the daydream fund challenge thread

alfie_1

If anyone is interested, a few of us went down to a place called Littlehampton back in June to help the DIY SOS team rebuild a fellow MSEer's cottage after it was wrecked by a rogue builder. The programme is to be aired tomorrow night on BBC1 at 8.00pm. If anyone watches it and sees some mad folk wearing t-shirts with Mike's Mob on, that's us! lol

well done.. i for one will certainly watch.

Rummer

That was such an amazing and thoughtful thing to do! I will do my best to remember tomorrow!

Davesnave

I may have to catch it on I Player, but I will remember, Poo.

Well done!:):cool:

Rummer

My mind is moving towards planting now as I know there is only a few weeks until I can get the first few things in pots indoors. Anyway in previous years I have just used normal compost but I was wondering if I would be better using a seedling mix? If it does make a noticeable difference which one would you recommend?

Davesnave

I don't use any bought compost straight out of the bag, but because what I do is so complicated to explain, I'd simply say don't skimp on quality for seed sowing. One doesn't use much compost to get seeds going, and for 90% of them, it's how one treats the compost that matters most. If compost is too wet, or if it dries out, then germination will be impaired, but people probably kill more baby plants through overwatering than neglect!

choille

I have bought cheap compost (that's originated from Ireland) and it had wire & broken glass in it.

Went to put some bulbs in pots yeaterday (miny iris & snakeshead) and thought I had a big stone in the compost - it was just frozen in the centre - not surprisinly.

All mild today & drizzly. Orpingtons finally getting a look around - are venturing about instead of either staying in their house or skulking under the caravan - must admit the lavenders look rather magnificient even though I suspect they are both males.

Rummer

We have a whole heap of our home made compost ready for the beds this year but I thought a seed specific one might be best, not sure what to look for in a compost though

Lotus-eater

Davesnave wrote: »

Next summer, I might take the felt roof off and replace it with tin, as under felt is one place the mites like to hide, but we'll see how it goes. DW is very good about doing the cleaning in there.

I struggled with mites for ages and ages and in doing so learnt alot about the way they live.
I took my coop apart a few times to see where they live and although they do like it under felt, I'm not convinced it deserves the bad boy name that it is given in the press.
It's the joints that are the main problem, strong coop/shed, big joints. As you said before Dave, creosote replacement is the way to go, loads of it, in every nook and cranny.
I know I've said before, but I'm not a fan of plastic houses and one of the reasons I like wood is because you can cover it with CR.

I'm also not convinced that its down to bad practice that you get red mite, you don't clean the joints in the house each week and they come from wild birds (funnily enough, giving our birds a free rein in the garden can make their lives worse sometimes ) so you can't be expected to keep them out.
And I've been through a few products you can buy to kill them, none of them worked properly, absolutely none. And they are damn expensive.

Best thing I found was the wide sticky tape upside down round the ends of the perches as an indicator and then as I said, the CR as a killer.
With the tape, you can sometimes find a chicken stuck to it, especially if like me, you use extra sticky strong tape

Rummer

Lotus-eater wrote: »

With the tape, you can sometimes find a chicken stuck to it, especially if like me, you use extra sticky strong tape

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

COOLTRIKERCHICK

went to my antique place today, to add a few more things, and take down the little christmas tree with the decorations etc i made out of old welsh blankets, and i got told i sold a welsh blanket christmas stocking this morning:rotfl: so i left the tree and decorations now, and will take them down in the new year....

took the 2 welsh blanket cushions down and they really did look lovely, so will make some more and take them down next week, as by all accounts January is a busy month in the antique centre... and then it goes quiet...

got some watchers on my ebay things, and a bid on one, so again January is normally a good month on ebay too, so going to try and list more things..

right better go my homemade curry is calling me:D