Been lurking around this site for a while now, reading lots of things while waiting for my activation email (thanks Dave for sorting that for me!) and now can finally introduce myself.
I've just moved into my first house which also has a garden which I'm really excited about. I've always been lucky enough to have big gardens while growing up but I've never actually done any gardening. In fact, my gardening ability is a long standing joke with my husband as once he bought me a bulb pot plant and I dug it up 2 weeks after planting it to see why it hadn't started growing! Patience isn't my forte! It never did grow. But I'm really pleased to have a garden now. We've ended up moving sort of out to the country (while still being close to main towns) in order to have a bit more space and have quite a big garden now (probably much smaller than most of you but big for me coming from a flat with no garden). It also backs onto a field so really feels like we're in the country.
I have 2 young sons, a toddler and a baby, and I think it's really important to be able to teach them about sustainable living and where things come from so I'm trying to be much more self sufficient (ish) now we're here. Hopefully itll cut down on spending too! It's also a good chance for me to learn. I was also really affected by the horse meat scandal, not so much because i mind eating horse, but because i dont like not knowing what im eating and certainly not not knowing what my children are eating.
We're starting off small and I've been doing trench composting. My eldest son was given a plum tree last year which we've just had 15 plums off. We also have a damson tree and another plum tree in our new garden so I've made damson chutney and will be making jam. Next year ill try plum wine when ive looked into it a bit more. I bought (at the suggestion of a post on here) living leaves from T***o so have a few lettuces and we have lots of blackberries growing over the fence in the field. Next year ill have a go at picking the nettles too.
Also, now we have outdoor space for a washing line I'm planning to use real nappies and am looking into the council funding for them.
In the long term I'm hoping to have chickens and rabbits. I'd like the boys to learn about caring for animals but don't really see the point of keeping animals for pets. Yes, they're lovely but I'm of the opinion if I'm looking after it I want it to be useful!
I have an awful lot of plans and hopefully some of them will come to fruition. Any advice anyone can give me will be very welcome.
