AUTUMN GARDEN TIPS

I'm a fair-weather gardener, but with prices of fruit/veg/flowers soaring, this year I've taken a bigger interest in my garden. I've sown a few seeds, grown some veg, swapped produce and sweet peas with neighbours and family. A little bit of research came up with these 2 tips for the autumn

·         If you have an open compost bin it is time to cover it over the winter period, to keep the heat in and rain out. Also, any worms stay warm so that they can continue to turn your kitchen waste into fertile compost when temperatures drop. Mine has a lid and when I lift the lid I have to be careful because lots of lovely worms drop off. Apart from vegetable peelings I add grass cuttings (I mowed at the weekend, hopefully the last time this year!), torn newspaper, & old bank statements/any letters etc with my full details that I’ve put through my paper shredder.

·         What to do with falling leaves? If you don’t have too many they make good winter cover for bare soil (though you will have to remove them in spring before you start planting) But, it is easy to make your own leaf-mould, which is a good mulch and soil/lawn conditioner, which you can also add to potting compost. Rake up all your fallen leaves and put them into a black plastic bin liner. Sprinkle with a watering can if leaves are dry, tie loosely, and punch some holes in the sack with your garden fork. Forget about it for at least 1 year to let the leaves rot down to make leaf-mould. Not only is it FREE, but it saves the planet by replacing peat, and no need for a bonfire.  NB You can’t use evergreen leaves such as holly & laurel

That's a couple of tasks I think I can manage

Happy gardening

WEC

SAVE MONEY BUT KEEP WARM

Apparently the annual fuel bill for the average family is £1300

Ouch! That’s a lot of money. So, dreary as it may sound, it really is important to reduce the amount of fuel you use.

It’s good to know where you can get free advice (as well as here!). I’ve looked at the Which website and you don’t have to subscribe to access it for some basic info on how to save money on heating bills. Go to www.which.co.uk/money and click on bills and budgeting – guides - ways-to-save-on-heating. They have tips regarding heating costs which include:

1.    If you walk around indoors in a T-shirt in winter, you are burning cash. If you reduce room temperatures by just 1°C you could cut your heating bills by almost 10%. And you get to use those sweaters lurking in your wardrobe so you can save your T-shirts for summer

2.    Turn down radiators to the lowest setting, without turning off completely, in rooms you rarely use.  But remember to turn it back up when your favourite aunt / best friend comes to stay! You can also fit reflective foil behind radiators on external walls to help reduce the rate of heat loss

3.    If you draught proof your property it will stop costly heat from escaping. Fill gaps around window and door frames. You can use draught excluder strips or expanding foam fillers. Loft hatches should also be insulated, as should the edges of the loft opening.

4.    If you can use energy saving light bulbs this will add to your savings over time

5.    Did you know that up to a third of your heat vanishes through the roof? No wonder those pigeons march up and down my roof! Installing 270mm of insulation could cost as little as £250, and could cut your fuel bills by up to £100 a year as a result, so you are saving money by the 3^rd year.

6.    If you’ve got extractor fans in bathrooms and kitchens don’t leave them running as they just carry on burning your energy – mine is so noisy I’m glad to turn it off!

7.    Go to www.energysavingtrust.org.uk and get a free online home energy check

8.    If you have an old-fashioned hot water tank, which is either un-insulated or poorly insulated, you can reduce heat loss by 70 per cent, and save money, by treating it to a British Standard cylinder jacket (75mm thick). Jackets cost as little as £5

You’ve probably seen most of these before, but we all forget, so hope you don’t mind being reminded. Having written this I’ve just turned down the radiator in my spare bedroom (must make a note in my diary to turn it up when my next visitor comes for a weekend)

WEC

FUEL for FREE

Last winter I didn’t get round to using the wood burner in the cottage I’d just moved into, but the price of oil has gone up so much that this year I’ve had the chimney swept (used a voucher in the local paper) and I’m ready to burn. So far I’ve been lucky on two counts: 1) It’s still relatively mild, so only used it once, 2) I’ve been given some wood, nicely dried over a year and already cut to size by my lovely brother-in-law.

But I’ve now found a new free fuel – PINE CONES. There are several large fir trees near a car park I use regularly, and after seeing loads of cones lying on the ground I returned with a carrier bag. There were also a couple of small dead branches, so they went into the boot. The cones burn really well, don’t last very long, but they make a great addition. It’s worth giving it a whirl if you’ve got an open grate or a wood burner. You could get the added bonus of pine scent wafting through your living room.

