What fuel crisis?

With the news full of the high oil prices I thought it was about time I did a review of the finances of running our wood pellet boiler for a full year.

As you may have read before, we've tried out a one year contract with Treenergy in Monmouth. Not on our doorstop but the most local supplier of wood pellets that we could find. Not only has the service been great, with pellets delivered at a weeks notice when required and at a time that has suited us, the product is consistently good with no resultant problems with the boiler. Due to the contract we setup we were able to buy the pellets at approximately 22p per kg.

We aren't on mains gas, so if we hadn't gone for the eco option we would've had to go for heating oil. Last year, according to the BoilerJuice website, oil prices averaged around 45p per litre. So with 2.2kg of wood pellets approximately equivalent to a litre of oil, last year saw the cost of our pellets marginally more expensive than using oil. But the satisfaction of saving a load of CO2 more than made up for the difference!

However, if oil prices stay anywhere near where they are at present we'll be saving money hand over fist this year. And with the overall trend for oil prices to keep going up our decision to move to wood pellets is looking like a very wise financial move along with reducing our carbon footprint.

Going to seed?

One of the mildly interesting parts of visiting my parents over Christmases through the years has been flicking through the various magazines and books that have rested on their coffee table. Whilst these have varied in subject matter to some extent one small publication that has been guaranteed to be found is the seed catalogue. Usually Thompson & Morgan, this has been joined over the years from time to time by publications from obscure and specialist plant nurseries. Todate my interest has only ever been fleeting, and even when we've taken a spare copy home it's gone unused.

This year is different.

We've brought home Thompson & Morgan's Potato catalogue, and it's suprisingly more interesting than it sounds. Really. Keen to build on last year's success with our great crop of Charlottes and Jersey Royals we've been reading up on 2011's must have varieties. We haven't yet decided which varieties we'll grow, but Anya, Lady Christl and good old Charlotte are looking favourite.

There's something far more appealing about thumbing through the A5 sized catalogue thinking of this summer's potential crop than browsing the T&M website, which I find quite strange as a lover of the 'net and the power of Google etc. Maybe it's a sign of getting older, or maybe it's just something inherent in garden related information that is better delivered by old forms of media. I don't know. Either way I can't wait for spring to arrive so we get some seed potatoes in the ground and can look forward to another bumper crop of delicions spuds.