25th January

I have, at long last, pruned the fuchsia in the front garden. The mother plant now is only a stump which means, unlike last year, we should see some good growth, and if the cutting doesn’t take, we will just have a bare patch, and not a few twigs poking up. The best thing was that I got to use my new secateurs for the first time. These were a present from my eldest (now 4) for Christmas and the day he and Diane bought them, he came running in and shouted to me that he had got me a pair of pliers. I thought I knew what they really were but as they were meant to be a surprise I said that it sounded nice but he should keep the details to himself until Christmas. How cute.

On the way back from work today I stopped off at Hilliers Garden centre in Romsey to look at seed prices for the vegetables. I can get a 10% discount from Suttons due to my Gardeners’ World Magazine subscription, but I wanted to see if it is worth paying postage if the seeds on the shelf are the same price. What a joy to notice that there was a special offer of 20% off all seeds. So later in the evening I went online and trawled through all the vegetable seeds that I was after (there were loads on offer) and I think they are a similar price to the shop. I would have thought that the shop would be noticeably dearer as they have to pay for delivery, it takes up space on their shelves, and they have their overheads to pay for. I guess they just have a good contract or buy in great bulk, or maybe Suttons don’t mind who buys their seeds – commercial outlets or individual customers buying from shops or direct, and there is no price difference to who they sell to. Maybe the shops buy online just like I can – who knows? The point is that I took note of the prices of the types and varieties I am interested in, and I will go back to the garden centre and compare. Any the same price or only slightly above I can buy there and any significantly lower I will purchase online (it looks like only 95p for postage).

 I went to bed excited and dreaming of seeds, and vegetable plants thriving on the allotment.

 

Next post: 28th Jan