Spring’s a coming….

It’s that time of year when the green fingered amongst us start thinking about what needs doing outside – but what about the impact that it has on your budget?

This time of year as I look out on our garden, I see all of the jobs that we didn’t quite get finished at the end of last year and too many jobs to mention that we need to get cracking on for the spring.

We’re lucky enough to have a large garden. It’s lovely but it means an equally large amount of time and money is required to optimise or even just maintain it. Our front garden contains four fruit trees; an eating apple, a pear and two cooking apples. These trees all need a fair amount of pruning annually to keep them from becoming unruly and resulting in an over production of mountains of fruit that we just don’t have enough freezer space or friends and family to cope with.

The other benefit of keeping on top of this task is that these trees produce excellent logs for our woodburner, something that saves us a fortune if we are organised enough to cut back and chop and stack for seasoning – we’re always working roughly a year ahead on this one. Obviously we’re not often that organised which means we end up spending money on rubbish logs from a late night garage and kicking ourselves for not chopping any logs.

I love watching all of the bulbs coming up, they have a transformational effect on the garden and really do lift the spirits. Right now we have loads of snowdrops flowering and hundreds of daffodils coming up. Everywhere I look there are signs of new life and it’s gratifying to see these old friends return year after year. For anyone wanting to create a splash of colour on a budget it’s such an easy thing to do – you can get a bag of bulbs and some compost (if you don’t make your own) for less than a fiver and for that create an annually recurring display.

It’s also time to have the lawnmower serviced and clean and sharpen all of the tools in your shed. It’s not something we’re terribly good at but taking care of these items really does extend their life. Something we have always done is looked out for second hand tools – many Saturday markets will have a stall crammed with all kinds of intriguing things and there’s something good about digging with a spade with a wooden handle worn through years of use. Have a look about – there’s some real bargains to be had!

Like everything else the most fun to be had is in involving the children. Of course this means that every task will take approximately 10 times as long and the simplest of jobs, for example gathering sticks, will turn into a defence of the realm type game. For us it’s about doing little bits all the time, and not stressing about what doesn’t get finished. Mother Nature doesn’t really mind how tidy the borders are or how often the grass cuts cut – she just carries on regardless!
 

Monday, 4th April 2011

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