Vivi's Kitchen Garden

Oh dear! My oven is in a shockingly filthy state as I simply forget to clean it…….so a few years worth of grime have built up and baked on. I want to clean this old oven without the use of harsh chemicals so I am going to try using Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda) and elbow grease. Let’s see how clean I can get it….. I should add: this isn’t a quick ‘how to’ video but rather a chatty one as I’m talking about why I’m doing this…..

It was with some trepidation that I went back to the garden to look at the state of things at the beginning of April…..my absences this year have been much longer than in previous years. I feel like I have missed a huge chunk of time…..let’s have a tour of the garden together and see what can be done to get back on track.

It may be chilly but it’s a beautifully bright day…and that brightness brings with it a huge dollop of optimism. It has been a very busy few days so I need a few minutes of time out…..but lovely things have been happening…..including some wonderful customer services for once!

It’s time to get back on with things for the garden……I’m playing catch-up sowing my tomatoes and celery a little later than usual…..and sharing my top tips for the celery which can be a total faff to prick out and pot on. The peppers which were started in the middle of February are looking fine but definitely need to move into bigger pots…..

One of my most frequently asked for videos over the years…here it is…my weekly shopping haul spending up to £10 ($13.83) for everything including food, cleaning stuff, clothes, travel and entertainment……. I am a little nervous to share this as I don’t think it will be what’s expected…….but this is it, this is how I live my happy, no compromise, shopping life. Please remember, this is how I live, these are my ethics….I am not saying everyone should do the same and I realise, for anyone without a vegetable garden, that this will probably be impossible. I am forever grateful to have space to grow my own food and appreciate that folk who don’t have a garden will have to fork out much more money than me simply to feed themselves.

Welcome to April…….the busiest time of year for me with sowings (especially this year as I need to catch up with my March sowings). Here I share all the things I will be sowing in April both indoors and in the garden (some direct in the soil, some in pots/trays for transplanting later). It’s time to get super organised as every minute in the garden this month really counts for food later in the year.

I’m a day late with my thoughts on March……because March went a bit differently than I expected. As I reflect on the month I also start to look forward to April and life getting back to a bit of normal for me…….even if my normal is never quite straightforward.

A little catch-up to let you know I’m still here and OK…….thank you all for your kind messages and for asking after me. Life….and the spinning of plates goes on……a few plates have been dropped but I can fix them later on…….I also have a wee rant (!) about shocking customer service which is the last thing I need to be dealing with right now. Thank goodness for a lovely postbag to pick me up.

Continuing from the last video where I talked about preparing for a wage-free life and trying a no-spend year, today I talk about saving the pennies. This is extreme saving and won’t be right for everyone but, whatever your goal is (wage free living, early retirement, paying off debt) I hope you will find some of these ideas useful…….how far you take it is up to you and depends on your end goal….and your motivation to get there. You can do it!

It has been a busy week and sometimes quite difficult….so today I’m taking a breather and having a wee catch up with you. It has been a steep learning curve; I’m going to share some of it with you in the hope that it will be useful/helpful to some of you further down the line (but it may be too raw for some of you at the moment so please feel free to skip through to around the 18 minute mark……I want to help…..I definitely do NOT want to upset/open wounds). Rest assured there are no tears in this video……it’s not maudlin at all! I’ve also had some lovely post arriving; it’s very eclectic…..and it has all put big smiles on my face.