Getting out in the mud

-

Written 29th April 2025

This last weekend I had to dig over my veggie patch in the garden. It's not big, around 12ft x 6ft.

The veg patch last year


I've got runner beans, courgette, lettuce, onion, parsnip, spinach, beetroot, basil, garlic and radish to go in.

It took me hours to remove all the flower plants from the soil. To turn all the soil over with a fork and remove as many old roots (to go in my compost heap) and all the stones from the patch. Then I dug in some manure and soil improver to give it some extra nutrients for the plants. It was back breaking work but wonderful to think of all the organic veg I'm going to grow this summer.

It was good for the soul to get my hands in the big clumps of clay and break them up. To smell the earth. To see all the worms. I'm genuinely excited about my little plot and what culinary delights will come from it in the coming weeks and months. The time just flies by and it's very relaxing and just wonderful being outside and at one with mud. Remember when you were a child how much fun making a mud pie was?

I reuse poles each year for my runner beans and sweet peas. Imagine my delight when I was able to un-tie last years string used for tying the plants onto the poles, and reuse it again this year.

I'll probably never have to buy another ball of string or twine at this rate. Why would I bin something at the end of the growing season, and then have to buy more next time I grow things that need support? Start to think about reusing your things, even what you think are insignificant things. Even if it only costs £2 or a small ish amount.

Those small amounts add up.

Remember your daily coffee could be costing £1000 a year when you add them all up.

This is the same.

A lot of my seeds say sow by this year, but I'm confident if they are stored right I'll be able to successfully use them next year. Remember, those expiry dates are a way of making you buy more of something.

No matter how small your outside space is, try to grow something you can eat this year and look forward to seeing it mature and tasting it.

If you don't fancy growing vegetables, buy a packet of night scented stock seeds, or another flower you like. Something you just scatter on a flower bed or in a pot and that doesn't need growing indoors and transplanting later. It's quick and easy and will make you smile when you see the beautiful colours and smell the sweet fragrance.  It will help you remember how amazing nature is. And studies have shown people who garden have lower rates of depression and anxiety. I personally find it quite meditative. And when your head is clearer, you think better, and make better choices. You become calmer being at one with nature whether that's out for a walk or run, or pottering in your outside space.

I've gone off on a tangent (as usual), because the point of the post was about reusing the string/twine, and looking after what you have, instead of just binning things, even cheap, insignificant things. Save and reuse, the planet will thank you and so will your bank balance.

Love and peace

LF XX

Popular posts from this blog

Running the 'Business of Me'

-
Written 24th June 2025 I'm on jury service for the next 2 weeks. My first time. There were about 40 of us in the jury waiting room, we'd all taken time away from our normal job or study or day to day life to be there and do our duty for King and Country. We can all claim for loss of earnings if that's applicable to our circumstances and we can all have our travel costs reimbursed and get a lunch allowance each day.  If you add all that up it's quite a sum of money per day just on juror costs, before you factor in the court staff and building costs and everything else that goes into prosecuting someone for a crime. It got me thinking about our individual operating costs and overheads in running our 'business of me'. Yes, we all need to eat and a roof over our heads and transport but what about the other costs we are spending each month that perhaps aren't essential running costs they are extras that we are paying for that we don't use and get no benef...
Read more

Saving for a rainy day

-
Written 10th June 2025 We are living more and more in a cashless society. It's quite often that I go into a shop and there is no longer the option to pay with cash. This means that in all likelihood you have a bank account, or multiple bank accounts. Current accounts will accept payments from your employer, pension, investments or benefits and from there you can withdraw the monies via a cashpoint or your debit card etc. The money that is in your account, the bank provider will be using it to lend to others in the form of loans or mortgages or they'll be investing it themselves. This is one of the ways financial institutions generate their income, basically from your money. Some current type bank accounts are free to have and provide you with safe storage for your money, a card to access your funds and facilities to pay your bills by direct debit or make one off or regular transfers to elsewhere in the form of standing orders. They will also offer overdraft facilities for em...
Read more

Your financial future is in your hands

-
Written 8th January 2025 I'm a little sad about the fact I'm never going to know what happens to the human race. What other great, amazing things we will invent or build or do in the future. I probably won't even be around when Prince George becomes King. And the world will just keep turning without me. Or you. Or anyone else on the planet. The world has changed so much in the last 300 years, electricity, space travel, computers, the Internet, farming and supermarkets. We are so lucky to be living now. Everything you could ever want or need is readily available and life is easy in the western world.  Washing machines, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, convenience food, heat and light at the flick of a switch, 24hour shopping, cars, medicine, replacement body parts when ours start to deteriorate, flights to anywhere you want to get to, amazing quality pictures and sounds, more information available than we could ever digest. But I worry for the future of our species....
Read more