Gluts

 

I'm not complaining!  Figs for breakfast - yum!  And this time I took a picture not only of the figs and cream cheese which I since devoured, but also of a few spares which will disappear over the next couple of days.  I promise you that there are still loads on the tree.

Apparently, it is a good year for figs.  I have no fig tree so I don't know but I do know that everyone who is friendly with Holly Dog's human is fed up with making fig jam and fig chutney.  

What I have is tromboncino.  Like all courgettes it doesn't know what to stop.  Fortunately my neighbour doesn't have a plant but he does have rhubarb which again has no idea that enough is enough so we did a little swap.  I'm picking, cooking, pureeing and freezing tomatoes as fast as I can.

It seems to be an excellent year for apples, pears and plums but not very good for runner beans.  What's done really well in your garden this year?  Or not?  And has anyone tried dehydrating figs?

He's been!

Pot placed in a dull bit of garden

 I looked out of my window at 6.55am and saw a man and a dog.  Millie Dog soon came for a treat and a tickle but Jack was a man with a mission.  And a spray.  So he got on with his job.  And Millie sorted me out.

A small corner well used

We had to delay the bacon butty ritual as I was expecting a Sainsbury delivery which arrived about 7.45am so the great man didn't expire from hunger.  Actually, that would be unlikely as he had eaten his first breakfast at home.  The butty was a mere top-up.  Three thick rashers of (butcher's) back bacon in a large bun.  Milly Dog had another treat.  (She'd had her breakfast before she came, too.)

Poppies allowed to grow and Stulch applied

Anyway, the usual whirlwind has been around my garden.  I've been buying Strulch this year (mineralised straw mulch) and Jack thinks it marvellous as it has reduced the need for weeding considerably, it looks good and will bio-degrade.  I am gradually buying shrubs so that there will be less work in future especially as they will be surrounded with Strulch.  

Veg garden.  (Jack - just a few things for planting next time you come!

And then he  did everything else.  He's taken most of the leaves from the tomato plant to encourage the fruits to mature.  He's weeded the non-strulched areas.  He's picked beans (maybe because he fancied a few!) and sweet peas for me.  He's even got a few tomatoes to take home with him.  

How would I manage without Jack!

My beans are better than the one he's grown at home!

I have no idea!

 A couple of months ago I bought a courgette plant.  I asked Jack to plant it and before too long it flowered.  Jack was bemused by the fruits which started to appear but we left it to its own devices.  I kept looking but none seemed ready to pick.  

This evening while I was making my way around the raised vegetable bed something brushed against my leg.  A courgette.  At least two feet long! How on earth had I missed this!  And I have no idea what variety of courgette this is.  Can you help?  I think it is a grafted plant.  Fortunately I bought just one as it appears to be very prolific.

But while I was outside I also picked my first "big" tomato of the season.  I've been eating cherry tomatoes for several days but this is the first full size jobby of 2025.

And at least every other day I have picked a bunch of sweet peas.

Jack tells me his his own garden isn't doing nearly as well as mine.  Tee hee.  Shame about that! 

But thank you, Jack, for doing such a great job with my garden.  A bacon butty awaits your attention.  And I know you have some brilliant leeks which you hope I will turn into soup for you.  

The fruits/flowers/vegetables of his labours

 Jack came yesterday.  I had to go for a rest!

He sorted my vegetable plot and planted my winter broccoli.

We had the first few tomatoes with our bacon butties.

He brought vegetables in for me to use.

He checked the runner beans.

He's given me permission to pick my sweet peas. 

He brought me some roses from his garden.

He checked the roses in my garden and approved of the "Strulch" I bought earlier in the year.  I am allowed to buy more. 

He must have been in a good mood as he allowed me to keep my poppies.  

And he took a dozen savoury ducks home with him.

In disgrace

 I don't suppose it's a surprise to anyone that I am in disgrace with Jack.  He came yesterday.

His first complaint was that I haven't written anything on this blog for a month.  As you can see I have remedied that. 

Then he moaned about the number of plants I had acquired.  There were carrots, beetroot, rocket, tomatoes, mimulus, sweet peas, gazania, salvia, begonia, antirrhinum, geraniums and African marigolds.  So he sorted all of them.  Except the geraniums which I have been growing on and they are still a bit small.  

And anyway he added to the quantity by bringing me a daphne, a cotoneaster and something he couldn't remember the name of.  Fortunately I like surprises.  

He planted up my vegetable garden but we have plenty of room for other crops.  The "snake" is a porous hose.  It's the easiest way for me to water the garden.

He filled pots and beds so that I will have a glorious show in the summer.

And he went home with six portions of home-made soup and twelve savoury ducks.

