New year prep plans

[DennisTMenace]

It seems that the year ahead will be different to 2020. Hopefully the vaccination program works and brexit doesn't bring too many price rises. Of course there may be new challenges ahead, expected and unforseen. What are your prep plans for the year ahead?

I want to be more self sufficient in food, so am turning the front garden over to more growing, so time to start looking at preserving what i grow. It won't feed us for a year, but will supplement. Currently looking at freezing / dehydrating / possibly fermenting. Depends on storage space and how much we eat fresh. I have already bought my seeds and tried to look at varieties that grow well in a shorter summer or late frost plus store well.

I've also bought my seeds; unlike most years I've gone for more practical options: shorter time to maturity, early/late varieties & good storers. Crazily, despite stocking up significantly for a long time, choosing seeds to cover the hungry gap feels like a bit of a reality kick in the stomach.

I'm focussing generally on getting more organised & resilient - getting into better habits, trying to learn some more practical skills, selling/donating excess stuff & paying off the cc that got us through half a year of a 50% (already low) salary drop. Work out better coping strategies (the current fine/fine/tetchy/explodes/fine cycle is not a joy). Get better at adulting, really.

Also planning on more organisation focus during next year. 2020 kind off went off the rails a bit. I’ve revamped my planner and already booked appointments such as car MOT in for January. Want to declutter the house and set up a herb garden in a small courtyard we have out back. Going to focus on communications in January. Check out deals for internet and phone contracts to make sure we are getting the best deal for our money. DP needs a new mobile, want to get a plug in phone for home that does not rely on a power supply, set up family communication plan for example.

My prep plans are to tidy up the back yard properly to enable me to grow some salad/herbs; we had some success with tomatoes but certainly nothing to realistically sustain us throughout a lean period.

My main prep is going to be debt consolidation. I managed to make some headway with it all but Christmas put paid to a lot of it. Determined to be small-debt free by December 2021.

This year, I plan to do better in back garden growing (I grow some, but missed courgette plants in garden centre, and felt I could have grow a lot more generally). But I did manage to get some bush cherry tomatoes for my hanging basket (that has worked well for a few years now), and a couple of climbing (cordon) tomato plants too. And some salad leaves in window boxes.

I didn't sow any broad beans yet, so will do that early next month to get started.

But I miss my allotment - I would have to wait a number of years again on the waiting list to get one back, and it is too far away to be worth it at this point in my life, but maybe in a few years again....

I’ve learned this year that I’m just not a grower and I need to focus my energy and efforts elsewhere.

I’ve built up 3 months of non perishables, and I’m just replacing what I use. I’m trying to balance that by deep decluttering other things, and working on improving my organisation skills (I have a definite tendency towards hoarding and I need to keep that in check).

I’m not terribly optimistic about this year. I think it’s going to be a tough one. There’s so much resistance to the current round of restrictions that I think it will be difficult to get the virus under control, and there’s the possibility of the U.K. creating a vaccine resistant strain by mucking about with half doses. If that were to happen the truckers crisis would be a happy memory. Other countries would slam their borders to the UK and Ireland shut and we’d be looking at a SHTF humanitarian crisis.

Sorry to offload the anxiety. It’s the one board where it’s safe to express some doom and gloom.

I have trouble getting seeds to the plantlet stage, but there's a local gardener who sells a good range so I buy from her.
I also have trouble finding a decent compost that can be delivered. the stuff I bought last year all seems to be made from composted cardboard boxes (its all labelled as peat )

I got about a third of the garden under cultivation last year, and managed to get a decent crop of spuds, beans and courgettes. I grew the potatoes from a bag of Maris Pipers from the supermarket.

The one thing I really struggle with is a way to keep cats off the beds, so this year I'm using netting.

@Thelnebriati I do have a cat issue and often foxes, so shy away from root veggies. Will be trying some this year in pots.

This is going to be my year of compost. I haven't done it before as not much space, so need to work out a small space solution.

@thelegohooverer absolutely this is a place where you can air your concerns. I have a tendency to think bad things won't happen here. Never once believed it will show etc, so lockdown 3 and schools closing still managed to surprise me. So it's good I do prep for when I am wrong again!