Puttering around the rooftop garden

Weather in my corner of Essex today was 'white clouds' and a high of 12. I would have never understood that forecast prior to coming here. It was a bright, but not sunny morning, and vaguely warm, when one had on long sleeves and garden gloves. Fortuneately I worked from 8-12 AM on the balkon, because 'grey clouds' rolled in around lunchtime, and brought rain along.

My camera bit the dust on the recent trip to Spain, so no photos, however, here is what I was up to today:
-I bought a giant planter at poundland a few weeks back. (no really, 1 GBP for a reinforced plastic woven square shaped bag that will probably do for a year or two, with 100 litre capacity, so quite large). I think it will suit a few chilli pepper plants. I cleared out some of the 'compost bags' that have been in place since the fall. It's always an education to me, to see what goes on in such a little ecosystem. I had a lot of worms due to the decaying veg scraps as well as the dead potatos that I had lost due to the early fall snow.

In addition, I always like to see what is growing from the compost. In this case, I had some ivy that I had clipped from Ian's in the fall; I had thought it was done and threw it into the compost, and here it comes back with a vegence and strong root system. I did remove that and put it into a smaller pot as ivy is so invasive. It will be a good candidate for ebay. :-)

-I moved the garlic mini-plants from the sprouting containers to the large pots that I won't need for the peppers. ;-) Slocombe the cat loves(!), loves(!), loves(!), garlic, and I enjoy it as well, so I felt it appropriate for us to have 20 some cloves to plant. :-)

-I spun off more of my 'seed sown' oregano to its own pots. I was not sure that oregano would really take up here, but in a garden surprise, it has flourished! I have it in one long planter, about 18 inches long, so as it spawns off in an increasing manner, I separate it out into smaller pots. If only oregano would be as big an ebay seller as strawberries. (smile)

-I re-jiggered the wall area that leads to dear A's balkon, to block it with a foraged log. The log came from the park, in the hope that Slocombe would appreciate it as a scratching post, but alas not. Slocombe has been increasingly curious and once managed to slip between the posts that support the glass that separate my balkon from A's. I like A a lot and would not want her to be offended when someone's furry behind decides it appropriate to investigate her balkon, complete with sitting on her patio table(!). Slocombe the cat doesn't recognize boundaries on her own, they need to be erected for her, so now they have been.

-And work on round 2 of the seedlings has commenced. Now that I made it through 'strawberry season' on ebay, next up will be the small plant auctions, mainly I have tomatoes and peppers, but I have a few others as well such catnip and eggplant.

No idea why eggplant seems to be a losing battle up here. Most things will sprout easily, but eggplant is the lowest percentage for me, for seeds.

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday, wherever you are? :-)

Update on the garden side hustle: Round 1 strawberries

I mentioned before, I'd put a few plants out on ebay and come what may. Strawberries in the bigbox retailers in my corner of Essex sell for between .50 p and 1 gbp per plant. I grouped a few together to see what would happen and listed two lots. Both lots had over 10 watchers and 10 and 7 bids. I finally ended up with a sales price that averaged around .45 p/plant, with 17 plants out the door.

One set went a few hours north by post, the other set was a local pickup in my corner of Essex. (No one else was listing strawberries within 25 miles, so I had the market cornered a bit.)

The fellow stopped by this evening to pick them up. Bla bla, they have a container garden. And the usual question for me, 'if you don't mind my asking, where are you from?' He then mentioned that his wife is from Russia, and that she is their strawberry expert.

This statement from him, with wonderment:
So I'm in the middle of downtown (my corner of Essex), buying strawberries that were grown on a roof, by an American! Who would have ever imagined that?

Who would have imagined that my strawberries were going to live with a Russian in the UK? In addition, he was mentioning that they enter some kind of garden contest and placed last year...so they're hoping that these home grown ones do the trick this year.

Super. :-) Total strawberry profit today? Around 7 gbp after reducing for paypal and ebay fees.

This spring's side hustle: plants

A side hustle is a little job on the side, to make some extra cash. I mentioned a few years ago, about a little side hustle I was doing, to do something completely different than my normal job, and to make a little cash. While benevolent company J treats me very well and gives me a paycheck to boot, it's nice to try out another 'career' on the side, on the evenings and weekends.

In my fantasy world I don't have to worry about renewing a UK work permit. In my non-fantasy world, I need to keep my eye on the UK legislation, and one of the conditions of renewing my UK work permit is a certain salary level--one which computer work readily supplies. Let's save that topic for my next 'UKversary', coming up shortly. Anyway, in my fantasy world, I'd be an organic gardener, with maybe a few chickens as well.

Some months back, I mentioned the 'accidental avocados'. I did end up putting one of the avocado plants up on ebay, and then watched in wonderment as it received multiple bids, and finally sold for 5 GBP, plus shipping. I boxed it up and it went north to its' new home, near the Scottish border...

Then I started to think a little further about this idea...

