My home made cleaning recipes, book writing, cloche chat AND some SHOPPING (Ooooops!)
Hello friends!
It's been a long week of writing; I have to hand in my book frighteningly soon. Here are my rather sparse garden endeavours for this week, along with those cleaning spray recipes I promised.
Monday:
I have the BEST time sweeping next to all the scented winter shrubs. They lure me out into the garden at this time of year. I manage to tear myself away and gather all my tools to begin my annual tool cleaning festival. Let's be honest here, sometimes I don't manage it, but in the spirit of 'starting off as I mean to go on', I'm making a point to clean and sharpen my tools before they go into active service this year, because I KNOW how joyful a clean, sharp knife or secateur is in the hand, and the feel of it slicing easily through the things I want to chop is second to none. As usual though for me, they get to the kitchen table and then something comes up and I have to clear them away before I've done any cleaning. Such is life. We try again tomorrow.
Tuesday:
I wake up in need of summer scent, and find two out-of-date, about-to-be-thrown-away pots of basil in my local supermarket which I bring home and divide into four little pots. Just doing this transports me immediately to a summer day, and I'm able to step back from the panic of my deadline and smell the basil. It's delicious. I make bolognese and everything is better.
Wednesday:
February gardening at its finest: I order more seeds. I shouldn't but I do. This has all been brought about because of an article I have just finished about what to plant ahead of possible veg shortages, post Brexit, for which I interviewed the brilliant Youtube sensation Huw Richards (excellent advice and lovely videos and GORGEOUS accent!) and Alex Mitchell - prolific book-writer and gardening journalist and small-space gardener, both total experts in getting the most from your veg, however tiny your space. I'm now inspired to augment my gap-filling shopping list with some edibles to make my borders both look and TASTE excellent. So I spend a lovely five minutes buying seeds. Here is what I bought. Whether any of them make it into my five minute schedule is another matter though:
Tomato 'Cherry falls' - a tumbling variety which Alex says tastes DELICIOUS
Cavolo nero to put in my borders (and eat, of course)
Uchiki kuri - my favourite winter squash to climb over my new pergola (more of which anon!!!)
Tromboncino courgette (never grown this one before but I cannot resist the shape...also to climb over my pergola)
salads (a mix called 'Ovation' by Johnsons another recommendation from Alex) - for my terrace pots.
For me, this was a total shopping spree and I come away from it both exhilarated and a tiny bit ashamed (although not for long). I generally keep away from edibles in the Five Minute Garden (except for salads and strawberries) because they ARE so labour-intensive. My hope is that I'll be able to accommodate these, somehow. I'll keep you posted!
Thursday:
Bashing away at the computer again. No gardening
Friday:
I rush out before the rain begins (it is torrential as I write) and jam my newly acquired bamboo cloches over my pots of bulbs. I've been searching for large cloches after my old ones finally broke after five years of service. For me they are the most cost-effective, least labour-intensive and most importantly the prettiest way to keep squirrels and birds and KIDS away from my bulbs. I'll blog about them soon. NB they don't stay this colour for long and yes, eventually they do disintegrate in the weather. If I could afford it I'd get these, but I can't, so I won't.
Home-made cleaning products
I've been using home-made cleaning products for a year now, trying to cut down on the amount of plastic that enters (and leaves) this house, and to keep things toxin-free.
These three recipes clean all of the yuck up in our house. Full disclosure, I have a cleaning lady who does the lion's share of this work and (also full disclosure) she LOVES these sprays! They clean really well and smell great.
I got these recipes from a blog called An Organised Life. This is one of those websites I go down a rabbit-hole with, wishing I had been born with the budgeting, organising, tidying gene (I wasn't). Anyway, these recipes are really good, and they work for us.
NOTE: The oils used in these recipes are the ones I like. You should use the ones YOU like! 💋
Also: The castile soap is a great all-over body wash...kids included.
ALSO! The glass bottles I use are re-purposed Sarson's vinegar bottles which I buy from the supermarket. The squirter tops are from old 'Method' cleaning product bottles and they are a perfect fit - you may have to snip the plastic tube slightly as it's a little long).
General all-purpose cleaner
This can be used everywhere - no vinegar in it so you can use it to clean your marble if you have any (I have a lot).
It's cloudy and the oils tend to rise to the top, so you need to shake it gently before use.
In a bottle put:
6 drops Dr Bronner's Castile soap
30 drops tea tree oil
20 drops orange oil
Fill to top with water
Simple all-purpose cleaner (not pictured)
This is a cleaning spray without any oils in it, that I let my children use to wipe down the table after we have eaten etc. It smells truly lovely, because of the rose scented castile soap. Shake gently before use.
Small squirt of Dr Bronners Castile soap
Fill up with water
Loo and bathroom spray
We use this to clean the loo and all other parts of the bathroom.
Spray and allow to sit for a few minutes to remove dried on toothpaste or OTHER unmentionables.
1 cup Dr Bronner's Sal Suds
1 cup white vinegar
80 drops tea tree oil
NOTE: this is strong-smelling. I like it but it is pretty vinegary! If you can't bear the vinegar smell then infuse your vinegar with lemon rinds for a week or so. This reduces the smell.
Glass and mirror spray
This is an excellent window and glass cleaner. Obviously elbow-grease is needed too.
1/2 cup alcohol
1/2 cup white vinegar
fill to top with water
Again, this is pretty punchy in the scent department but hey, unlike some other cleaning products, it won't make you ill...yay!
I do hope that was useful. It seems like everyone is doing this at the moment which is absolutely brilliant, so if you don't like the look of these, then do find something else and try it out...Cleaning products never need to be toxic or dangerous - I've been reading really awful things recently about people getting very unwell through unwittingly chucking a certain cleaning product (which I won't even name) into the loo having previously cleaned said loo with bleach. Impaired lung function. Eye injuries...just AWFUL. Take care out there. I haven't even mentioned baking soda! Another time!
All the good things, as always my dear friends, and THANK you for all your emails - I LOVE them!
x Laetitia
ps you might have missed:
Three garden things you can practically do from bed this month! You're welcome!
Pot washing 101
Daily posts on instagram
You can find my books here and here (Sweet Peas for Summer is a bargain right now at only £2.99!)
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