I think I am a fillyjonk!

I have been reading Tove Jansson's "Tales from Moomingvalley" and recognise myself in the fillyjonk. Not the fear of disasters (though I am a worrier) but all the possessions!

Tove likes simplicity and no unnecessary possessions, whereas I am a pack rat collecting, amongst other things, china and ornaments.

And I got more today! Walked 4 miles to the National Trust's Sutton House in Homerton High Street, finally getting to see the house and visit the craft fair. I didn't spend anything there but I did pass through Chatsworth Road market.

I got some black and white plates showing commedia characters, which will be a present for a friend who is a clown, so that's OK. I also got a green denby looking salt and pepper set to go with the other green denby items I am collecting. I got a brown earthenware cereal bowl that will go with some dinner plates and side plates in that style. From a charity shop I got a blue and white bowl with a lip where you can put your bread when you are having soup, but that turns out to have a hairline crack, so that will become a pot plant saucer. And lastly a glass paperweight.

All second hand, but somehow I feel that's not the point when one is trying to live a greener, simpler life. It's easier to avoid buying new stuff. I can go away and think about it!

green gadgets have a grudge against me!

I had a plug to plug in my mobile when recharging - nothing happened.

I had a charger that was supposed to use the sun to charge itself, but that doesn't work (but I will try out in the garden next summer just in case that works!)

I've just tried a gadget for recharging batteries. The red lights are supposed to turn green when the batteries are charged. I put the old batteries in and get a red and green flashing light show.

And it is not even technology that doesn't work!

I had some plastic covered magnets to go in the cistern to stop limescale. The water within a few days was disgusting gungy. No limescale in sight, couldn't see the enamel below the water line! I cleaned the lavatory and tried again (several times) but no luck, just disgusting looking water!

I feel got at!

House warmth

Out collecting logs from the woodpile this morning in a very heavy frost. Pond frozen but not frozen over. Noticed ice on the water in the watering can 6 ft (2 metres) from the house, but the water in the watering can only 2 ft (66cm) had only just begun to freeze.

Shows how much heat coming from the house, even beside the unheated conservatory. I already have the small pots of plants near the house, and this morning I dragged the bay tree a little nearer.

Today the first evening I have had the central heating on, though probably should have put it on on Thursday evening as I had to shut the door into the hall for the stove to keep the dining room and sitting room warm enough.

With the stove on, the central heating on, and lots of fleecy layers, I am lovely and warm. I am thankful for this when I read of the problems people are having keeping warm in Greece.

Only weight lifters with cars can get potting compost

My strawberry plants arrived yesterday from the Organic Gardening Catalogue.

I didn't have enough potting compost so trundled off with my shopping trolley to Homebase. Remembered when I got there that the bags Homebase sell are usually too big. Too heavy for me to lift and likely to damage my shopping trolley beyond repair. But thought I would check. They had very little selection, and all huge bags, except for some growbags.

Who uses growbags in winter?

So off I trundled to B&Q. They had some peat-free potting compost but in 50 litre bags. They had a bigger selection than Homebase but all 50 litre or 60 litre bags. So I got a growbag instead - which I could have got 25 minutes earlier!

I got "Alice" which the catalogue said had sweet fruit. The ones I got from a garden centre this year were virtually tasteless so are for the bin!. I noticed in the Organic Gardening Catalogue that their best seller "Cambridge Favourite" had no mention of what the fruit tasted like!

Ramson puzzle

My order from the Organic Gardening Catalogue arrived at work and I have been bringing the contents of the box home in stages.

I ordered some Ramson (wild garlic) bulbs. The packet told me how deep to plant them and they preferred quick draining soil (good, I've got that) and full sun (not so good, I'm short of that). However, there was nothing about when to plant them.

I googled and found a site that said they should be well watered and they will start to appear in February. Watering over the winter????

I've planted them, mainly along the back of the flower bed where they will get morning sun, and a few in the bed that will have the leaks next year.

Hoping for the best.

As snug as a bug in a rug

It's an old camping trick to keep you warm, to have as much underneath you as above you at night. I apply the same tip to keep me warm in bed as I don't have the heating on overnight.

I have a thick sleeping bag opened out, then a fleecy underblanket on top of that, then the sheet. Then I am as snug as a bug in a rug.

I told this tip to a friend who was complaining of being cold at night in his cold bedroom. He has folded up two blankets and put them under his sheet and says it made a big difference.

Leaving leaves

Had a day off today and spent some time clearing ash tree leaves from the concrete path and the concrete at the bottom of the garden for the leaf mould bin (a large, old birdcage someone had dumped by a lamppost several years ago).

All the leaves on the long flower bed and the vegetable plot I left. It is cover for the soil over winter and saves two lots of carting, to the leaf mould bin and then back on to the beds. This left-where-it-fell leaf mould is all the fertiliser the flower bed gets!

I notice how leaves just left where they lie on the soil rot down much, much quicker than piles of leaves.

I then went to the end of the road and collected several buckets of sycamore leaves for the bed in the front garden. This is for hibernating animals - a couple of autumns ago I saw a large toad, so I want plenty of insulation for her if she is still returning to spend the winter in my front garden.

Pleased to see no sign of ash die back in my neighbours' ash trees - long may that continue.