• My balkon in Essex is hotter than hot. In peak weather it's above 40.
• Certain veg and plants do very well up here, others not. In particular, because I'm so far up off the ground and because of the glass walls, it's a little more of a greenhouse effect.
• Except that I have a lot more space than the average greenhouse.
• I get a jump start on the UK growing season, and mine lasts longer as well, just due to the warmer temps up here.
• The UK plant market is a bit more 'closed' than some other EU markets due to government regulations.

For kicks and giggles, I listed extra strawberry plants in the fall, the runners that wouldn't stop coming. I still have over 60 runners in little pots, here are some of them, on the left:

Then I sold a set of strawberries on ebay as well, those were carefully boxed and went to live with Ben in West Yorkshire. As they were runners, they are essentially 'free' items to me. 5 down, 60 more to go...

While I cannot orcestrate a full salad to be produced off my my space (something I could easily do by late July in Germany, on 1/10th of the space), I am able to grow and sell warm weather items, so that I can them buy my salad. ;-)

So here is part of the back balkon. Last year I lined it with tomatoes. As you can see, it's a lot of spare space.

This year, I'm thinking to go after starting off a lot seedlings to sell small plants, and then those crops that do exceptionally well up here (and not so well in Essex or the UK). I usually do half decently on getting seeds started, due to that greenhouse effect.

I'm curious to see how much pocket change I can make from something I enjoy doing on the side...

Thoughts or ideas are welcome of what I should grow to sell, or how to do it...
Plants that have done well up here:

• avocados
• chilli peppers/any hot pepper variety, although they're not a big profit maker as peppers from Thailand and Jamaica are sold cheaply here.
• thai basil, from seed
• cat nip (cat mint) - last year's plants are already getting new growth for this season. I started with two small seedlings from the nursery and they mushroomed into 18 inches with pretty purple flowers on top. They over-wintered on the balkon and are now coming back with a vengence

Those who have failed up here, to various degrees:

• The cauliflowers - I attracted the white butterflies that created worms that demolished them.
• Lettuce - it gets too hot up here, so it goes quickly to seed
• Eggplant - couldn't get the seeds to sprout

Indifferent

• Potatoes - they do ok, but my winter ones flopped with our early freeze
• Tomatoes - they like the heat, but my plants get too hot and then get wilty. I actually had better tomatoes in Germany, by far

Update on the side hustle

The last few days in England, the weather has been absolutely glorious. It's been more like summer weather than April weather. Although it finally cooled down again last night and it supposed to drizzle tomorrow for the London Marathon.

Fortunately, I've had the opportunity to spend my after-work hours outside on the caretaker gig/side hustle, and we've now moved onto outside things as the super weather over the past week has caused all of the overgrown things to grow even more, and because the owner wants to put it on the market in a month.

This week I've focused on cutting the lawns and trying to make heads or tails of flower beds which haven't been touched in at least a year. It's such a beatiful place, and they just bought a new Union Jack flag which completes the look--doesn't it have curb appeal?

I have a task list while the owner is away; I look at the weather and the hours I have (so that a task will be completed, not partially done) and the mood I'm in and I choose something from it. She had compiled the list and together we gave time estimates in hours to each item. There's hours and hours of tasks, some of which are 'regular' such as mowing the lawns, so I have plenty to choose from and the list is always increasing. Then I give an email update after each visit so the owner updates her copy of the list so that she is remotely up-to-date on where things stand.

There is a giant flower bed in the back which is visible from the kitchen. It's one of those English gardens, a gentle gathering of a pine tree, ornamental trees, shrubs, bushes, flowers, etc. However, none of it is really noticeable because the ivy and nettles have taken it over and are in a battle to be king of the flower bed. Not really sure which was winning--but they are both strong contenders--I was hacking away, pulling out ivy that was six foot long, nettles which were holding their own at three foot long and up the tree, and on and on.

I suddenly had a vague feeling that I was being watched. I am always cognizant in the back of my head--she has a tenant on-site in the barn whom she is trying to evict, so I always have half an eye open. However, I had not heard the woman's car. When I looked up, this is who I saw:

There are a small handful of farms on this road--perhaps 7 all told, over the course of a mile. None of the houses have numbers since there are so few of them. Yesterday, a black lab had the audacity to do his business on the lawn I.had.yet.to.mow, so I was not pleased. Nevermind that I'm not so fond of dogs in the first place.

However, if I were to ever get a dog, it would be a greyhound. This fellow was eyeing up my activities cautiously, and careful to watch me from a distance. I think if I were to have beckoned him over, he would have come. However, I'm not a dog person, and I was by myself in the middle of no where really, with no one to check on me later. So I continued on my merry way, and this retired fellow rambled off on his rounds. When I looked up again, I saw him entering the house through the open back door.

