Monday 29 April 2013

Live Below The Line

This evening I did some food costing whilst waiting for The Toddler to fall asleep. A friend is eating for £1.00 per day for five days to raise money for World Vision by living below the breadline as many people around the world have to, and she's had me thinking. What do we spend on food, how much does it cost to grow our own, and since the bay tree came with the house do I have to work out the cost of a leaf based on the mortgage or is it classed as free?

This evenings' meal of swede and lentil bake cost £2.23 for 6 people. (Oh, and some cherry tomatoes that I forgot to include in the cost as they sat on the sidelines.) Or Toddler, Husband, Reginald and me with some for lunch next day. I haven't included the cost of actually cooking the meal using gas and electricity. If we had grown the celery, onions and swede, what would it have cost? Cost of seeds/sets, manure, fertiliser? We use rainwater from 4 large butts. What about the cost of my time (Husband is too expensive!)? Hmm. 

Well, I guess that Live Below The Line is going to stay with me and Husband will just have to pick his least hated lentil recipe! ...can we grow lentils here? ...don't worry lovely, it's yellow-stickered beef in stew for dinner tomorrow.

And now it's dark so I can't do the measuring of Bed E required before bunging sprouts in. Will just have to get Able Assistant Toddler to hold rather than eat the tape measure tomorrow.

Sunday 21 April 2013

Still Sprouting!

So maybe a monthly update was a tad optimistic, as the Toddler formerly known as Baby Bean took over. Still, the pregnancy hormones have kicked in again and, whilst growing Reginald (due August this year; sex unknown), a lot of seeds are being planted and spring is in the air.

Apart from general soil improvement and plants settling into their beds, there hasn't been great change since the last post in May 2011. Until now. The Toddler's birthday weekend in April saw the foundations for a path being unearthed by Husband and Dad L. Mum L moved the amusing box globules. I dug over Bed B and applied poo. The location of a path has been hotly trodden for three years now, and the siting reflects the shape and size of the paved area. It has called for the demise of Bed C, which is no bad thing as the soil there was so poor that even with the addition of a compost bin's worth of good stuff resulted in one measly pumpkin last year. This leaves us with Bed A (aliums), Bed B (potatoes and strawberries), Bed D (legumes and cucurbits), and Bed E (roots, brassicas and cucurbits).

There you have it. The garden is still growing and the shaded woody border looks lovely this spring. Husband has suggested that instead of writing down when sowing and planting is done using pen and paper for filing in my garden folder, all that stuff goes in here. Not sure. I like pen and paper. But I guess he might actually look at this, being a smart phone addict! ;-)

PS. Am worried about the lack of compost on Bed E. The leeks were there until March and then it was too late to start turning the bed over before sowing carrots. What should one do?

PPS. Photos to follow. Took me an hour to log into this 'ere blog of mine, and now it's nearly 10pm (erm, way past bedtime; 6am getup grr grrrr zzzzzzzz).