Winter gardening, thrift shopping and plans for spring.

This week I have a good old seed sort and start planning my growing year, I get out onto the plot and start spring prep and go on a shopping spree round the charity shops, garden centre and antiques emporium.

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It’s an absolutely glorious morning here we’ve got blue skies and fluffy clouds and the rain is finally stopped it’s the 6th of January and I’m itching to get going in the garden and I’m going to use this opportunity to get stuff done outside but just while we’re in the shed

I’ve got a few little bits and pieces so yesterday afternoon because it was raining I came across and I got all my seeds took them over to the house and I sat and had a really good seed sort out and historically I’ve always had little tubs and in the tubs I’ve

Categorize my seeds so you know Tomatoes brassas beans so on but then I have to keep going through them all um and then what I usually do is have this tin with the things I’m about to sew but this year I decided I was going to try and do things a little bit

Differently so what I’ve done is this year year I am putting my seeds into boxes according to the month where I’d like to sew them so I’ve got this Tupperware with January and then obviously I’ve labeled up the other tins I’ve also got plenty in here as well

Which are things for January and then once I’ve sewn in January they’ll go back into tubs cuz I’m not going to sew them all and then I’ll get the February ones out and then the ones that are imminent I always put in this tin so slight different system this

Year and although we can start sewing things in January because I don’t use artificial heat or light everything is started off in the poly tunnel I do use um they’re just next to me here the little propagators um let me just see if I can get one to show you so these bases

With one of these lids and that’s all I do so they started off in the poly tunnel underneath the propagators I’ve got eight eight I think yes of those um and you can either fit seed trays or pots or whatever into them in the poly tunnel and then if I know

There’s going to be a real cold snap or we’ve got frosts um I will sometimes cover those over overnight with towels or cardboard just to trap a bit more hea in but that’s all I do so there’s absolutely no point in me starting things too soon so I’m going to hang

Fire and wait till sort of mid to end of January to start my seed sewing but what I want to focus on while the sun is out and it’s although it’s really cold we had uh had to break ice on the water troughs this morning for the animals um it’s not raining it’s

Very very soggy um but yeah I really want to get out there um and the other thing I’ve got so I will be mulching beds I haven’t been and done my compost run um but at least I can get them weeded out probably get some cardboard down just going to concentrate on

Weeding and clearing today and then another day I’ll get some cardboard down and water it and then just to you know keep it sticking down so it doesn’t blow and then once I get my compost I can throw that on top but what I have got

This year thank you very much to Steve um so if you haven’t seen Steve’s Channel I digwell green Fingers um he sent me some of this super soil and a little bit goes an awfully long way so it’ll be really interesting to see how things fair with that so it’s it’s a a

Blend of I’m not sure what it’s a blend of uh microorganisms and really good stuff for the soil so I thought I would part of me was thinking about doing experiment but in all honesty um I’ve got enough on my place just enough on my plate just

Getting back on top of this plot because as I have mentioned tail end of last year because of work and health it got a little bit away from me so it would be really interesting to be able to do you know one bed on one side of the plot and

Another bed on the other maybe grow similar things and see but you know what um I’m just really grateful to have it so that will be going in as well once the beds are prepped um I’m not sure you know sort of how long it lasts for but

Common Sense tells me that there’s no point putting watering it in now when the beds aren’t ready I’m essentially going to be uh boosting the weed so once it’s all prepped and ready to roll the super soil will get watered in and then I’ll be ready to go and the

Other place it be really useful useful for is inside the poly tunnel uh I do to top those beds up but obviously the compost is in there um it’s not the same as the soil outside so that will give it a real boost so that’s great I’m really

Looking forward to using that and thank you so much Steve for sending that to me so it’s getting chilly I need to get moving so I need to get my gloves on I need to get my knee pads on and let’s get out and start weeding and tidying

And clearing and getting ready for spring so I’ve already done some clearing and then also in this wheelbarrow I’ve got the foliage that I’d foraged from around the farm and had to decorate the house for U tide and i’ thrown that in there as well so before I

Do anything I just need to empty this wheelbarrow and then I’m just going to park the wheelbarrow up and I’ll use my truck and uh every time it’s full I can tip it in All I want all I want we are you you so long be so long why you keeping me waiting all I want all I want we are you so long long why you keep me Waiting it’s actually colder than I’d uh anticipated and um I’ve got a really good bit done but just having my hands in that cold soil that’s still got a little B of frost on top um it’s really chilly so I’ve decided to have a coffee

