can be returned to any library within the county. I can request books online too and an e-mail will tell me when they are ready for collection. My mother and grandmother were great library users but it is only in recent years that I have gone back to borrowing books and I now realise what a fantastic resource we have. Library budgets are being cut however, all over the country.
So let's make a real effort to get borrower numbers up before it is too late and help save then planet into the bargain.
Love Mother x
Bravo Mum! I agree with this, and although I admit that there is something magical about opening a brand new crisp book, the library does have the answer for avid readers trying to save a bob or two. I get all my non fiction books from the library, and spend many a lunch hour browsing the shelves. I have learnt how to knit, make curtains, candles, quilts, upholstery, topiary and countless other things from books borrowed from the library. Get yourself down there!
We have invited our Mother to impart some of her pearls of wisdom. Here is her first effort:
Rediscovering The Library.
If you haven't been in a library since school or college , or since your mother took you to Storytime on a tuesday afternoon, can I urge you to walk through the door and register for a library ticket.
They are changed places.
Firstly they are noisy and bustling and all the lending rules and renewal systems have improved beyond measure. If, like us, you have no more room on your book shelves, it has got to be the answer. Also, all that recycling and rereading of books must be better that buying new cheap paperbacks every time we need something to read. Think of all the trees we could save.
Here in North Lincolnshire, I can take out 6 books at any one time. They can be renewed online and can be returned to any library within the county. I can request books online too and an e-mail will tell me when they are ready for collection. My mother and grandmother were great library users but it is only in recent years that I have gone back to borrowing books and I now realise what a fantastic resource we have. Library budgets are being cut however, all over the country.
So let's make a real effort to get borrower numbers up before it is too late and help save then planet into the bargain.
Love Mother x
Bravo Mum! I agree with this, and although I admit that there is something magical about opening a brand new crisp book, the library does have the answer for avid readers trying to save a bob or two. I get all my non fiction books from the library, and spend many a lunch hour browsing the shelves. I have learnt how to knit, make curtains, candles, quilts, upholstery, topiary and countless other things from books borrowed from the library. Get yourself down there!
Sunday, 3 February 2008
Easy hot water bottle cover
For the first crafty post, here's something anyone can make, whether you feel you have talent or not. It needn't cost you a penny, embodies the notion of recycling, and is a perfect thing to make on a cold Sunday in February. I don't claim to be the first to think of this idea. I've seen it around in various forms for yonks.
You will need:
An old jumper
A hot water bottle
other fabric scraps for decoration (optional)
We decided to embellish ours with some felt shapes. Sew them on or use fabric glue.
Because our sleeves weren't very stretchy we made cute little ties for the neck. To do this cut off either the neck band of the jumper or the waist band. We sewed on little felt covers to the end of the ties to stop fraying and to co-ordinate the colour scheme.
Insert your empty bottle through the neck hole, and tie the waistband ribbon around the neck to finish. Ta daaaaa!
Eleanor doesn't really do crafts at all - she's the foody one - but even she managed to make one of these with my instructions. We each had a sleeve of the jumper. She complained that mine looks better than hers, but for a first attempt at something like this I thought she did brilliantly.
Below is Eleanors hot water bottle cover. She went for explosions instead of flowers. What would Freud say about that? (Actually the real reason is that Eleanor is left handed and struggled to cut with my scissors. She needed a shape with straight lines!)
An old jumper
A hot water bottle
other fabric scraps for decoration (optional)
First raid your wardrobe, or in my case my Husband's wardrobe, to find an old jumper. The garment donated to me (under slight sufferance) was not the most cheerful of colours but beggars can't be choosers. By the way, the best jumpers to use for this are knitted ones with nice ribbed cuffs.
OK, stuff your hottie inside the arm of the jumper with the bottle neck at the cuff end to test for size. Chop off the arm of the jumper an inch or so below the bottom of the bottle. In my case I decided to leave lots of extra space at the cuff end so I could turn it under to make a sort of polo neck effect.
Now turn the severed arm inside out and sew along the cut edge. If you are doing this on a machine then also zig zagging over the cut edges will avoid any fraying.
Essentially that's it. Told you it was easy.
OK, stuff your hottie inside the arm of the jumper with the bottle neck at the cuff end to test for size. Chop off the arm of the jumper an inch or so below the bottom of the bottle. In my case I decided to leave lots of extra space at the cuff end so I could turn it under to make a sort of polo neck effect.
Now turn the severed arm inside out and sew along the cut edge. If you are doing this on a machine then also zig zagging over the cut edges will avoid any fraying.
Essentially that's it. Told you it was easy.
We decided to embellish ours with some felt shapes. Sew them on or use fabric glue.
Because our sleeves weren't very stretchy we made cute little ties for the neck. To do this cut off either the neck band of the jumper or the waist band. We sewed on little felt covers to the end of the ties to stop fraying and to co-ordinate the colour scheme.
Insert your empty bottle through the neck hole, and tie the waistband ribbon around the neck to finish. Ta daaaaa!
Eleanor doesn't really do crafts at all - she's the foody one - but even she managed to make one of these with my instructions. We each had a sleeve of the jumper. She complained that mine looks better than hers, but for a first attempt at something like this I thought she did brilliantly.
Below is Eleanors hot water bottle cover. She went for explosions instead of flowers. What would Freud say about that? (Actually the real reason is that Eleanor is left handed and struggled to cut with my scissors. She needed a shape with straight lines!)
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