He can't complain about that.  But he'll find something else.  

Wintering

Winter is often a struggle for me.  Not so much physically (although I do get extra aches and pains) but more mentally.  I've got a SAD light which helps but I've been advised to look more closely at nature .  So, when the clocks went back last Sunday I started to make an effort.  Here are the first few days.

Sunday.  I spent ten minutes looking at the trees in the garden across the road.  One is turning brown but at the moment it’s half way through.  One is a rich dark red. 

Monday.   I'm watching a leaf.  Just the one.  It's not a leaf attached to a tree.  It's attached to a spider's web.  It's just outside my window and I can watch it bobbing around on the slightest breeze.  The web is nearly invisible but must be very strong for its thickness.

Tuesday.  I have decided to watch the sunrise.  I often watch the really colourful ones but this is a dullish day.  Even so I was surprised at the many shades of grey which appeared.  I watched for over half an hour.   Why have I always written off these sunrises as "dull"?

Wednesday.  Today I went to the river in Brigg.  It was very still with quite a few leaves floating.  What amused me was the moorhens taking off.  They run across the surface of the water as if it were a runway and they have huge feet!

Thursday.  I am not feeling quite so charitable towards nature today.  I went out to the garden and the cabbage whites have ruined the tenderstem broccoli.  I am surprised how late they have been active.  

I don't know whether this "habit" will help but I shall give it a good try!

 

V is for vegetables

 Five a day, thirty a week, plant consumption is SO important.  I usually manage both those targets but I have to do a bit of planning to make sure I hit the second.  The thirty can include not just vegetables but also fruit, nuts, seeds, herbs, edible flowers, spices and some grains.

A couple of times each month I pick up a Waste Not box from Lidl.  They are brilliant value and they often contain items which I wouldn't normally buy but, as I consider myself honour-bound not to waste anything from these precious boxes, I eat them.  I'm not keen on pears or padron peppers but they were in last week's box so I am eating them.  Some things, eg large quantities of potatoes, I give away, knowing that the recipients won't waste them either.

My freshest vegetables are from my garden and this year it has done me proud.  In this bed I've got tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, courgettes, beetroot, leeks, and broccoli.  There are some French marigolds in there too

And I grow runner beans amongst the flowers.  Jack says he doesn't approve but I think he may be coming around to my way of thinking.  If not - tough!

The sweet peas have been flowering since 27th June with at least a vaseful each day and plenty to give to friends

My butcher thinks Jack is great!

My butcher has never actually met Jack but he's all in favour of my friend's dietary preferences.   I've cut back a lot on meat-eating, so I don't see my butcher as often as I did.  When I do see him it is to buy minced pork, pork liver and dry cured bacon.  These translate into savoury ducks and bacon butties.

You see, savoury ducks and bacon butties are the preferred enticement for the Lesser Spotted Jack.  He will also come for leek and potato soup but he can't resist a duck.

Last week he came even without a duck, though, so I gave him double helpings of bacon butties.  (By the way, he usually has his breakfast before he comes: the butties are just a minor snack!)

While he was here he sorted the flower bed.  The bacon butties must have been truly wonderful as he allowed the foxgloves to stay.  That is a huge concession.

But he also planted the vegetable garden with tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers carrots, lettuce, beetroot (and a soaker hose).  

And leeks.  They may have been a hint.

The restyle begins

Front drive -complete with Portaloo!

 Jack is coming today and today the sorting of my garden begins.

I think I have had the best builders in the world working on the alterations.  They have been so kind and courteous, anxious to make the whole process as easy for me as possible.  I haven't been able to use the drive for several weeks but each time I have parked my car on the street they have been there to carry stuff into the house for me.  It has been difficult for me to get to the wheely bins but they have taken rubbish out for me.  They have appreciated the copious supplies of tea and coffee (and have even remarked on the fact that I always use proper coffee amd posh mugs!) but they have well deserved every mug. 

Back gardeb skate board run!

 

And my neighbours have been great too.  The drive and front path haven't been available to me so my neighbour asked the builders to take a panel out of her fence so I could step through and use her drive.  Whenever I have apologised to any neighbour for the noise, dust and inconvenience they have all said they are delighted that things are being made easier for me.

And now I need to butter up Jack.  There will be a lot to do and I will have a large deficit of Brownie points as I won't be able to cook lunch for him today (I've been invited out so he will moan) but no doubt he too will avail himself of the unlimited tea.

And he too will do his bit to make my garden wonderful.  After he's cleaned the windows so I can see it!

Going down the plughole

 I haven't gone down the plughole but I have had major alterations to the house including converting the bathroom into a wet room. I wrote a little about this in February.