Break just to warm up a little bit and then what I think I’m going to do instead of doing too much um just to mind with my back and my freezing gold hands I think I’m going to have a go at taking this structure down next so I’ve

Made good Headway on this bed but I fancy a change so I’m going to start dismantling this structure and then I’ll see how the day pans out I would like to get this bed finished um but that’s a good amount let’s get this structure down and then

We’ll see what the weather’s doing and uh and how I’m feeling but I’m going to finish my cup of coffee first and then we’ll tackle that structure [Applause] A W So that’s another job ticked off the list and I will be breaking this down and we’ll either dry it out and use it for kindling or it’ll go into the compost and um so nothing will get wasted um but this wood or these sticks branches I cut

From the Hazel in the Hedge further down the Paddock um oh goodness three seasons maybe yeah probably about three seasons ago and I built um originally with a lot more of it a squash frame to grow my squash up and then I took that down and then I

Used bits of it to build the little Archway there which I enjoyed last summer with the Nerium and the little baby pumpkin so I’m really happy with what I’ve got done this morning it’s really quite chilly but it’s gorgeous to be out for it not to be

Raining so it’s lunch time I’m going to take a break and I’m going to go and have some lunch do some journaling I’ve got a gratitude Journal that I’m it’s just a couple of lines each day um which I’m going to try and complete over this year

And I think that will really help me um just a few moments while you’re having a cup of tea or a cup of coffee or whatever it is you’re doing you can even think about it while you’re cleaning your teeth and then just write it down just a few lines of gratitude each

Day so yesterday I had a lovely day I went on a little bit of a shopping spree I had a whole day to myself so I got up nice and early got all the beasties sorted and I had a specific mission for some things so I wanted to go to the

Charity shops because I haven’t done that for ages and I had a few things in mind that I wanted and I wanted to go to a garden center and I also wanted to go to our local antiqu Emporium um I didn’t film any of it um but if anybody’s interested in the

Antiqu Emporium or charity shopping um do let me know and I can always film next time I go um but I just wanted a day of just going and being in the moment to have my phone Switched Off um you know no having to think about

Anything other than what I was doing and it was a lovely day I treated myself to some lunch so I just bought a um salmon and broccoli bake and had a little cup of coffee and I sat out um so I was in rexam which is a town fairly close to us

Um I’ve got kind of wit Church in One Direction and rexam in the other but I went to rexam and uh I like to go and sit in the churchard St giles’s churchard it’s beautiful um and there’s some benches and you can just tuck yourself away and there’s always grass

There’s usually some squirrels to watch I think I may have filmed there in the past um so yeah had a little bit of lunch and yeah had a really nice day so without further Ado I will show you in no particular order what I bought so I

Got things that were on my list I did go a little bit off pieced with a few things but um it was just a lovely day to treat myself so what I had in mind in the charity shops I specifically wanted some long dresses and I also needed some

Gloves and then what I wanted to do was get some um so there’s one here of these um spring bulbs uh and these are little uh tetatet daffodils and I’ll talk to you more about those but I had particular thing in mind I wanted some spring bulbs

That were already springing and and some pots um pretty containers so I can have them in the house so um let’s start with that even though the order was different so I did Charity shops first then then I did um went and got the plants and then I went

To the Antique sorum um but we’ll do the plants first so I’ve got these um little tetatet um daffodils as I say now I actually went to be& Q because I’d done a garden center the day before with my swim bu Jewels we went to a local

Independent Garden Center I did get some compost and some vermiculite and but they didn’t have any of these sprouting bowls well they’d had some but they were all sold out so these are the little daff so just got one pot of those um and

There’s 1 2 3 4 5 6 78 nine maybe 10 sprouting in there so they’ll split up really nicely and then I got some of these um grape hins so they’re in two four six kind of cells but there’s three or four or two depending um in each one

So again they’ll split up really really nicely um so yeah they’re the lovely little uh grape hin um and they’re really dinky aren’t they let’s put those down so they’re not in your way and then I got some actual High hent the big ones um and these are white

