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 asked my Frugal Grandma if she would provide holiday cover while I am away on my Thrifty Roadtrip this week. Frugal Grandma can do anything…

When someone gives you a bunch of carnations or chrysanthemums, take off the little 2″-3″ shoots and grow your own.

Wet the shoots’ bottoms, dip in root powder and plant in a small pot (several to a pot as they won’t all take).

Do not try to root any with a flower bud on them as plants do not like to make flower and root at the same time.

- Frugal Grandma

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…)

Growing your own vegetables? If, like me, you are doing battle with legions of horrid garden slugs, rest assured that help is at hand.

Up until now, I’ve always gone for methods of slug control that are purse-friendly, but primitive. If I catch them anywhere near my lollo rosso, the salt scatters and the brick swings. My husband is horrified by my barbaric behaviour - a display of sensitivity that I find somewhat incongruous, coming from an enthusiastic crustacea consumer. The poison pellets kill hedgehogs (much more worthy of preservation, in my opinion), and the gloopy slug deterrent that I squirted around my patio pots was expensive and soon gone.  Pfffffff to that, says Salad Psycho Thrifty.

Now Weezl, over at Weezl’s Weblog, has come up with a garden tip that’s so darned tootin’, (more…)