I love a bit of repurposing ...

Feb 1st seemed like a good time to start preparing for the coming season up on the plot so I nipped up the allotment picked up a bag of compost, plus 2 trays for the seed potatoes, next the Coop, picked up a few bits including a box of Nuii dark chocolate and Nordic berry ice creams, still on offer so how could I resist.
The sun was shining, the greenhouse beckoned, first job plant up the Senshyu onion sets. I decided to plant them in cells to give them a good start, next broad beans, then I ran out of small cell packs, so moved on to the sweet peas. I've been saving the loo roll centre tubes with this in mind, 3 seeds per cell, planting the whole tubes in the ground when they're ready. As you know I love a bit of recycling/upcycling so my blip today is - a sturdy fruit/veg cardboard box with used compost bag liner as my potting tray, plastic meat tray beneath the loo roll tubes, then my jam funnel, which just happens to be the perfect size for filling the loo roll tubes. 11 tubes, 3 seeds per tube, with sweet peas, that should give me some lovely smelly flowers later in the year.
I rang Mum and arranged to pick her up for a trip to Trago Mills, the last day of the January Sale, 15% discount,  which was useful. Found the cell packs, 16pence each, I know they're plastic but I will reuse them as many times as possible. Picked up a bag of 'Black Jack' gladioli bulbs with the Chudleigh Produce Show in mind. I'm not a fan of gladioli as they are so rigid, not easy to arrange in a case, but there is a class for them so I'll give them a go. I would have treated myself to a Chaenomeles sp. 'Hot Fire' but there only appeared to be 1 specimen plant for sale which did'nt have a price. More than I would have wanted to pay I'm sure,  but a stunner. The sun was shining through the petals, it looked amazing, and such a shot of hot colour for this time of year, perfect for my hot border at the back of the house. It's been added to my list. What else did I buy, oh yes ...................... I had this idea .... Another project. It involves laminating pouches, A6 laminating pouches, which I also happened to find in Trago Mills. Now I don't have a laminator, so I'm hoping I can use the iron. Not sure how that's going to go but I'm not quite ready to use them. Maybe this week coming ...
Back to Chudleigh, picked in the laundry, then it was time to make dinner. Duck pithivier. I used some of the cooked duck left over from Xmas, made some stuffing, added pomegranate molasses, ground cinnamon, pistachio nuts, & chestnuts. Zapped sweet potato slices in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Duck stock/orange gravy from the freezer. Mixed some with the cooked duck. Layered the stuffing, sliced sweet potato, then meat & gravy on a round of Puff pastry (shop bought), popped on a lid, made some pretty cuts. Baked for 20 minutes. Served with broccoli, garden peas, & carrot sticks. Boom! Blimin' delicious even if I say so myself.

I also checked all the shrub & perennial cuttings up on the plot. The Salix 'Mount Aso' cuttings are looking promising so I brought them back to give them a little tlc. The 1/2 standard that I took the cuttings from is looking a picture here in the garden. Maybe net weeks flower Friday blip who knows.

Thanks to admirer for hosting Silly Saturday. Not particularly silly more resourceful. :- ) Happy Blipping folks!