Ta da! A bin and it works. I’ve already watered the garden. The bin was cheaper than any water butt I could find and it is also the frugal solution. My washing machine uses 44 litres of water for every load and now I can reuse every drop. I now recycle the shower water, sink water for the toilets and now I can include the washing machine water. I shall only do this when my water butt is empty and I fully intend buying as many water butts as I can afford. I think it is crazy that we wash our clothes, flush our loo and water our garden with pure drinking water. Call me weird if you want, but I’m thrilled that in my very small way I’m sticking two fingers up to South West Water and saving the planet, albeit in a tiny way.

Now the washing machine is just ending the second wash, I’m now going to water the shrubs and plants which are already wilting in the heat. Added later for ‘Saving for Travel’ - it really is as simple as it looks, I just hooked the waste pipe into the bin and then ran the washing machine. I then bucket it into the garden. Added even later……I use ecover, which does not damage the garden and the wash water and the rinse water is mixed and I only use one tablet per wash. Also I will add, my mum washed all our clothes in Tide and all the water on our fruit and veg, maybe some time Persil or Ariel…………..and by the fact that I was fed and I’m still alive; I didn’t die, nor did the plants which the water was tipped over.

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xxxx

It’s been a long evening. Home from work and cooking supper. Nothing worth blogging about..quorn sausages, mash and veggies with gravy. I made four meals and two will be ‘dinged’ tomorrow night as I have to travel for work and I’m not sure when I’ll get home. I must say, all the carrying of water up and down the stairs is keeping me fit. I’m now investigating setting up a water butt in my utility room and hooking the washing machine pipe straight into it so I can save the water for the garden. I only use eco soap so it won’t harm the garden. As soon as I sort something out, you’ll be the first to know. In the meantime, I’m holding out with the laundry for as long as possible so I can recycle the water when I next get round to getting it washed.

My plants are thriving on grey water. It’s been so dry that I’ve had to water them every day. Not having anywhere to ‘dig’ means I grow in pots, or flashy bags in wicker wrappers. From my experiments last year, everything grew well in a big cheap plastic pot and not so well in bags. Cheap plastic pots it is then. Tonight, I transplanted the butternut squash, cucumbers and courgettes, out of the wee pots where they have grown from seed into their large permanent pots in the poly tunnel. Last year I failed miserably as I tried using grow bags. Now the plants have deep, compost with added manure and can form deep roots, the poly tunnel with protect them from the cold and I just might get more than courgettes. I’ve also put beetroot seeds in and the potatoes have been ‘earthed up’. It’s so easy to do when you use potato bags, just chuck it in on top, give the bags a gently shake and the green leave pop their tips through. Repeat the process until the garden compost is at the top of the bag and keep well watered.

As usual, we went out for our evening walk but later than usual. We spent quite a while just sitting and chatting in the garden. We’re both worried about Dearly Beloved either losing his job or facing a massive pay cut alongside me possibly losing a chunk of my income due to having to make a greater contribution to my own pension, just to keep the level I have. Life is full of challenges and it’s more important than ever to enjoy the simplest moments such as planting out, watering the garden or chatting with loved ones. We know we can’t afford to stay in this house forever and we’ll have to find somewhere small as soon as we’re out of our mortgage agreement, however, whilst we’re here; I’m going to enjoy my garden.

(p.s for Mary - I stand to lose approx £100 a month from the pension alteration, that will be devastating for us, especially if DB either loses his job or, at best, has a pay cut. Everything gets more and more expensive and salaries stay the same or in our case, decrease.)



Hi Everyone,

I know some of you will go on and on about pathogen and other issues, but those of us who remember previous droughts, hose pipe bans and the water being turned off for hours of the day, remember putting our bath water on our veggie patches and we didn’t die!!! But then again, we ate lard, didn’t use sunblock, ate red meat, rode out bikes without helmets, let the kids go anywhere and do any thing, kids amused themselves, there were no sell by or use by dates, we didn’t wash so often, we didn’t have glossy daily washed, we occasionally smelt a bit sweaty, we bought veggies with dirt on them, we cut the mould off the cheese and ate the cheese, the same with the bread and you know what, we didn’t die!

