Saturday 1 March 2014

Day 1 of Making it in March - My Indoor Garden #MIIM

Day 1 of 31 - Attempting to Make Something Every Day in March

 
Here we are in March already! The day began bright and then there was a tremendous downpour here, but it soon cleared and the sunshine actually brought a tiny bit of warmth with it. By mid-morning, it was looking positively spring-like, although I'm not easily fooled, after last March!
 
This month's challenge in the frugal forums is called 'Making it in March'. It is all about making things rather than buying them, making decisions not to spend, making our way along the frugal path of life, pretty much making anything we want to try making, really. I have been sharing dozens of ideas and suggestions via my Facebook pages so I can check back to see which to try making this month.

My 'makes' for today were fairly simple and all of them free! I made the decision to pull on my boots and go for a walk, in an effort to regain some fitness and start losing the many pounds in weight I have gained over winter. This is always so much easier said than done but having challenged myself to blog every day about these challenges, it might provide me with some extra incentive.

The outdoor gym - slow pace, beginner level
Today I went to the free outdoor gym and did 3 miles on the local treadmill. While there, I took some photographs to make an online album of progress. You should be able to see the full album HERE without needing to register or log into Facebook.

Lunch was a cup of soup with a slice of bread and then it was time to make something constructive. First, a wander around the garden and into the greenhouse to check progress on some cuttings.

Close up of the tiny flower emerging from House Leek in the garden
I am quite amazed that succulents can survive our cold climate but mine are doing rather well. In fact, this one, which is outside in the garden planted in a recycled car wheel with tyre still fitted, is showing signs of flowering! The cuttings from this plant are growing well, as are all the others. This gave me an idea!

My homemade, indoor succulent garden
Neighbour had sent me along some leftover salad stuff for feeding to the Frugaldom hens and rabbits, so I recycled the disposable plastic bowl into a mini-succulents garden by filling it with a mix of compost, vermiculite, pebbles and the cuttings I had in the greenhouse. I'm not up on names of plants, so I'd to search online and guess. The rosette shaped one turns deep burgundy, almost black in summer sunlight, it is a Black Tree Aeonium, apparently also known as houseleek tree or Irish rose. Alongside this I have a couple more cuttings from my money plant (also known as Jade Plant), a tiny Aloe Vera, a rooted cutting from Phyllis, my aging Epiphyllum (Easter Cactus) I got via Freecycle about 6 or 7 years ago, some Sedum and cuttings from my House Leek, which is the one that's about to flower outside in the garden.

I'm really pleased with how my tiny oasis turned out and really hope that it flourishes. My mini-succulents garden shall be counted as my 'make' for the first day of the 'Making it in March' challenge. Cost = NIL, as I had everything I needed to put this together.

While outside 'paying' in the garden, I made up a couple more plastic tubs as mini propagators and have now sown a few salad leaves and some cayenne pepper seeds. It will take them some time to germinate, even indoors is less than 10 degrees C first thing in the morning before the fire gets lit, but it's a start.

Off to do an hour's blanket sewing now, hope everyone has had a good day and please feel free to join in this month's moneysaving challenge to 'Make it in March'.

NYK, Frugaldom


19 comments:

  1. I'm making crochet baby blankets, it takes me 3 or 4 days to make each one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's impossible to count in the time factor when pricing things like blankets, no point even trying to compete with cheap imports. I find it sad that buying can be so much cheaper than homemade. Even postage for the materials can cost more than the ready made mass produced items. Just as well we enjoy doing it, eh? :)

      Delete
  2. Sounds like a lovely day! I made a cake mix (which really doesn't count in this challenge)
    ~ Pru

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It counts if you look at it from the point of view of putting in time and effort to mix and bake rather than popping to the shop to buy ready made, and I noticed it was a bargain buy. :)

      Delete
  3. Thank you for the beautiful photos of your walk. I enjoy getting to see others 'backyards'...it adds a special dimension to be able to place peoe i tbeir home setting. Especially if it is a place I most likely will not get to visit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love stockpiling the photos of the places I'm in, although I haven't printed any of them for safe keeping! I do back them up on an external hard drive, just in case Facebook ever changes its rules on free storage space. :) And never say never - you can have a virtual tour of my area via the 1000s of photos I have loaded there and know the place like the back of your hand in no time. :) There isn't a lot here.

      Delete
  4. That little succulent garden's great! I'm spring cleaning atm so no making for me, waaah.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, that qualifies as 'making' to me, you're making changes to your home environment. :)

      Delete
  5. I you have a spare one can I grovel for a money plant seedling when we come up, I could do with some money luck just now!!

    Doubt there will be a lot of money saving this month...but I will do my best.............

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, of course you can, I'll pot another one up in plenty if time for your visit. :)

      Delete
  6. A productive start to March and it sounds like a perfect Saturday. Now bring some of that sunshine up to the central belt please!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will try my best, hoping to be in the central belt soon, but the sun didn't last long here so it may already be with you?

      Delete
  7. love your photos, I wish I could see some green here, everything is white with snow {SIGH}, dropping down to minus 34 oC overnight.......

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Still plenty of time for the snow to reach us but I'm assured that it very seldom gets to this corner of Scotland and that last year was just a fluke. I'd actually prefer dry, white snow to all the rain we've had because the ground here is absolutely saturated. So glad we got the garden paths laid in before winter. :) Hope your house selling progress is all going in the right direction.

      Delete
    2. PS: I'd need to live in one room if it got that cold here, no way could my little house cope with that. I can't begin to imagine trying to heat a place the size of your palatial looking mansion, Gill, not with coal and logs the price they are here.

      Delete
    3. house has sold, and I have posted links to our new home if you want a look?

      Delete
    4. Wow, Gill - the new place looks pretty awesome. The houses there must be really well insulated to afford to heat them when it's -35 degrees C outdoors - wishing you many happy years in your new home; will you be in by summer?

      Delete
  8. And lovely your indoor garden looks too.

    I made some homemade soup for lunch, both free (most ingredients from the lottie) and yummy.

    X x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I hope you are feeling much better and are soon up and about, back to normal - but pain free. :)

      Delete

Many thanks for taking the time to comment. All comments are moderated to help prevent system abuse by spammers, time-wasters and chancers, so your comment will not appear until it has been manually accepted for publishing. This will be done as soon as possible - I check for updates regularly. We are on GMT - London times.