If you’ve got full central heating you might think you don’t need to know this, but if you like walks in the country or the park, gathering cones can be a fun part of the walk (the kids will love to join in). And they make an unusual gift for somebody you know who does have an open fire. You could even pop them in a bag and tie a ribbon round it!

Sometimes it’s fun being frugal.

WEC

Take a "spare" memory card to the photo-booth

This is a time-saving tip that I hit on when I wanted to put together a photo album for a friend following a holiday we'd shared in Turkey. Like most people, I'd taken hundreds of digital photos and off-loaded them onto the computer. I had in mind that a memories album of about 12 or 20 shots would be about the right size.

By the time I'd come up with this idea I'd put the memory card back in the camera and was steadily filling it again with the usual family stuff.

I remembered that the camera had arrived with quite a small capacity memory card in it that was just sitting in the drawer after being upgraded with the large capacity card I'd taken to Turkey. So this had the makings of a plan.

I put the "small" card in the card reader slot of the PC and brought up on-screen the thumbnail icons in the "Turkey" folder. I could then easily scroll through all the likely shots and drag the best 20 onto the small memory card. Any photos that had any doubt over sharpness etc I could bring up on-screen to check before dragging onto the memory card. By the end of this exercise I'd got the best 20 shots on the memory card which I then took down to the DIY photo booth in Morrison's. I selected the print size and simply clicked "select all" and hit print. All my decision-making was done with the convenience of a large-screen display and the time in Morrison's was kept to an absolute minimum. Good result!

Hope you find this useful.

Wheel Trims

Here's an interesting little tale and I think it has a fairly surprising outcome.

About 3 weeks ago I'd run an errand, leaving the car outside the house for a couple of hours. When I'd finished the task I drove back home and left the car in the street instead of in the drive – I'd normally park in the drive which I feel is a little “safer” as it's easier to see from indoors.

After a bite of lunch I went back out to the car and found that someone has pinched all 4 wheel trims. The car looked terrible. So drab, dull and a bit industrial looking! I decided that doing without wasn't an option.

Looking on eBay for Universal 15” wheel trims I found several sets costing in the teens of pounds. Just for comparison, I checked at the main agent's spares department and found the official branded product would cost about £15 each. Ouch.

Having selected one of the designs on eBay (to look most like the original) I was a little unsure whether the 5 fake nuts shown made any difference as my wheels, like most, have 4 nuts. So I sent a message via eBay to the dealer asking for clarification on that point. Several days later – no reply. A quick follow-up but still no reply.

Luckily, and whilst looking for something completely different, I was in Lidl and noticed rather attractive wheel trim sets for an excellent £9.99 which was way cheaper than any others I seen. Quickly checking that I did indeed need 15” wheel trims I made my purchase and fitted them easily as soon as I got home. The question about 5 fake nuts for a 4 real nuts car turned out to be a complete irrelevance. The wheel trim is held in place by a springy ring near the circumference. It has 3 positioning options to make sure it's nice and tight on the wheel just inside from where the tyre is. The instructions are nice and clear. I also put a couple of nylon cable ties on each wheel trim to make sure they stayed on (whilst in motion and against ne'er-do-wells!).

A recommendation there for Lidl – who'd have thought?

FREE water saving gizmos

Did you know your water company probably supplies free tips and products to help reduce your water and energy bills? I didn’t, but I randomly selected three – www.anglianwater.co.uk, www.yorkshirewater.com, www.stwater.co.uk and they all offer a variety of items including a friendly hippo or frog to put in your cistern (not needed if you’ve got a modern dual flush cistern)

Gizmos offered for FREE include:

·         Flushsaver. The item, a filled plastic bag, or even a fun hippo or frog depending on where you live, is placed in your cistern to reduce the amount of water that flushes away (not needed if you’ve got a modern dual flush cistern). 1/3 of all water used in the home is flushed down the toilet.

·         Shower saver/flow regulator. This restricts the amount of water you use in the shower (not suitable for electric showers)

·         Tap inserts. Like the shower savers these save water and energy by reducing flow rate

Severn Water also offer free fat traps! To bag and bin fats, oils, greases that shouldn’t be put down sinks, drains

Tips which are worth being reminded of include:

·         Fix leaking taps

·         Turn off tap while brushing your teeth (can use 6-9 litres/minute)

·         Save energy, water & detergent by waiting until you have a full load before you run your washing machine or dishwasher

·         Keep a jug of water in the fridge so that you don’t have to run the tap each time you want a cold drink

So, check your water company and see what they have to offer. You might get a free frog!