And I’ve got six of those so six white hence the lovely purple gray grape hin and then the little Teta yellow daffodil so those three colors together um I always find super cheerful um I did actually treat myself this week as well I’ve got some I think you can probably

Just see them there tulips I bought one bunch and I’ve split it so there’s some in here and there’s some in The Snug um and I’ve split them up so there’s yellow and um white in here and then there’s some purple and red uh next door in The

Snug and I just think at this time of the year if you’ve um had decorations up however you celebrate either Christmas or yel Tide um when you take the decorations down we’ve still got a long way haven’t we to go until spring and and sort of more Sunshine so I just

Think it’s really nice to add a little bit of cheer into the cottage so I then went looking for little pots now I did see the most gorgeous perfect would have been beautiful as a centerpiece here in the table um but it was well I mean this

Some of these are antique as well but it was £28 for the one so it’s was like do I do one big or do I do lots of little so I decided to go for lots of little ones so I got this absolutely adorable little it’s a silvac vs actually so probably about

1960 um I do like the silvac stuff um and they in that era they had they used to put paper stickers on and they often fall off um so I got that I think it was5 um and that’ll just be lovely and then I found this beautiful

Teapot now it had no lid but of course that didn’t matter to me so again it was super cheap um it just says made in England but it’s um it’s clearly got elements I think some transfer but then some hand painting on that and you can feel the texture um so it’s actually

Completely undamaged there’s the little whoop the little lips there but that’s where the teapot lid would have sat and you can see I don’t know if you can see inside it is actually a teapot but it’s got pretty flowers on one side and then this gorgeous Cottage scene on the other

Side but how beautiful is that going to look with some spring flowers and it’s got this lovely green detailing all around um I just fell in love with it um so it didn’t matter it didn’t have a lid because it’s going to have a new purpose and then let

Me just move I’ll pop you in there for a moment you’re probably noticing these uh cylinders or balls um I will talk to you about those in a minute and then I got this lovely little um I can’t remember it’s a Wedgewood um made by Wedgewood little bowl and it’s just got some

Little green flowers on it so it’s kind of kind of the same slightly bigger and then little flowers um and little detailing around the top so that’ll just sit a maybe a couple of great P since in that and then let me put that carefully back in there that’s smashing it to

Smither I got this really lovely traditional brass planter and I just thought that was really sweet so again that’ll look absolutely lovely so mission accomplished but of course I’m always um looking at for bargains and things that I like so the other thing that I got so

In our kitchen we have a similar sign um they’re not antique they’re just vintage style um but I really like these um metal signs so we’ve got one in the kitchen already that’s a coffee one and we have it hung up above where we keep our coffee um apart from the coffee

That’s in the fridge so above the instant coffee um and then I saw this which is a fresh eggs one and I’ve got a perfect little space above where we store the chickens eggs when we’ve collected them I just thought that was really cute um so I I couldn’t resist

That and then while I was going around I saw these now again they’re not original um they’re kind of reproduction but these gorgeous little orbs balls whatever you want to call them I mean they’re just gorgeous they’re decorative they’ve serve no purpose other than they’re pretty um so

I got four of the small ones and they’re kind of Browns and blues and then I got one mediumsized one and the larger one aren’t they just lovely so they are ceramic um I think this big one was5 and the little one tiny ones were 22 each and the mediumsized one was3 and

And I’ve seen them a lot more expensive than that so they came home with me I just fell in love with them so and while I’m thinking about it I’m also showing you this so this was ordered online it is simply a replacement so you may have

Noticed those of you that have followed me for a while that I haven’t been mentioning temperatures when I’ve been out in the garden or the poly tunnel and that’s because the thermometer that I had um is it’s broken i’ I’ve had it four or five years and it’s a little

Frustrating but unfortunately things aren’t made to last anymore are they um so it’s just a replacement an exact repl placement so it has um it goes inside the poly tunnel and then there’s a long wire with a probe that goes outside and I dangle it in the air and that gives me

The inside of the poly tunnel and the external temperature it’s just a direct replacement and I bought that online so let’s pop that back in its little box um so I’ll be putting that back up and then of course I’ll know what the temperatures have been doing cuz again

I’ve shown you in the past it’s one of my little rituals in the morning I like to go go out and uh see what the temperature was overnight and what the current temperature is I think as gardeners we can get a bit obsessive um and also just um you know swimming and

