Thursday, 24 March 2011

Catching up with jobs

That's another four loads of compost from the church today, these three beds are ready for planting now. All the paraphernalia you see lying on the top of them is to stop the dear little kittys from using them as a toilet. I got some plastic trellis from the pound shop last year, this is ideal for laying flat. When the plants start appearing they can grow through the holes and I will remove it when they get too big. I kept some of the branches I cut from my hedges a couple of years ago, spread out they also act as a barrier.


There is a horrible pong at the bottom of my garden. Last year I cut back some nettles and put them in a big bucket and let the rain fill it with water. I read somewhere that this makes a good fertiliser, I've been chucking some on the beds, it really is a foul smell, yuk. My own compost heap is cooking away nicely, helped along by my widdle. I don't have one of those plastic thingys, it's just a pile in the corner behind the garage. Makes it easy to keep turning it over.

I had a phone call from Severn Trent Water today. Apparently Anglian Water should have informed them when I had a water meter fitted in 2007, they didn't. So I have been paying twice for my sewerage water to be removed. There is a little windfall coming my way. I should have spotted this mistake before, tut tut, write one hundred lines, I must be more vigilant. Never mind, the money is coming back to me.

I must say though that getting a water meter was a good move. Even with the veg watering in the summer, it is still a very cheap commodity in this part of the country. I know I should get a water butt fitted, but I save a lot of water by only bathing once every two weeks, and using the water for other jobs. That reminds me, Monday is bath day and I will be at the hostel, so that's a saving. I only do a load of washing when my clothes are dirty and I have a full load, I wash pots in a bowl in the sink, and only flush solids down the loo. Every little helps said the old woman as she peed in the sea. My mum's favourite saying, it always makes me smile.

Must dash, I've got a bag to finish and some maps to print out. Bye the way, if anyone is around the Bourne area, that's near Stamford in Lincolnshire, next week, give me a shout and we can meet up. I'm aiming to walk 15 miles a day mind, so bring your boots :o))

8 comments:

  1. Thought you would like to know that in the area around Denver, Colorado (USA) it is illegal to have water butts as the city claims the water and you are supposedly taking runoff that the city would be using for their needs. Isn't that bizarre???

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  2. That is really weird lynda. They encourage the use of water butts here, even though sometimes the water levels in the reservoirs get quite low. Makes sense to me to use it straight from the skies rather than it costing millions of pounds to put it back through the system.

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  3. We used to live in that neck of the woods, actually near Oakham Rutland, but Stamford and Bourne were where I did my shopping.
    In our house, we follow the rule "If it's brown, flush it down, if it's yellow, let in mellow" LOL

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  4. I must get a water butt connected as I don't have an outside tap.

    Have a good trip Ilona.

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  5. I've got a couple of grills off the front of gas fires, shelves from fridges and various other cage type things that I put over my veg plot to keep the cat off. Every time I do some weeding she thinks I've opened up a new toilet block!
    I've just added some higher fencing on the wall to keep my hens out of the garden as well because they were beginning to be more destructive than helpful.

    That was also a saying of my Mum's about the sea.

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  6. we've got a water butt that is connected to the drainpipe and collects rain water at the top and has it's own tap.

    you can see it here
    http://sykesssillysite.blogspot.com/2011/02/garden-february.html

    Josie x

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  7. I've had a look at your water butt Josie, it looks perfect for the job. I wish I had a down pipe tucked away at the corner of my house, I don't fancy having the butt just outside the back door, it would be in the way.

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  8. Would love to meet up but am afraid you would leave me in the dust !

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