The Money Blog

The good news about peas is that they will grow on just about every type of soil, which is probably why so many people are trying their hands at growing them. The bad news is that many of the main crop varieties grow about six feet tall, which can be a problem as they will block the sun getting to anything in their shade. Luckily there are early varieties that only grow about two feet, so check what it says on the back of the packet before you buy if space is at a premium in your garden.

You can grow peas in a back yard by planting them in a container of some kind - our old friend the 10" plant pot will be fine. Peas are perfect for the Northern English gardner as they thrive in cool weather - just be careful that you avoid the frosts.

You can start them off by planting indoors, using a propagating tray. That could be done in February and once the seedlings have sprouted, leave them to grow on a well lit window sill. Once the frosts have lifted in April, then you can plant them outdoors.

Peas don't like having their roots disturbed, so plant the seeds in a peat plant pot and when it is time to plant them outdoors, just stick the pot into the soil. It will break down in its own good time.

If you plant in March then the early varieties will be ready by May. Main crop is usually a month latter, and all types will continue giving off pods until late September. When the plant is no longer producing peas, just cut it off above the soil and leave the roots to rot down. They are rich in nitrogen which the plant has taken from the air.

Good luck!

Have you ever sat around wondering how to plug your latest article - the one that you are particularly proud of, but which not enough people are reading? Why not send out a few e-mails to a few bloggers and see if they will give you a free link with maybe a quick write-up thrown in?

That is what Matt Bretherton did with me and that is why I am mentioning his piece which deals with how he went From Smug to Mug in 24 Months. Matt is like millions of other people in that he has mortgage problems. The days of the low-rated, fixed interest mortgage are over and he is now considering his options.

How did Matt pursued me to give him this free plug? Basically by making it clear that he had taken the trouble to actually read The Money Blog, even if only for a few minutes. He commented on a posting, cracked a quick joke and then made his pitch. It worked and I got something to write about on a slow night and Matt got his freebie.

The point is that if you want the said freebie as well, then just giving out a URL with a one-line request for publicity isn't going to get it for you. Create a nice, one paragraph e-mail and say something nice about the blog.

If you do that then you never know when Lady Luck may smile on you.

This is a free plug for a new translation company that has been set up by a friend of mine. The outfit is based in Mexico City, but uses GMT as its base time. That will come in handy if you need to call them - not that you will, because they are quite happy to call you, at the time you specify, to discuss all your translation needs.

The Daily Telegraph has an interesting piece on how three families are coping with the slump. At first glance the story seems to be not directly relevant to us here because what the people are doing is, frankly, not something that the average person could achieve. There is one man who now supplements his income by working as a film extra, a family who took over an abandoned beach hut and now live in it, and a woman who has become a pig farmer on a micro scale.

On the surface none of these people can offer us anything. Getting hold of an Equity card that allows you to work as an extra is next to impossible, few people have a mate with a spare field who would allow you to keep livestock on it, and I for one wouldn't want to live in a beach hut - and neither would you if you were honest about it.

That said, the theme of the story is how people take on unusual tasks to earn money when times are bad. The film extra and pig woman are two examples of folk who spotted a niche that needed to be filled and are now making money out of supplying that demand.

That's what it is all about, even if all you do is grow a few tomato plants and then eat the produce yourself, as well as swap the surplus with your neighbours.

If you need to save money, then one way to do it is to use Skype to make telephone calls with via your computer. It's true that internet telephony has been around for years, but Skype is the biggest on the block, so go with the flow is my attitude. Anyway, I installed Skype a couple of years ago and then started to use it on an almost daily basis.

However, making 'phone calls via the computer can be a pain, so that's why I invested in a dual use land line and Skype telephone. It cost me about £100 and allows me to make both ordinary and Skype calls. The one that I bought was the Linksys, but there are literally dozens of companies making these things now.

So if you need to make long distance calls, then investing in a gadget like this will save you quite a bit of money over the long term. I charged my Skype account with about £25 back in January and I am still working my way through the credit - and I do make hour long telephone calls to England at least once or twice a month.

So if you need to save money, then start thinking about cutting those telephone bills the way that I now do.