Tell me you’re not tempted at 2 for £10… Even though we’ve not yet got the trees down in our garden, doesn’t mean to say we can’t get some 
You can get your grubby mits on them from Lidl from Today – though I’d hurry, they tend to go fairly quickly.
I’d recommend removing the blossom for the first couple of years to allow the fruit tree to put all its energy into root growth. You’ll be rewarded with more produce more quickly and have a healthier tree.
My ginger beer plant is dead. I’ve done something silly with it and have had to reorder.
If you want to order your own, you can always do so from sites such as gingerbeerplant.net
Ginger beer tip:
If you want really hot ginger beer add a chili – it’ll blow your socks off but is so, so very nice 
Currently our house is a mixture of different windows – Most of the house is made of Steel framed single glazing, except the front and back. The front is double glazed but the windows have ‘blown’ which means that the inert gas that fills the panes has leaked out and condensation is building up inside, similarly our large patio doors have a crack in them.
So replacing with double glazing is what I’ve got my eye on at the moment, and we’ve had a number of quotes. They have been fairly close – the first two within a hundred or so quid of each other, both reputable local companies with each window roughly working out at about £450 each to replace.
On investigation, I could buy these cheaper and install them myself – at roughly half the price. This also involves a building inspector, probably a number of family members or friends – and probably a lot of hassle.
The 3rd option is similar to the 2nd, but get someone to fit them on your behalf. I’ve not priced this yet, but when I do I’ll post up the results.
So what makes them worth replacing? Well the main concern is will they save as much energy and/or offer additional benefits. Your first stop should be here - the GGF online calculator for energy savings - my results are the pic at the start of the post – a potential saving of £4,000 – though I suspect mine may be higher because I probably have more windows than the average 3 bed house, but I digress.
My 2nd benefit apart from the energy saving is the fact my current windows actually fall out when I unlock and open them. This is not good, so increased security will be a benefit.
The 3rd benefit is the cooling of the windows – currently Low E windows are all the range – these allow warmth into the property in the winter and have the benefit of trapping it in. During the summer, due to the angle of the sun the Low E will reflect the sun making it cooler.
The 4th benefit is that the supplier I am looking at has fire escape latches on all windows, allowing anyone resident in the property to escape.
Is it worth it? I hope so because currently I’m feeling very, very cold
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAI-HQfDNjQ[/youtube]
This is the first timelapse video I’ve made using the projectcam from wingscapes. I didn’t actually use the incamera video creator, but instead used instructions off here and Apple Quicktime. All seems well, except that the projectcam is taking pictures every three hours including when it’s pitch black. I may have also have knocked it when getting out the memory card last.
Either which way, it’s looking good.
As you can see, having emptied the pond, it’s actually draining the land around it, which is kind of good because that was the general idea, but bad because I didn’t actually want to create a soakaway yet, just get rid of the pond before the frogs start spawning.
If they do, I guess I’ll offer it on freecycle.
Plan for the new garden
I'm Tim, a 29yr old ex-Allotmenteer. My wife and I used to have a small 5 rod plot in South Essex where we grew all manner of veg. I'm also involved in brewing the odd keg of beer.
Recently we bought a house with a 65ftx30ft garden, which we're converting into a mini orchard and veg beds. The entire transformation is happening at the moment and being chronicled by a timelapse camera.
The hope is to introduce chickens next year into the orchard to allow them free range.
If you want to contact me, you can do so here
