Ideas For Thifty Presents And A Small Extra Income

     I'm always on the look out for ways to save a bit of money as I'm sure lots of people are. We have an allotment but last year it was rather neglected due to a lot of family illness. It has two lovely apple trees and a pear tree on it which are very old and last year we had so much fruit we were distributing it to all our neighbours and Tom was taking bag fulls into work to give away rather than see any of it rot. We have also planted lots of fruit bushes, which once we have built a cage round this year, we hope will also add to the fruit yield.
    Although I know I should be planting lots of vegetables as it helps to save money my real love for growing and planting is flowers. I come from a long line of gardeners and people who would rather spend hours in a greenhouse than in front of a TV and nearly all my presents to family are gardening themed whether it's plants or garden centre vouchers. So this year I have decided to grow as many presents for family as I can on the allotment and maybe try and sell surplus plants and later in the year fruit. I could also add eggs from our hens and ducks.

The fruit trees on our allotment last spring.

     When I told my plans to my family they all roared with laughter. "This is London not the countryside Mum" they said "An honesty box wouldn't last five minutes." Well I have more faith in our neighbours than that and I think I shall aim to try later in the year. I know this is maybe a bit ambitious but I would love a stall like this in our little front garden.