Outdoory things I kind of like to know it doesn’t predict obviously I can look ahead but it’s nice to know what’s going on isn’t it so then I went around the charity shops and I did pop into a few ordinary shops as well um so I did pass a book

Shop and although I’ve got a lot of books and actually I might um do that in one of my next videos I’ve got quite a nice pile of to be read books and also books I’ve been reading so I’ll I’ll talk about those in another video uh but

I saw this so again those of you that follow me will know I’ve love cooking in the slow cooker um especially lots of our lovely harvested veg so either fresh when we’re freshly harvesting them or those that are in the freezer um so I got this book because it was in the

Window and it called to me um so it’s a really nice um slow cooker meals book and it’s got some lovely lovely recipes in it um so there’s a a Chito carbonara um let’s have a little look there’s curries there’s all sorts in here tikka masala card uh spicy tomato

Tortillini and chili soup um so lots of lovely um recipes and a lot of them kind of make from scratch so some of them might have pasta or noodles um or rice but all the other things are kind of cook from scratch there’s butter chicken here and it is you know cooked from

Scratch which I love but then it is a case of just throwing it in the slow cooker um so I saw it in the window it was half price and I thought you know I’m going to go in and get that and as I was walking to the till I

Passed the latest Kate humble book which is where the half is stories of home um and I’ve already had an idea because I’ve got a Kate humble book which I will show you I got it in the secondhand uh National Trust shop when I went with my

Sister so we went um twice we went to two different um National Trust properties um in the runup um to Christmas time and we had two absolutely lovely days you know it was all decorated and beautiful but we we went in the second time if you’re National

Trust people you’ll know that a lot of properties have a secondhand book shop and I did come home with some Bargains which I haven’t shown you yet and one of them was one of Kate humble’s books so this one called to me and and this was

Also half price so I got the two books half price so I couldn’t leave them there and then in no particular order I got there’s two of these two pairs of just ordinary woolly gloves um because I live in these through the winter months and I usually put holes in the Fingers um

Because I leave them on all the time to you know do the horses and the chickens and everything around the farm um and some gardening sometimes I’ll wear them underneath gardening gloves just to keep my hands warmer and um yeah I just wear them out so all the ones I’ve got are

Full of holes I’ve got a gray pair and somewhere in this bag it’ll come up at some point or another pair of green ones and then I found these lovely in fantastic condition um they’re just a pair of um walking trousers cuz I do like to get out and do some walking um

And they’re crack Hoppers um and they’re an absolute bargain so these were only £3.99 um in one of the charity shops it’s not clear which one it was oh Salvation Army there we are yes so £3.99 and they’re like new um so a lovely pair of quick drying lightweight crushable

Walking trousers let’s pop them on this chair I also got oh here are the other gloves so they’re just like a sagey green color um they’re just cheap and cheerful woly gloves I got this really lovely let’s move a few things um is that in your way no it’s

Cotton and it’s like a smocky toppy dress and it’s really really lovely now I think this would look great um over jeans or in the summer just as it is or over leggings um I got it for it was £6.99 but it is it hasn’t got tags but

It’s like brand new and it’s a liny cotton and it’s got short sleeves it’s got pockets I mean who doesn’t love pockets in a dresser a smart and it’s got these lovely wooden buttons um and I just really liked that so for £6.99 I think that’ll be lovely um and it’s in

These lovely blue and purple py colors and I wanted a couple of long dresses so I found this one which is more of a summer dress I’m going to stand up but I could kind of layer it up and this one if I can find the top

Um so it’s brand new with tags from nutmeg and it’s got this little tie detailing at the neck and then it’s one of these kind of what I call Gypsy ly can you see that long dresses and um it’s got this lovely Floral Pattern it’s got a little tie at the

Back um it’s got kind of mid sleeves and it’ll be great to layer up in the winter or to wear in the spring through to summer as well and I got that should have been eight um originally £18 um they had it marked up for £8 and

Then slash down to four so4 brand new with tags very pretty floral dress what else have we got in here oh I got a pair of these are just like tracky Bottoms I again I don’t actually know the brand studio um so they’re just fleecy lined tracksuit bottom type

