Growing update

Whilst not many, we have 3 cucumber plants, 2 french green bean plants and approx 12 basil plants peeking through in their pots.

Hopefully as the days stay warmer more will start to peek through.

I have them all in individual pots sat in trays in the glasshouse; at night they are covered with bubble wrap to help keep the warmth in.

Weekly Weigh In 15

This weeks landfill bag weighed in at 177g.

Considering we had the extra bits and pieces from the BBQ/campout/sleepover for Tom's birthday Friday night this is very good.

I set up 2 plastic boxes, one for glass bottles and one for cans and pop bottles; the lads were very good and used them correctly, we also had a carrier bag for any sweet wrappers etc so they could go straight into the landfill bag this time.

I just had to empty the boxes into the correct areas which was easier than things being put into wrong places.

Menu Plan w/c 19 April

Monday - Sausage, mash, onion gravy, fresh veggies

Tuesday - Chicken & chips, salad

Wednesday - Chilli & rice, with added fresh veggies

Thursday - Chicken & noodles, fresh veggies

Friday - Pork Curry, rice, added freah veggies

Saturday - Pizza & Chips

Sunday - Roast Lamb, roasties, yorkshires, fresh veggies

Menu Plan w/c 12 April

I have abandoned the menu plan again this week as we have various activities going on due to school holidays.

The main thing will be that anything we do eat has to come from the freezer or cupboards.

There are 2 days when this will not be in place:

Wed - friends are coming for the day and we are going to the All-you-can-eat Chinese

Fri - is Toms birthday and we are going out for lunch.

The menu plan will be back in earnest next week as we are all back in school/work.

Weekly Weigh In 14

The amount of waste sent to landfill this week weighed in at 167g.

Again considering the boys and Dave were all at home most days this is very good.

Creating Our Garden Area

Yesterday has seen and today will continue to see us creating our growing area in our back garden.

We have a glasshouse which yesterday we put up, and today we are going to create some beds to grow some veggies in.

I hope we can grow some tomaotes, cucumbers, carrots, beetroot, scallions, green beans, cut and come again lettuce, some herbs and some sunflowers for the birds. We already grow rhubarb, garlic and wild garlic.

Even though we have an organic veg box weekly, I will tweak it during the growing season to get the things we aren't growing.

I have a few seeds from the BBC DIG IN campaign and some others which I have bought.

Recycling Centre

You will probably remember that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I would be taking a trip to HWRC to dispose of lots of recyclable items which are not collected kerbside.

Well today is the day, it is bright and sunny, (don't like doing this on a wet, windy day); so myself and Tom are heading off to take it all, whilst Dave and David do some jobs in the garden.

This job hasn't been done for approx 6 months, so although it has meant we have been storing it for this long (in the special recycling area), it is also good in that we have drastically reduced the amount we are bringing into the house in the first place. We used to take a trip every 3 months approx.

It will also be interesting to see if there any new items we can now take to HWRC which we haven't been able to in the past.

Weekly Weigh In 13

The landfill bag has weighed in at 156g so something has gone right this last week.

I don't know how to account for this, but maybe there have been a few subtle changes which have made a difference.

Menu Plan w/c 5 April

This weeks menu is a bit more of a hit and miss affair, although we are still eating things from the freezer and cupboards etc.

The boys are both on holiday from school now for 2 weeks and Dave is on holiday from work for the week.

So there is no set menu plan for this week.