A very good start...

Good start today. Attacked the garden and cleared a lot of the bramble and the dross of two or three years neglect. But it was a good day to do it, sunny but mild, the occassional shower. It didnt take too long to get through the bramble with the trusty secaturs bought from Lidl (0.99p) and the leather gloves (£2 somthing from Lidl again.





These were essential as I would really have had a problem, some of the bramble stalks were a good inch thick with wicked barbs.






But as you can see it soon gets cleared even with the help of my trusty dog Snooky.

Polystyrene and freebie tips

Freecycle is a great site to recycle stuff. You can post for stuff you want or browse to see whats offered all in your local location.

This is what I guess one would call their mission statement:

'The worldwide Freecycle Network is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns.

Freecycle groups match people who have things they want to get rid of with people who can use them. Our goal is to keep usable items out of landfills. By using what we already have on this earth, we reduce consumerism, manufacture fewer goods, and lessen the impact on the earth. Another benefit of using Freecycle is that it encourages us to get rid of junk that we no longer need and promote community involvement in the process.'

See http://www.uk.freecycle.org/

So I've joined the Plymouth Freecycle group and have just bagged a couple of bags of polystyrene chips. 'What are you going to do with those?' You ask. Well Im going to use them as 'crocks' at the bottom of my potato bags and any sacks I might get to help with the drainage.

I'm also asking for wood, railway sleepers or old floorboards so I can raise the beds once I have cleared the plot. We'll see if I get any offers.

Here's some more good freebie tips.

Save old jars, yoghurt pots and other plastic containers - and their lids (If they're saucer style) you will find dozens of uses for them potting up plants, storing seeds, rooting samples in.
Free mini cloche - cut the bottom off the bottom of a 2L drinks container and use this without the top on to cover plants you're starting off. Push them slightly into the soil to make sure they don't blow away.
Save old egg boxes to sow seeds in.
Ask neighbours for cuttings from the plants you fancy. By asking you'll make friends - do not ever just steal bits of people's plants! You will make friends who are also interested in gardening too!
Swap cuttings with neighbours.
Use an old knife to dig out weeds from the lawn.
Local sales (jumble, guides, scouts, church, car boot etc) are a great source for cheap plants.

(Tips from http://www.gardenfreebies.co.uk/)

(Yoghurt pot pic from here: http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20071221/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-yoghurt-pots ) Go on recycle it!

Free seeds from the BBC:-

Grow Your Own Grub

Welcome to Dig In, a campaign all about raising your own tasty veg from sowing to scoffing.
The Dig In website will be launcing on April 2nd, and will offer everything you need to get growing, even if you've never touched a trowel before.

You'll be able to send off for free seeds, then get guidance, hints and tips on how to nurture them from experts.

Then you can share your highs and lows on the Blog, where our celebrity blogger will be recording their experiences growing veg for the very first time, and our gardening experts will be on hand to offer advice.

And finally, we'll give you tasty recipes to help you enjoy your veg to the full. There's never been a better time to grow your own grub.

Check back soon, and get ready to Dig In!'

Woo Hoo! Thanks Aunty!

First Freebie - a wooden pallet

This is my first freebie. A pallet just lounging around on the side of the road as I drove past. I live in an urban area so its not the sort of thing you see that often. The good angel of freebie gardening must have been looking out for me.

So what am I going to use this for? The idea is, if and when I get some potatoes, I am going to grow them in containers/bags. But for good drainage I want them off the floor and this pallet will be just the thing. And as for the bags I think I have a couple that have blown into my backyard over the winter.

So now I'm looking for potatoes to plant and of course I need some soil.

I have also collected a couple of plastic food trays that I am going to use to get my seeds going when I get some. Some people at work have offered me some. I may get them in tomorrow but I am away for most of the week on business and I dont want to loose them by not being there.

Free Seeds

Free seeds here

https://www.hiddeneden.com/free-seeds.aspx

till the Tuesday 31st March

Free Seeds to look after the bees

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/central/getinvolved/seedgiveaway.shtml

Busy joining stuff

Hello

Just attempting to join the Swapseeds group on yahoo (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/swapseeds/) we'll see if they want me, my membership is pending.

Ive also joined Twitter as freebiegardener and will be posting stuff as it happens.

Ive placed some ads on Freecycle (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PlymouthFreecycleUK/) but I think Ive got to work out the protocol of placing ads. I wanted a rotovator but really only wanted to borrow one for a day so have asked for one but offered to barter some time/or service back for it - I'm not sure if they will let me post a 'borrow' post rather than a give away.

I've also registered with http://www.myskip.com/ but they don't seem that useful

Apparently Starbucks give their used coffee grounds away to use as compost - so next time I'm in town I will be checking that out. I'll twitter it.

Just joined this bartering site http://www.u-exchange.com/ and posted an Ad we'll see if I get any responses

My back garden - March 19th 2009

Hello,
So this is my blog about turning my back garden from a weedy, briar infested wasteland to a veggie plot that with give me fresh and healthy vegetables to eat, give away and generally enjoy. I am going to try to do this on a shoestring and as cheaply as possible. I don't want to spend money getting my veggies - I want them to be free just as God intended (obviously if you don't believe in God - and my own choice is Lord Krishna - then I hope to be growing cheap veggies just as if they had been growing on this fine earth since the dinosaurs ruled the planet - this is a non denominational blog after all - despite the early appearance of God - ok that's the theology over and done with lets get back to the rationale)

I am going to utilize all the benefits of web 2.0 to try and achieve this free food experiment utilising websites like freecycle, twitter, facebook, google, eBay and so on to beg borrow or steal seeds equipment, person power and so on. I haven't spent a penny yet but as I spend (if I really have too I will keep a running total. I also will be trying to find stuff in skips, dumps, the side of the road and of course re cycle anything at all to use as containers and other stuff I might need.

Now I'm not a gardener at all. I work in an office all day so the only time I have is my spare time. I've never gardened apart from some flowers and stuff. I've never really grown vegetables at all but every time I switch on the TV some TV celeb is telling me how easy it is to grow my own stuff. (Although I do have a sneaking suspicion that Jamie and Hugh etc have a huge staff of gardeners toiling day in and day out perfecting their veggie gardens and producing their award winning - if appearances are anything to go by - veggies - unless of course they have just bought them from Waitrose!)

At the moment my total resources are:

A spade
A fork (I think I'm not sure got to check)
TV celebrity chef induced guilt
A back garden (photos to follow)
Enthusiasm

A few more facts. I live in Plymouth which is in the South West of England. The garden is South facing and doesn't look like its been used for anything for quite a while. Im 55 years old so the back may take a bit of a pounding and as I mentioned I don't have green fingers. Lets see what happens!