There have also been major alterations outside to improve accessibility for me.  

Just two photos for the moment.  One of the view from my front door on Monday and the same view yesterday.  

The back door and garden access has also been altered but I'm not showing you that as I am teasing Jack who hasn't seen it any of it yet.

G is for garden

The last few cosmos of summer

 The garden hasn't been as good as usual this year because I am waiting to have various alterations done to the house and that will risk damaging plants.   I chose not to buy lots of bedding plants rather than let them be run over by a digger.  However, the Mighty Jack has been doing his usual thing so it has still been pleasant to wander around my plot.  

The front garden is referred to as Jack's garden.  This means that he is allowed rather more leeway than in "my" garden which is behind the house.  He disapproves of poppies, hebes, foxgloves and lots of other things which I can't remember at the moment. (It's quite a long list!) I find it rather comforting that he disapproves of more than just me.  He didn't come for a while a few years  ago (health and family issues) so I snuck in various things.  Somehow, though, there weren't many poppies this year.  He doesn't know where they went, or so he says. 

The last of the summer veg and the promise of winter goodies!

I am allowed to have what I want in the back garden.  What I want is flowers and vegetables.  He doesn't mind that either but I insist they have to be grown together.  Personally I think that an obelisk covered with runner beans is a glory in any flower bed while tagetes and snapdragon deter various pests and attract bees and beneficial insects in the veg plot.  

Such bounty

Is there anything more tasty than the first few saladings from the garden?

 

Thanks, Jack

The very best veggies of all!

 Really this post is for Jack but I don't suppose he'll mind if  you read it too!  He moans that I don't blog very often.

Anyway, I keep the very best vegetables for Sunday lunch.  And the very best vegetables come out of my own garden.  We don't grow enough for me to be self-sufficient in veg but I like a special meal on a Sunday.  I don't often do a roast as that would be a bit much for one person, but whatever I have, I like my home grown veggies.

So this is what I have fetched in today.  A big fat leek which really didn't want to come, a few carrots and some sprouting broccoli.  I shall have other veggies from the freezer as well with my sausage and bacon casserole.  

Is that all right, Jack? 

So, what happened?

 Jack came yesterday.  He'd read my blog and so had warning that I'd gone rogue and put some hanging baskets in the garden.  So, what did he do?

The first job was to fix a new hosepipe for me.  The old one had split on Sunday, drenching me.  New hose installed and tested.

My little fountain hasn't worked for a few years but I'd bought a new solar pump so he set that up for me.  It's only tiny but I like the tinkling sound it makes.

The veg patch needed a major clear out ready for winter planting.  That got done.  He brought in cabbages, potatoes and onions but there are still chard, carrots, beetroot etc out there.

He's made me a garden table so that was set up and used.

But the really important question is, what about the hanging baskets?

They were allowed to stay.  So I fed him home made soup with home made bread.  I think he went home happy so we can all breathe again. 

 Phew!

That was July, what about August?

 I've been doing my report about me and to me for July so now you get the edited highlights.  Sorry about that. 

The month seems to have been dominated by the saga of the shower. although I haven't blogged much about it.  I am waiting for an assessment by an Occupational Therapist before my landlord will install a wet room but OT has quite a backlog so it could be a Very Long Wait.  I had a shower which was a little unpredictable(!) but I was prepared to tolerate it until I could get the bathroom sorted completely,  However, on 3rd July I didn't have a shower, I had a dramatic waterfall which was flooding the bathroom so I turned off the water completely and reported the problem.  My landlord had a plumber here within an hour,   The faulty shower was removed and the water supply turned on again.  For the next couple of weeks I visited friends a couple of times a week for a good shower and between times "made do".  Anyway, a shower has now been fitted but I still await the OT assessment.

The garden has been lovely this month especially as I have been getting spring onions, potatoes, lettuce and tomatoes.  I am especially pleased with the potatoes which taste delicious.  What's even better is that the spuds Jack has been growing at home have been rubbish so I have been able to give him some of mine.  One up to me.

I've ventured out a little more than I have for over a year.  I went to a local café but ate outside.  I've seen my spiritual counsellor for the first time in eighteen months.  I've visited a friend in a residential home.

I've been decluttering.   Big Time.  The biggest thing to go was a freezer but my felting machine and loads of clothes and household items have also gone.  The departing clothes are particularly exciting as I have lost weight!  Yay!

And between all that excitement I've done sewing for a friend, I've got started on my Christmas cards and I've been preparing photobooks for printing.

I don't know yet what August will bring.  Card making, sewing, a few days out - they're all possibilities.  Bring it on!

