the daydream fund challenge thread

borders_dude

Davesnave wrote: »

Isn't this a little bit early? Where I am, the leaves are still on the trees and the weeds I've cut think they're coming back for an encore.

I used to use weedkiller on my path & driveway. Now all i do is mix rock salt which I get from work for the icy weather with water and pour over. Works far better than the weedkiller ive tried.

And cheaper too if you have access to rock salt/grit! There are grit bins all over the place aswell.

Rummer

We have had torrential rain and howling winds this week and today was our first dry day! Mind you I got so caught up in house things I didn't make it to the garden. We had all our winter veg eaten by bugs so we are just going to empty the beds and cover them for next year. In the main though I was going to tidy up the things in the garden that are not meant to be there like piles of wood and empty pots. Plus putting the furniture away so it doesn't get damaged over the winter.

Davesnave

borders_dude wrote: »

I used to use weedkiller on my path & driveway. Now all i do is mix rock salt which I get from work for the icy weather with water and pour over. Works far better than the weedkiller ive tried.
And cheaper too if you have access to rock salt/grit! There are grit bins all over the place aswell.

OK, but my weeds are among my trees and bushess in the garden areas, so it has to be glyphosate, but it's not really the right time to get the best results from that. Mind you, that's agricultural glyphosate, not the weaker stuff they sell in DIY places.

Rummer wrote: »

We have had torrential rain and howling winds this week and today was our first dry day! QUOTE]

We had enough to wet the road for a few minutes. It was the driest September here since 2003. Nice, but now the plants and the rivers need a drop or two.

Yesterday, DW and I spent half a day lining the inside of our conservatory with polytunnel plastic. This will help keep it warmer, but the real reason is that we have some leaks. We put up guttering inside to catch the water from the plastic, and that falls into to a deep bed. A bit Heath-Robinson, but it works...

Lotus-eater

Davesnave wrote: »

We had enough to wet the road for a few minutes. It was the driest September here since 2003. Nice, but now the plants and the rivers need a drop or two.

We've had exactly the same, the ground is like concrete and everything has completely dried out, hopefully it's supposed to be heavy rain tomorrow night, but they keep saying that and they keep putting it back.
We've usually had a frost by now, but nothing yet, which it great as alot of my beans to dry, haven't dried enough yet. That's been forecast as well for a week, but that keeps being put back as well.

Chuzzle

Hi peeps, I've not read all the thread yet, but would love a small holding all of my own. Dh wants a farm :eek: as a small holding is too small!

Did anyone see GMTV this morning? My boss has just told me that there was a vineyard on there that is now up for rent at £10 a year, and its an award winning one. Can't find anything on t'internet about it though.

Rummer

Hello is there anybody there :huh:

Davesnave

Rummer wrote: »

Hello is there anybody there :huh:

Yes, I'm around & have been for a few hours. It's been our first frosty night, so I'm glad DW put fleece over everything important yesterday evening. I threw some straw over the courgettes too, so I'll need to go and dig 'em out in a minute....:D

Although we've had the oil delivered, I'm still resisting lighting the Aga and ferreting around during the day to see what I can find for the wood burner. That heats the radiators a bit, but it's not what you'd call full central heating.

The problem here is that the previous owners only planted willow, which is poor fuel, and even poorer ATM because its still growing! I am beginning to cut it down so that I can replace with ash and other suitable species, but that will take all winter. It'll be this time next year before we can burn it.
There's also some decent wood in the roadside hedge, which has been left to go wild, but again, that will take time to sort. I want to leave some oaks there to grow on, but reduce most of the rest to a sensible level for management.

DW and I had to do a dummy run on the road hedge a few weeks ago, as there were some ashes that were threatening the power line to neighbouring farms. We waited till there was a really still evening, then I sawed while she pulled on the rope, just to make sure they fell the right way! :eek:It certainly made a change from the kind of pruning we were doing last year in suburbia! I was glad when it was all over.

We do have some very ramshackle wooden barns here which I would love to remove and burn. They are so awful they hardly made it into the estate agent's details. However, an 'orrible barn is a great negotiating tool when it comes to trading with the council, so I dare not touch. My plan is to ask to replace them with an office/storage building on the same footprint, then use that to live in when the house renovation gets hairy! There is a brand new septic tank in that area + electric & water, so it's a no-brainer really. If they said 'no' then I'd put a big caravan there, but I think a nicely designed wooden building would look better and last much longer too, besides being more versatile.

Speaking of big caravans, the farm where I get my eggs uses one as a hen house. When I drove in last night, I'll swear the hens all came to the window to see what I was up to. It's a smashing place with eggs and veg on display in a wooden chalet. You just weigh stuff out and serve yourself. I don't think they'd do too well with that approach in the city, but the farmer tells me they've only once had the money pinched. At their prices, you'd need to be pretty mean even to cheat. (blooming great eggs £1.80 a dozen, smaller ones £1.20):j

Have a great weekend folks!

Lotus-eater

Hi Dave, I'm really annoyed with myself, because I never got around to planting my late courgettes that I planned to, my early ones finish in early Sept and I wanted to sow 2 in July to carry on into the late season, then cloche them like you are doing.
Must do it next year.
I do burn willow, but I use Golden Willow as that's what I can get, it's ok if you dry it properly for 2 years, then burn it quite hot. Not sure if it's different to normal willow. I do love Hawthorne wood, which we have in all the hedges round here, but it's a pain to collect, literally!
Still not had a fire or the oil heating on yet, we keep pushing each other in our family to keep it off longer, one night my OH will get fed up and cold and another night I will, but the other one always keeps the partner going. The kids never even notice and would go round in T-shirts all the time if they had a choice

It's not worth keeping chickens for those prices!

Rummer

Oooh Dave is it the kind of willow you weave? If so there is a really good market for it and you could sell what you have before you dig it out.

choille

Hi Dave - willow is good for the sheep - they self medicate on it. I have some very old trees. It isn't a great burner, but if you mix it in with really dry wood it uses it up & slows the burn - well that's what I do.

Great idea about keeping the barn as you should be able to get approval to replace it - and then you'll be able to use that for fire wood. I wish I had the money to get some decent tools as we seem so Luddite & slow with stuff at the moment, ridiculously slow. I've been dragging dead wood up from down in the wood & snapping up the twigs to use in the wood burner, later on we'll saw the limbs up.

Frosty the last couple of nights, but at least the rain has stopped - it rained for weeks & all the ground is sodden. Poor sheep are up to their knees.

Been cleaning the byre out. Cleaning out beneath the trees I planted down the track & putting the dung on, still got loads left for the veg & fruit beds. It's good stuff is sheep dung - as long as it's well rotted. I'll get some sea weed this week tp use as well. I'm going to see if my new Hebredians will eat some as well.

It's a blinding bright day today & looks wonderful. The loch is like a mirror & all the colours are truly brilliant. Great after the wet deluge of Aug & September.