the daydream fund challenge thread

Rummer

LIR sounds like a tough night! CTC I had forgotten all about your gorgeous blanket bags!

The weather here is damp but not raining atm :j, just about to have a good plough through my seed tin as there are a few things that need to be planted indoors in January, I also have a box full of plant treasures from Choille so I can get my planting fix today :D:D.

Davesnave

lucielle wrote: »

Thanks for the info DAvensave, I want to get it right first time as it could potentially be an expensive mistake to make.
L

As long as you get either Phormisol or Mypex you'll be fine for keeping weeds at bay. We have ours over the standing out areas for pots and it's no trouble. We don't plant through it though, which is when I guess it could fray.

The spun fibre ground cover is more lightweight, and it won't fray, but I'd imagine stuff like couch grass would go straight through it.

Just finished processing the remainder of the chilli seeds. Now having a nice chilli cup of tea. No matter how careful I am....:rotfl:

choille

Well, we didn't get the snow, but it's cold & drizzly. I bought some asparagus crowns from Pound Shop. I did have some plated a few years back but they didn't do much & thesepast two years seem to have vanished. Probably the real hard Winter's did 'em in. The garden is a complete disaster, but hope to get about it soon as feeling less like toppling over all the time.

Trying to arrange a pick up of wood from Saw mill for this week coming. It's paid for wood, so that's good.

rozeepozee

Hmm, we left our Smallholders Bible in the garage in Sheffield along with most of our other gear. We simply were not expecting to have to leave things in storage this long as we weren't expecting to buy a doer-upper, so thought we'd be all moved in by now.

Hence my questions to you (though I'd probably be asking anyway )

Any advice on stock fencing? We've just had a quote from apparently one of the most expensive places in the area (recommended by a professional advisor :eek:)

16ft field gate £199
Fencing for 145mtr of sheep wire plus posts and other materials £444
Labour £660 - think OH will be doing that bit

Any feedback - pleee-ase?

Itismehonest

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I know up until a few years back you could bury your animals on your land, but then you had to be part of a collection scheme etc, where they would charge you x amount to take the animal away to be incinerated sp? .

Is this just for registered smallholders, or for someone who has a bit of land with the odd pet pig and sheep etc as well?

No burials are allowed on your own land now. Everything must be disposed of through legal channels. They have made exceptions when movement orders are in place during certain disease outbreaks but that's the only time. Depending on the collection service used getting rid of pig carcasses can be a real problem nowadays. Some just aren't interested in taking them
Here's the DEFRA guidance page

Sorry to hear about the pot-bellied, alfie. As you say 14 is a respectable age, though.

Itismehonest

rozeepozee wrote: »

Hmm, we left our Smallholders Bible in the garage in Sheffield along with most of our other gear. We simply were not expecting to have to leave things in storage this long as we weren't expecting to buy a doer-upper, so thought we'd be all moved in by now.

Hence my questions to you (though I'd probably be asking anyway )

Any advice on stock fencing? We've just had a quote from apparently one of the most expensive places in the area (recommended by a professional advisor :eek:)

16ft field gate £199
Fencing for 145mtr of sheep wire plus posts and other materials £444
Labour £660 - think OH will be doing that bit

Any feedback - pleee-ase?

What sort of gate are you after, rozee? A normal galvanised field gate?
Take a look here at MVF's website. for a 15' version. You can then look at the various fencing options.
I don't know your local farm suppliers but they should be able to do better prices than you've been quoted - particularly if you join as a member which should give you an additional percentage saving. Then it's just down to labour if you don't have the equipment to DIY.

choille

I paid eighty five pounds for my field gates & chose the better ones than the ones you've linked to as I want mine to last - you get what you pay for.

Fine for OH to fence if he's done it before or has someone to show him how it - it's a skill that has to be learned & isn't as easy as it looks. A good fencer will save you money especially if you get them to order up the tackle - or at least that's how it worked for us. They have the ability to buy wholesale/in bulk.

Davesnave

choille wrote: »

Fine for OH to fence if he's done it before or has someone to show him how it - it's a skill that has to be learned & isn't as easy as it looks. A good fencer will save you money especially if you get them to order up the tackle - or at least that's how it worked for us. They have the ability to buy wholesale/in bulk.

I agree that fencing isn't something you can just pick up as you go along. Thanks to the big stones, driving in the posts here would be a nightmare without a powered whacker, for example. Then there's the tensioning of the wire, which requires a special tool, and a bit of know-how. Every 50 m minimum, one needs straining posts and there's no way an individual can hammer those in either. They need machine handling really.

Our fencer charges £12/hour and his mate £10. As they also bring along a couple of chain saws and a minidigger, I give them an extra hour a day to pay for the fuel. Before you re-fence, it's usually necessary to tidy & level the strip where the fence is going, which is where the digger comes in. Any soil that has slumped, is cast up onto the hedge bank first.

Think I paid around £100 for the big 12' field gate we haven't fitted yet. Should have got it at Mole Valley!

Itismehonest

choille wrote: »

I paid eighty five pounds for my field gates & chose the better ones than the ones you've linked to as I want mine to last - you get what you pay for.

Fine for OH to fence if he's done it before or has someone to show him how it - it's a skill that has to be learned & isn't as easy as it looks. A good fencer will save you money especially if you get them to order up the tackle - or at least that's how it worked for us. They have the ability to buy wholesale/in bulk.

We only use galvanised on the internal field gates. The main gates are all timber.
The link was just to give rozee an idea. I would think prices differ a bit from area to area & actual prices for outside her area are fairly academic.

Yes, we're lucky having local farmers who also have professional fencing companies.

@Dave - Anything out of the normal dimensions or needing to be made to order it is always worth trying these people. Across the years they've made all sorts of things for us from gratings to stainless steel posts.

lostinrates

Alfie has not long gone. I have a new dog kennel waiting for the geese, and four gorgeous tiny little snowballs. They are beautiful!

We had. Lovely day off drinkiong tea and eating cake Nd then showed alfie the pretty village on the other side of us . She also got to see a pic of dh skinny dipping..not sure how much she wNted to see that but.....

Just bracing ouselves to go out and grit the path to the house, only place still dangerous.