Blue Garden Cottage

This is our suburban micro-homestead with mini forest/cottage, veg and herb garden. Hubby and I joke that we're graduates of the University of YouTube!

Making home and garden into a ‘self-sufficient’ dream cottage through Provident Living and we run in-person self-sufficiency workshops and online courses. Blue Garden Cottage is about hubby and my journey toward self-reliance and the 'homesteading' we do in our suburban home and garden through Provident Living. Here I practice permaculture principles as far as is appropriate for our situation, bot

h indoors and in the garden (much easier in the garden!) and all that I do is influenced by my faith as a Christian. I share the ups and downs of growing, gardening, preserving, make-do-and-mend, frugal budgeting and the crafting we do. (no such thing in reality but the amount of time we spend learning and practicing what we learn from YouTube, there might as well be). We live in a rented suburban property, in social housing so we are limited to the type of forest gardening we can do. That doesn't stop me growing a forest/cottage garden with plants more appropriate for the setting! We live in a suburban semi on the outskirts of a city. So how can we be a cottage? Why 'Blue'? Here's a link to my explanation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2IAlHmiU4Y (You may need to copy and paste)

I've also written two books so far. My Shoestring House which is no longer in print but is due for a rewrite and the newest one, Escaping the Dole to Blue Garden Cottage: https://books2read.com/u/4DD2Mr.

“If you’d like to support me by buying helpful digital products I create, you can leave a tip over at https://ko-fi.com/bluegardencottage . Those were done on a shoestring and both self-published and it shows but I am still pleased that I did it. The first one became the catalyst for all the changes that have happened since and gave me the experience to do it better next time. Watch this space! At the moment, we are only holding onto old crafts to sell at a one or 2 Christmas fairs a year. We still create for friends, family, ourselves and the odd commission. Come along with us and hopefully, we can inspire you to realise your own dreams, whatever they may be.

How to Prepare Your Garden for Drought in UK. Make this year your most abundant in spite of SHTF.

06/06/2026

It might not look like it for a couple more weeks but summer will finally arrive in reality and you may just need this,

How to Prepare Your Garden for Drought in UK. Make this year your most abundant in spite of SHTF. If we 'make hay while the sun shines', its just as wise to 'harvest...

02/06/2026

New blog out...preparing for the hot summer int he garden. Drought proof your garden and make it thrive with 3 water management principles.

El Niño drought proof your garden Making Irrigation Possible in Drought When do you prepare for the worst? While it's still the best! I'm not simply accepting the doom and gloom. Look, we've been bombarded for over a year now with the very real prospects of financial collapse, scarcity of all sorts, and doubling of food prices (and....

Stay Free and Think For Yourself, Find Solutions, Start Your Garden NOW For Winter Resilience.

01/06/2026

There is always another solution and we don't always have to accept the narrative we are given until we use our own ability to think and come up with solutions.

Stay Free and Think For Yourself, Find Solutions, Start Your Garden NOW For Winter Resilience. You've seen my garden for years now. You know it's not perfect and we are nowhere near growing everythign we need. But we DO have amazing bounties to supplim...

Homesteading IS Homemaking, or is part of it. Working in the garden and home, make-do solutions.

20/05/2026

I got 50 verieties sown in 2 days. Now I have to face potting on in just days but where?!? Abundance problems. 🤣 Intrested in getting more form your space? https://bluegardencottage.co.uk/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HSYVwv0WPQ

Homesteading IS Homemaking, or is part of it. Working in the garden and home, make-do solutions. Homesteading has always been an inseperable part of homemaking. THe...

18/05/2026

I love the garden in May. Windows of Heaven truly been opened.

08/05/2026

If you'r feeling uneasy about the crazyness attacking our freedom and peace of mind, I hope this helps right now. Along with problems, always list the solutions and DO something proactive. Every problem has a solution.
It's been a while since I last shared a blog here.
Though I haven't mentioned it in this blog, my personal first move after identifying or noting the problem/s, is taking it to the Lord. We councel together and I listen for inspiration. If it doesn't come immediately, I get to work on solutions. Clarity and inspiration comes as I DO. When the answer comes and it seems ridiculous or illogical, I trust the Lord, not leaning on my own understanding. Soon, it all makes sense.

bluegardencottage.blogspot.com

Make Your Own Nitrogen Fertiliser On Farm

06/04/2026

There's always a solution. Stop plugging the problems without a solution...Here's a solution our farmers can use to keep feeding the UK.

Make Your Own Nitrogen Fertiliser On Farm What if you could make your own nitrogen fertiliser… using air and water?This dairy farmer is replacing urea and slashing input costs.Join this channel to ge...

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