Yes, really--he just waltzed in. Why was the backdoor open? It's always open when someone is there to get air into the place, and because the door requires a good slam to shut it. So now I put down the garden tools and hiked up to the gigantic house, figuring I'm really going to have some difficulties to explain...by now he had wandered into the living room, looking for someone to talk to, I guess. I walked to the other side of the living room, freeing up the doorway and pointed. He figured out the options and walked out the way he came in. Add another point to the list of 'why Heather never wants to live in a farmhouse--random dogs wandering in the house'!

So my Saturday morning coffee is now complete, out and about to start the weekend...

If this post appears

It means that the weather is great here in Essex on a Monday and I'm working in the garden on the side hustle. I spent 6 hours inside there on Saturday, because the weather was too wet to work outside.

My latest conclusions from this gig:
- You couldn't pay me enough to own a farmhouse. It was raining buckets on Saturday and the water flooded the floor of the laundry room area. In addition the gutter was clogged so it was dripping through a wall seam into the kitchen.

- Big space requires major upkeep to look nice. 6 bedrooms plus 3 bathrooms and a full living room, dining room etc. requires a lot of work plus a lot of heating costs, in particular with the lack of double glazing. Just to maintain it weekly once it's cleaned up will require hours in vacuuming alone. Not that I can complain--more work for me. :-)

More frugalness: my new side hustle

"Good things come to those who wait, only the things left by those who hustle."

I'm a big fan of the side hustle (a little side job), always have been. One of my favorite frugal writers talks more about the concept here.

Side hustles I've done over the past few years:
-English tutor
-Spanish tutor
-Algebra tutor
-Statistics for non-math majors tutor
-Flower delivery person
-Babysitter for a couple who were starting up a restaurant
-Lawn mower

When I first arrived in the UK, I didn't have so much to do, not yet knowing anyone. In addition, I started working earlier hours to avoid the traffic thus ending up with even more free time.

In addition, I feel all my energy and creativity which has been dormant in Germany coming back. I find a side hustle a great way to learn about something outside of my normal work world.
For fun, I put an ad up on gumtree (more popular here than craigslist), offering to do odd jobs on an occasional basis, just to see what would appear. I have a varied set of 'Girl Friday' skills: gardening, cleaning, organizing, packing, grandma driver, babysitter, whatever.

A woman called me, she had a farmhouse which she had been renting, and she wanted help to put it back into tiptop shape after the last tenants (four young men). We spoke and then I popped over to see the place earlier in the week.

It's a 200 year farmhouse, with a large backyard, pool, overlooking rural land. It's beautiful, with all of the old woodwork, a solid structure which just needs a heck of a lot of work to put it back in order. It's the type of place that when populated by a family really needs a regular gardener, cook, nanny, etc. She's decided not to rent it again, but instead to get it in order to sell it sometime in the summer.

I was over there tonight for 3,5 hours and we spent the majority of time on the kitchen. The gentlemen didn't really do regular cleaning, it seems, as there was a layer of grease on everything. They spilled sugar in the cabinet and it melded to the shelf, they spilled rice in the back of another cabinet, left a large amount of useless crap to throw out, and on and on. After both of us working together for 2,5 hours, it now looks like a farmhouse kitchen which you'd see in a magazine. We scoured from the top of the cabinets to the floor. The pure beauty of the place is underneath all of the months of disuse. In addition, she bought some flowers and plants so that as it goes in order she's adding the staging bits to get it ready to show, so it really looks super.

I spent the last hour getting stains off the carpets, handprints off the walls, and scouring windowsills. These old windows aren't doubleglazed and it seems no one dusted for at least a year so there was a layer of grime on the windows and all of the woodwork.

I've been asked back for 8 hours on Saturday, to get the flower beds ready for spring and to tackle the other rooms which we didn't touch. Her brother has been up to do the heavy yardwork already, but it has a lot of flower beds to re-establish.

I've been asked to become the regular temporary caretaker for the next few months. It's only 12 minutes from benevolent company J and she doesn't live in this area. So she'd like someone to stop by regularly and check on the mail, water the plants, take care of mowing the grass and adding the weekly pool chemicals.

This one appeals to me for a few reasons:

-I'm considering longer term, to buy a property expressly for the purposes of renting it out. I was 50/50 on whether that should be a house or a flat. I'm now 100% feeling that it should be a flat, without a yard, having had this limited experience on the topic. I think there are more points here for me to learn regarding property renting based on this experience, so I'm here to learn them.

-The place is absolutely gorgeous. I imagine once it's fully back in order and only in maintenance mode, it will be divine to attend to.

-She hopes to have it on the market early in the summer, to use it on some weekends during the summer while it's still not sold, and then finally sold by the end of the summer. This schedule aligns perfectly with my (hopefully!) LSE October start (more on that soon--two more weeks to decide).

-The hours are flexible and not so many after this initial clean-up effort. For now, I could use the extra cash (and that's a whole other blog post still to come!)

-My lazy self likes a bit of physical activity after sitting 8 hours in the office.

-She paid me in exact change tonight, as well as offered me tea, coffee, etc.