Trousers with this nice red stripe make them a bit different and some um cuffs but the Hem and that’d be great to throw on after a wild swim or just for scatting about gardening or um on the farm and they were £2.99 um and they’re in really good condition and then my absolute

Favorite is this corduroy so it’s originally from uh is it Tu or two I never know how you pronounce it which I know is Sainsbury’s it is brand new still got the tags on it originally £28 and I got that in um nightingale’s hospice and that was £1 but it’s this lovely long

Corduroy it’s got buttons to about here and it’s got a lovely button details on the cuff it’s long sleeved and this is going to be lovely through the winter months uh with you know chunky boots and a big cardigan um so I really like it kind of a Granddad

Type um collar and it’s got a little belt on it as well and I don’t know if the color is coming out I’m going to bring it in closer but it’s this lovely olivey green so I’m absolutely thrilled with that one that was my my favorite of

All the charity shop buys and then the other thing I got which may seem a bit oddd um are these booties so they’re made out of like a canvas and they are fleecy lined and I bought them they’re actually a size seven and I’m a size six but I thought

They’d be perfect to put on my cold feet when I come out of an Open Water Swim because um I do struggle with my back and sometimes I struggle to get socks on so I always just put my feet without socks and we sit with a hot water bottle

First but I thought these would be great to just plunge my feet into that lovely soft lining um so I’m going to keep those for my post swim foot warming so those are my lovely Bargains I had a really lovely day isn’t it nice sometimes to just

Spoil yourself and spend the whole day out just poling along and looking at things and picking things up and putting them down um buying things that I specifically had on my list um and then a few extras as well so I really enjoyed my day and then I’m just going to show you

Um some footage um because I filmed it and um now seems an appropriate time as any I don’t know what it’s been like for the rest of you so I’m really hoping anybody living anywhere but I know in the UK we’ve had some awful flooding and it’s finally starting to subside um we

Actually failed to get somewhere the other day we were supposed to be going to visit um one of my nieces you’ll have seen I put some pictures sometimes and talk about um her because we will meet in the middle and go for a nice walk but

We were actually going to their house um for a visit in the afternoon Chris had been working in the morning it was all pre-planned we were taking Kaye with us and just going for a visit um so we set off and we were trying to get to

Abeni and the the floods were just horrific the rain was just bouncing down and it’s it had rained for weeks and weeks but it in this particular spell days and days and days and um canals and rivers had burst their Banks and everywhere was saturated and then to top

It all fields that kind of up higher than roads had actually burst you know the banks had burst and there was just this muddy water runoff and the roads had turned into rivers um and there were police out and there were breakdown trucks everywhere and cars abandoned and we quickly

Realized we’ driven for an hour and um it’s about 2ish hour two and a half depending drive to get there and after an hour we we realized that we we were being a bit silly and we should turn around and come back we were actually in my little car

Rather than the truck um so we had to ring my niece and say look I’m really sorry we we’re just not going to make it so we’ve rescheduled and we had to turn around and come back um so yeah the road conditions were just terrible and then all around

Um the local areas so the river D is one of our um local rivers and um all around bangari all the the fields have been flooded the roads have been closed and uh it kind of looks spooky and a bit beautiful but the reality is you

Know livestock have had to be moved off to those fields and roads are closed and um it’s been really quite difficult and we’re very lucky because we’re up a bit of a hill but I know that a lot of people’s homes have been flooded so I really hope that that’s not the case

With yourselves um and that you’re all safe and dry um so the the rain has eased off now we’ve actually got a bit of a cold snap we’ve been starting our mornings with with heavy frosts and breaking ice on water troughs so I am going to end this video here but

I will um show you I’m probably going to do it tomorrow now because I’ve got a few more bits and pieces to do but when I um pot these up um because I’m going to do that I really need to either do it this evening or tomorrow so it’s likely

To be tomorrow um I will show you what I’m doing and uh and hopefully they’ll look really pretty and I also have if I just reach across which I mentioned way back when I’d done a little shop I think it was after one of my Hospital appointments I went to cheer myself up

And I again I think I had some specific things in mind but this just called to me and it was one of those little kits grow your own so it had the kind of coy um discs that you soak to make the soil and three bulbs and this adorable little

Um plastic lined planter um and they’ve come up really well so you can see um going to look pretty um they’re on the dresser at the moment and then the others I can dot around um and I’ll show them to you as they start to flower