Bargains.

It’s been quiet on the lotty this week. I did spend a few hours over there but spent most of it socialising. It was lovely though and I came home with some shetland black potatoes from my very good friend, plus a couple of pounds of pears from Plot holder N and a brandywine tomato from plot 8. I roasted my shetland blacks with a little oil, some home grown garlic (the orignal cloves of which also came from Plot holder N last year) and some onions (bought due to failed crop this year) and I roasted them til the onions went crispy! I also put a Seeded cod fillet in the oven to bake and put the brandywine tomato with it. It was lovely!  To be honest, I dont know if all beefsteak tomatoes taste the same as I’ve never bought or grown one before but I’ll be adding brandywine seeds to my growing list next year.

I have had some gardening bargains this week. Firstly as we were leaving Asda (DH was in a good mood and came shopping!) I spotted a stella cherry tree for £5. The trees only just been put outside and as I put my hand on it I heard a lady tell the person she was with that she was going back for the cherry tree. A quick scan (with the tree in my hand) showed that the one I was holding was the only cherry left with tons of apples and pears (I’ve been back twice and they still haven’t got any more) and DH said he’d buy it for me. I’ve already got a morello cherry that I bought from keepers nursery last year with several other fruit trees but the desert cherries I’ve bought the past three years have all died so this is my last try. I’m going to dig up a non productive apple on the lotty and replace it with this. The apple is a braeburm and I’ve already got one of those on the plot.

Another bargain I had this week was a £1 greenhouse! DH constantly complains about my current big greenhouse which is a 10×8. (I also have a small 6×4 that I bubble wrap and occasionally heat) He doesn’t like that the panes of glass in the big greenhouse are non standard and have to be cut. On our estate our neighbours have smashed several panes of glass. We’ve had cups thrown through it along with beer cans and stones and one year it was shot several times with an air rifle. I could understand it if we were close to the edge and it was very visible but we’re in the middle of an estate with huge gardens with high fences and hedges.

Anyway we have had to have several panes replaces and to be honest I can’t see a problem in getting it cut (it’s a problem having to replace it due to horrible neighbours!) but still… Anyway, the last time we moved it, I had the not-so-good idea of putting it on scaffold boards which was great at the time but a few years later and they’re rotting. It means we’re going to have to take it down and resit it on bricks as I did originally. I’ll do all the brickwork but I’m not tall enough to reach the clips to get the glass out so I’ll have to enlist DH again. As DH doesn’t like the greenhosue I thought I’d have a quick look on ebay and spotted this 8×6 free with most of the glass which would keep DH happy as they are standard 2×2 size. Of course I jumped on it, especially as it was only half an hour away too. The chap we were buying it from asked us to pay the £1 that he’d listed it for which he’d later refund. He didn’t but you can’t complain at paying £1 for a greenhouse!

DH wanted us to sit it on what he calls a proper base, personally I can’t see what’s wrong with bricks but to keep him happy we looked at buying one from ebay. They were selling for £55 plus £5 postage. I looked to see if that was the normal price and found them at B&Q reduced to £50 from £60. As there’s a B&Q pretty much on our doorstep and it was £10 cheaper I suggested we buy it from there. When I got there they were selling their last two green painted bases for £35 each. I managed, on my own, to get one onto a trolly and happily approached the til thinking I’d managed to save £25 over the ebay base and our (my) greenhouse would only cost £26. When the lady who served me said “that’s £15 please” as she did a double take at the base and the til, I handed over my notes and almost ran to the car before they chased after me! £15! That’s a quarter of the cost of the base we were going to buy and I prefer it in green too!
Yesterday we managed to get the greenhouse dismantled and loaded up in the cars and trailer in under and hour and a half. There were a few cracked panes of glass already but we didn’t break one when we dismantled it. While I was standing inside it though, I felt that it was very small compared to my 10×8. I didn’t want to tell DH so waited until he was distracted watching the telly! He was fine about it and suggested we site it over the lotty as either a greenhouse or use the frame as a fruit cage. I promised to measure our existing greenhouse to see if its much bigger and have a think about it. I’m not sure how to use it for the best because I can’t see us using another greenhouse if we manage to get the tunnel done. So I’m going to have to decide whether to downsize my big greenhouse and replace it (I’ve had it for over 20 years!) with a smaller one but first I need to unload the 8×6 from the car….