My mother used to have a Hotpoint top loader and she used to stop it and start it on a pumping out the water cycle into an old galvanised bin, then she used to bucket the water into watering cans and water the veggie garden. Our garden grew fruit and veg and the lawn was allowed to brown and die. When we had shared baths, one out and the next one in the same water; the water was scooped out in buckets and onto the garden. We used to have a scum on that water by the time the last one came out. We didn’t bath every day, in fact weekly, with a strip wash in between. Hair was washed over the kitchen sink on a Sunday night and dried in front of the Rayburn which was lit to get the water hot. In the summer time, when it was too hot for the Rayburn to be lit, we used a Calor gas cooker in the ‘back kitchen’. The ‘front kitchen’ was actually the dining room and ‘front room’ rolled into one. In the winter, we lived in there. Washing lines ran from one side of the room to the other and we would often sit down to dinner, with dad’s Y-Fronts over our heads! My mum would just die if she knew I was telling you all this! Fortunately, even though she’s been to the over 60’s classes at the library, she can’t quite fathom the internet and has no home access to it.

As my water butt is all but empty, and I’m being careful with money so haven’t bought any more yet. I’m reusing all the water. I put a bowl under every tap in the house. The downstairs loo, the upstairs bathroom and the kitchen sink. Every time we run the tap, or wash out a cup, I save the water. I then allow it to cool and pour it into watering cans and water the garden. Today, we started doing that with our shower water.

I use the kids’ old toy boxes to stack laundry in. Today,we stood in them as we each had out shower. We actually used two watering cans each when we had out showers. After showering, we tipped the water into the watering cans, allowed them to cool and then watered the garden. I have planted Foxgloves and have split and transplanted phormiums and they need a lot of water until the roots establish themselves. The hanging baskets also need watering every day and they too had some shower water.

I thought I would show the view through my living room window. The house is south facing, with huge picture windows on the south side and the dogs laze on the sofa at the back window to stay away from the heat. By eight this morning, the garden was already being baked and Bob and Scruff had already taken up residence in the shade.

My love and prayers to all of you this Easter, and I’ll see you all again tomorrow,

Froogs xxxxx

“Jesus took my place on the cross to give me a place in heaven.”

I’ve spent today in the garden and my scorched and sun blockless face will suffer later! I’ve recycled the hanging baskets and they are now on their fifth year, the cardboard inserts were from Trago…………like Poundland but cheaper. The plants are from Aldi. I always ignore the ‘bedding plant’ signs and put them in baskets and pots. I buy French Marigolds to range in pots amongst the veggies to keep flies off them, plus the splash of gold is lovely. This now means I have to be vigilant for frost and dash the baskets into the poly tunnel if any is imminent.

We bought 100 summer flowering bulbs for £1, and I’m starting them off in pots so I’ll have some ideas of what they are and where to go. If you read this DB……………they are for you! You were so taken with the flowers in your mum’s garden and mentioned that we should have more flowers. Let’s hope most of them flower, if not this year, then next. The lettuce have been grown from seed and are now outside. I have put seed into more pots for lettuce later on.

I thought I would share the heat hazed view with you all. The bottom of my garden is still a mess. There used to be a tree blocking the view and the lack of view put off every buyer who came to our house. Now I have a view to sell with the house. We sold all of the wood too which paid for part of the cost of having the tree down. The bottom of the garden has a real woodland feel to it (even without the tree!) and it covered in bluebells. It’s lovely to be able to pick them and have them in the house……….I’m allowed, they’re mine.

I’ve weeded more of another border today and did battle with a huge red Phormium which I need to divide and spread around the borders, I’m also going to do the same with ornamental grasses and try and make what’s already there go further. Photos another day.

I’m off to knit in the late afternoon sun and enjoy where I live.