500 days

 It was on the 11th March last year that I started a new diary called, "Personal thoughts during a pandemic"  Back then I wrote, 

The corona virus seems like a real menace and I feel I want to protect myself and others.  I’ve decided to restrict my social contacts without totally withdrawing. . . I reckon the “crisis” will last until at least Easter so my plan is for that period.  I need to keep myself active and happy.  I want to use this as gift time: time to be used as a bonus in a weird sort of way. 

Would that it had all been over by Easter 2020!  I think if I'd realised how long the pandemic will last I would have been far less optimistic about keeping myself active and happy.  

But I'm glad that I did make that resolution back then.  These five hundred days have been (for the most part) active and happy.  I've decluttered and reorganised.   I've upped my technology and other skills.   I've got to know my neighbours better and to appreciate my friends in new ways.  I've taken time to smell the roses and to taste the coffee.

One thing I have done very little of is to conduct worship but tonight at the end of my five hundredth day of this new life, I was invited to lead Evening Prayer at a little church on the Lincolnshire Wolds.

And I've put some new hanging baskets in my garden.

(I'm not sure of my Brownie points status.  Jack has been "mentioning" that it's a long time since I've blogged.  However, I have put the hanging baskets in the garden without his permission.  It could go either way.)

This and that

Millie

When I mentioned Christmas preparations in my last post it seemed to send shivers down a few spines!   It really is a case of old habits dying hard.  When I was working I always had presents bought and wrapped and cards written by the end of October so I could use November to do my "professional" preparations and leave December for panicking.  Christmas is lovely but it is hard work for vicars and, quite apart from the services and parish visiting before Christmas, it also fell to me to cook Christmas lunch for quite a few family and friends.  Anyway, so far I have been thinking about the design for my card and have done a few experiments.  Next Monday I hope I will get much of the card making done as I've booked a crafting session with a friend.  

Now to Jack's dog, Millie.  Here she is 

And Jack has a new hat.

And thank you, Rambler, for threatening to tell me if Jack uproots my poppies.  He's never met you but you've got him scared and even though he was weeding in their vicinity yesterday, he's left my beautiful papaver.  He's just a pussycat really.   

The Horticultural Enhancer

 I am a very happy woman this evening.

Annie-the-home-enhancer and Jack have both been here today and my house and garden both look great.  Annie has cleaned right through and the house feels great.

Jack said he'd be here by 8.30am so of course the doorbell sounded just after 7am.  I'll forgive him.  

He came bearing gifts including these lovely roses from his garden. 

He worked his usual magic and my garden is coming along nicely.  

He has even allowed me to keep these poppies even though he loathes them himself.

He now has a new title.  He is no longer just a gardener.  He is now a Horticultural Enhancer

 

The Kindness of Neighbours

 I realise I may be a cockeyed optimist but I am finding good things which have come as a result of this pandemic.   For me one of the best things has been increased opportunities to talk to my neighbours.  Our little close, was always friendly, but neighbourliness has increased many-fold this last year.

A couple of nights ago I was out watering my back garden when I heard the neighbour behind me doing the same thing so I asked if he could use a few spring onions.  He assured me that he could always use a few spring onions and asked if I could use three kitchen chairs.  It seemed like a very good swap from my point of view!  I accepted and he brought them around for me and they are now in my back garden.  At the moment they are around my cast iron table but I have heard a whisper that a new wooden table may be on the way.  (Yet more kindness!  You'll hear more about that in due course.  )  

I wanted some new wooden chairs to go with the table but can't really afford exactly what I want so these will be in use for at least a couple of years.  How's that for the kindness of neighbours?!

So far

 I have to confess I am struggling!  On 27th May I committed myself to writing twenty posts by the end of June.  Since then I have written ten so I am just about on track.  It's important to me to do this as I think it may be the best way of reviving my blogging mojo but that mojo seems distinctly moribund.  Today is St Barnabas Day and he is the great encourager so I shall take heart from him!  

So, what has been happening here at Frugal Follies?  I haven't yet got a date for surgery and, truth to tell, I am quite happy to wait.  The pain isn't bad at the moment and I am very aware that there are many who are suffering more than me.  I am continuing to lose weight and have shed just three pounds since 28th May.  I'm not walking much though.  

Jack has been twice and my garden is looking good.  It's a very small garden but I love it.  Jack built me a little patio and I delight in having meals or just coffees out there.  Jack has now toddled off to the family caravan on the coast but his daughter won't let him idle his time away: his job this weekend is to wash the exterior of the van.  Just to encourage him, here are pictures of the veg plot on 30th May and another today, less than two weeks later.  

I have one small worry: he has threatened to bring me a present back from the seaside.  He is also worried: I've got a present for him and he doesn't know what it is.  

But that's my eleventh post written!