Daydream fund challenge part 4

lucielle · 27 May 2017 at 2:25PM

Having a last minute 5 day holiday at the north house in June and have made a mental note to purchase a ragwort puller upper thingy. Probably get 2 so DD1 can moan and help! Any links to good ones please let me know.

Grass seed that was sown at home has been overtaken by the horse tail. Deep Joy.

Going to exhibit at the county show on Monday, dreading it. It will be the first time we've done this show so fingers crossed it goes well and the current weather forecast is wrong!
L

DaftyDuck · 27 May 2017 at 4:22PM

No links at mo, as I'm on a difficult tablet. Main difference is three or four prongs, in my experience. Wife prefers the threeer, I'm a fourer by preference. Three can be better for the tiny rosettes, but fails on the bigger ones, missing the taproot. The fourer ones pinch the root like V fingers, neatly pulling even large ones out. Fourer is more reliable. I think they're predominantly Ragfork brand.

They all work and, if buying two, buy two different and work out which you prefer, as it won't be often they are both in use.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted · 27 May 2017 at 8:08PM

Got bored today, so chucked some old popcorn kernels from a jar in the back of the cupboard into the back of the garden. It'll either grow or feed mice.

All the runner beans seem to be sprouting up in the various places I shoved them in the hope that some will get past the molluscs, but I really should have remembered which ones are dwarf and which ones need poles/string. Broad beans are flowering well and 97% of the ground is now covered with greenery. But there's still not enough to eat

. I'll have to take it much more seriously when we move. And be more organised/tidier about it.

But I have a chilled Pimms and the scent of the honeysuckle is coming through the window, so it's not too shabby an evening

Jojo_the_Tightfisted · 28 May 2017 at 3:21PM

Very humid and overcast here today. It wouldn't surprise me if we get a big thunderstorm, as there's definitely a slight yellow tint to the sky, but the birds are still chirping away, so nothing happening yet.

DaftyDuck · 28 May 2017 at 7:02PM

Just a correction to my ragwort tool description above, now I'm on something that does links...

The four pronged one that I prefer is this Fynalite . It's also good for getting thistles and even dock out (with a bit of luck). My wife's three-pronged one doesn't stand a chance with these weeds, as it's liable to miss the taproot. Hers is the Ragfork, so I had the names the wrong way round.

Fourer all the way, in my book!

Sheep were shorn today, and all look svelte, slim and much, much happier. Then went and ragworted the large top (yeah, so??? we do have hills in Norfolk, just not big ones :rotfl:) field, hence the correction.

Can't be ar5ed, so bacon sandwiches and beer is the menu tonight. Was going to do lamb on the BBQ, but

not tonight!

greenbee · 28 May 2017 at 7:46PM

I don't think you should BBQ lamb in front of the sheep Dafty. It's a little insensitive...

Work on the house has slowed considerably due to lack of response from the builder to my request for him to quote for the work in a way that reflects the state it is being done in. He is quoting by room, but we're not doing it that way.

However, I have managed to get the electrician over to quote for sorting out the electrics in the garage (while it is relatively empty), and sorting out the phone/internet wiring (I want 4 wired cat 5 sockets so I don't have to rely on wifi). He's sent a quote for the electrics, but not the phone stuff, so have had to email him back and ask him to quote for the rest.

Landscape gardener is doing well, and as his client for next week hasn't yet decided what they want done, I've managed to get the next phase in straight away. It'll mean another 3 weeks of people working in the garden, but I should be able to start planning and possibly planting at the front of the house by the end of this week. And by the end of 3 weeks that'll be pretty much everything done until the builders have finished and I get the drive and gates redone.

As the builder has been impossible to track down I asked the roofer who was working for a neighbour to fix the garage roof (hole helpfully made by my brother & cousin mostly because they didn't listen to my very clear instructions about how to get stuff out of the roof), and to check the main house roof (I know there is one slipped slate). Hole is fixed, and he's also made a start on getting rid of the ariel on the chimney (wires have been disconnected), as I don't have a TV so don't need it. I've also asked him to quote for the rest of the downstairs work and he seems to understand the need to structure the quote in phases on the basis that it may not all be affordable this year.

I'm hoping this means progress.

Hi Jojo - lovely to see you over here. Start making a plan - you don't want to leave it too late

Davesnave · 28 May 2017 at 7:53PM

We had a huge lightning event throughout Devon on Friday night/Saturday morning, but norra-lotta thunder. Hence, people were on the local radio claiming "Never 'appened wor us be m'dear!" when plainly it did. They just slept through it.

We had torrential rain here.....for all of five minutes!

So, I've managed to get the place reasonably well-mowed. Now, however, the ride-on has shed bits of its drive belt, so it's a replacement for that now. Grrr! :mad:

I'm happy for folks to have the rest of the Bank Holiday unaffected, but then I want some real rain!

Not much else to report, so here's a nice picture I snapped on Friday looking into the valley near Pete's place:

DaftyDuck · 28 May 2017 at 10:23PM

Greenbee... The lambs and sheep here are the safest in the country. They now even have a codicil in my will, just in case. Oh, and they now have a fan in the barn, just in case they get too hot! Mind you, it doesn't switch on from a PIR. Not yet.

But, I do love lamb kleftiko!

greenbee · 28 May 2017 at 10:58PM

I'm staying with my mum at the moment (also in Norfolk). This village is home to what are probably the oldest and most pampered sheep in the world. So if you want to see what lies ahead for yours I can let you have details.

But do make sure that trust is set up properly. They'll need significant funding...

Mind you, if they misbehave, it's not a bad thing for them to understand the significance of mutterings about mint sauce

(BTW... my 5 year old niece thinks the noise sheep make is 'Meeaaaat... Meeaaat...')

Chesapeake · 29 May 2017 at 6:01PM

Evening all

It sounds like you are all keeping busy haha. I've had 3-4 weeks of not being able to do much due to family visiting and then a trip to Scotland which means we didn't get anything done on the allotment before the growth spurt started.

Been up there today building some raised beds and trying to clear some of the weeds. Somehow 3-4ft tall nettles/grass/weeds have managed to spring up all over since we were last there. My 6yr old nephew is arriving tomorrow and he loves chopping stuff up with shears so we're going to take him up there and let him loose!

Our kiwi plant is loving life, it has grown from a 12" stub to a 7ft monster in the last weeks so it may even fruit

We also found several small frogs jumping around so at least some of the frog spawn must have hatched before the pond went dry. We've realised we will have to totally dig up the pond and re-line it as it never holds water for more than 2 days without rain.

All this hasn't put me off having a smallholding, it has just reinforced my belief that having space to operate small machinery would make life so much easier!

Daydream fund challenge part 4

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