Miss Thrifty

Don’t write off UK Woolworths just because it has gone into administration. I was in there today, kicking off my Christmas shopping. Although there are no big SALE signs up, there are plenty of good deals to be had. There are lots of reduced items across the store, including electronics, books and toys. The place was practically deserted; don’t miss out on the bargains!

I ended up buying half-a-dozen amaryllis kits: the pot, bulb and compost, all boxed up and ready to go. They were reduced to £3.50 apiece and had also been put on a 3-for-2 offer, so I got six boxes for £14. I like amaryllis plants: they grow so tall and the flowers are enormous. I bought a couple of hardback books for my mum and aunt, and some more gardening stuff for my Frugal Grandma. All of these will make good openers on Christmas Day. (more…)

I’m surprised the mint and parsley have lasted this long, in their big fired pots out on the patio. But as the days get shorter and colder, both herbs have faded.

So I have now picked the nicest leaves and put them in the freezer. The mint goes in a water-filled spare ice cube tray; I don’t bother making parsley ice cubes, but chop the herb and chuck it in a freezer bag instead. I can pull the herbs out when I need them, and I expect that they’ll last until my fresh mint begins growing again and I can grow some new parsley from seed.  

I like the mint cubes in mojitos!

Who’d have thunk that Woolies would be a magnet for frugal gardeners? It really shouldn’t surprise me - after all, that shop sells everything - but since discovering that it sells good gardening products at rock bottom prices, I’ve become a fan.

If you’re a super-organised gardener looking ahead to your Spring beds, I’d recommend that you check Woolworths out. The plants themselves are hit and miss - a forsythia I bought last year has done diddly squat - but the bulbs and seeds are great value for money. Cheaper than the supermarkets and discount stores, even. (more…)

Our new composter arrived today. It looks like this:

We have put it out in the garden, behind the shed. You dump the peelings etc. in the top, and scoop out the resulting compost through the sliding hatch at the bottom. This is a family-sized bin and it’s massive: I think it will take us a year to fill it!

Not only is it eco-friendly, it only cost us £20.00 including delivery! Our county council (North Yorkshire) is subsidising the costs of all home composters purchased by residents.

We bought it from the website recyclenow.com; if you are reading this in the UK, enter your postcode into the site’s homepage to find out if you can get money off too. You can also enter a competition to win £100 of gardening vouchers.

Five composting tips: (more…)

I was in sunny(ish) Essex this weekend, catching up with some of my nearest and dearest. I spent yesterday hanging out with my grandparents. Not for the first time, my grandma’s thrifty supremacy had me marvelling. 

“Have some jam, dear”, she said, throwing open a cupboard in the garage to reveal shelves stacked with jars of glinting jams and jellies. The jars have all been saved, and much of the fruit comes from her garden or her friends’ gardens. I came away with marmalade, yellow plum jam, bullus plum jam (never heard of this but apparently it is “nice and sharp”) and a good old-fashioned blackberry and apple.

My grandma then insisted on filling the trunk of my car with a horticultural smorgasbord. She takes so many cuttings of her plants, her garden often resembles a garden centre: laden with plants and pots of various sizes. In went a hundredweight of busy lizzies, geraniums, clematis, a disinterred gooseberry bush wrapped in a damp towel, and more. When I admired a high-climbing jasmine, she set about it with her secateurs and handed me some long leafy stems, telling me that if I set these in earth, they’ll take.

And so to lunch! We had a trout, freshly caught and donated by one of my grandad’s friends, with homemade chips and homegrown veg. Pudding was a homemade creme caramel: fnar.

My grandma has discovered that Snappy Snaps is offering 6″ x 4″ photo prints for just 10p apiece, so we spent the afternoon browsing through her latest stack of holiday pictures.

Frugal Grandma, I salute you.

Basil: Ants in the kitchen drove me mad last summer - until I discovered that basil is Ant Kryptonite. Buy a pot from the supermarket for £1.99 or thereabouts, put it in a bigger pot and (more…)