the daydream fund challenge thread

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

They are messing with the Board. It's all being switched next week. I have huge white areas down each side now, but I'm on a wide screen and I think I'm on the new version. (People's user names are now across the top of posts, not at the left side.)

Maybe the lack of wild flowers here is something to do with fertility. Our land is on a finger of fertile soil which runs across this area, making it more arable than, say, the areas of Culm grassland nearby. There's an ancient field up by the crossroads which has lots of wild flowers though, so maybe I'll take a walk there in the early summer and see what they have in there.

Yep. Same in my fields......only thingnof interest is the buttercups which of coirse i want gone...even if they are pretty they are bad, and some wild mint along the ditches. Cows are bad for wildflowers in commercial stocking rates.

The good news is that horses are good. In fact, horses with no field management are even better, the natural roughs that develop in toileting areas and particualrly the edges of these and the grazing lawns, are great places for many wildflowers. The fields we used back in somerset were glorious for wild flowers.....thirty years of no fertilser, unmanaged horse fields and no spray.

rhiwfield

Just to emphasise the importance of low fertility for wildflowers. Other factors such as damp or dry conditions, acidic or alkaline soils, will affect the mix of flower types but will still allow you good displays. A low light level (shade/deep shade) will have much more of an impact but the killer is high soil fertility, where rampant species such as docks and nettles outcompete other plants.

There was a set of indicator values published by Ellenberg and updated for uk conditions which gives a preference rating for each wildflower, I believe it can be downloaded.

Fertility levels can be reduced, by stripping off topsoil layers, adding infertile/subsoil, or cutting and removing leavings over a number of years.

Management will also affect types of plant species. Rosette plants have evolved to withstand grazing, so no artificial grazers like lawnmowers will have any impact other than to reduce the species that cant stand close grazing. Some annual species need soil disturbance, think WWI poppies. When the surface revegetates, these species often disappear.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

LIR... how sweet.... when i worked in pubs, i started at one, and on the first night, hubby walked in with his mate, and told him he was going to marry me, without even knowing me...lol.. the thing is i didnt fancy him....:cool::rotfl:but over time i found out he was genuine, what you see is what you get type of guy.... great thing is i got to know him as a friend first, so not only is he my hubby he is my bestest buddy too...

Got an appointment with one of my bank managers today, you never know when a few more squids will come in handy;)( thats if they will lend me some...lol...)

The weather is suposed to be a bit barmey next week 17 degrees has been mentioned....

This has been a well and truely wired autumn/winter....weather wise....

Davesnave..... how are pete's sheep? I have been reading that there is a terrible virus going round which is effecting lambs, they are dying within minutes of being born...:o

Alot of people are worried now that this will have an impact on lamb prices in the supermarkets, plus on future breeding stock

lostinrates

rhiwfield wrote: »

Just to emphasise the importance of low fertility for wildflowers. Other factors such as damp or dry conditions, acidic or alkaline soils, will affect the mix of flower types but will still allow you good displays. A low light level (shade/deep shade) will have much more of an impact but the killer is high soil fertility, where rampant species such as docks and nettles outcompete other plants.

There was a set of indicator values published by Ellenberg and updated for uk conditions which gives a preference rating for each wildflower, I believe it can be downloaded.

Fertility levels can be reduced, by stripping off topsoil layers, adding infertile/subsoil, or cutting and removing leavings over a number of years.

Management will also affect types of plant species. Rosette plants have evolved to withstand grazing, so no artificial grazers like lawnmowers will have any impact other than to reduce the species that cant stand close grazing. Some annual species need soil disturbance, think WWI poppies. When the surface revegetates, these species often disappear.

Sounds like we have planned the right stuff. So just to choose the plants now.....i hadn't thought of wildflower plugs, but thats a really ecellent idea. Do you have any recommendations of where to buy plugs rhiwfield?


One pof my grips with the seed mixes i have seen is that they are sold as 'meadow mixes' implying grazing is safe on them, while they contain plants unsafe for gazers. I find this extremely annoying and somewhat reckless....a lot of the people sowing them do not know but plant and seed sellers imo should know whether what they are selling is toxic or not in the environment they are suggesting in its name it should be planted!

lostinrates

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

LIR... how sweet.... when i worked in pubs, i started at one, and on the first night, hubby walked in with his mate, and told him he was going to marry me, without even knowing me...lol.. the thing is i didnt fancy him....:cool::rotfl:but over time i found out he was genuine, what you see is what you get type of guy.... great thing is i got to know him as a friend first, so not only is he my hubby he is my bestest buddy too...

Got an appointment with one of my bank managers today, you never know when a few more squids will come in handy;)( thats if they will lend me some...lol...)

The weather is suposed to be a bit barmey next week 17 degrees has been mentioned....

This has been a well and truely wired autumn/winter....weather wise....

Davesnave..... how are pete's sheep? I have been reading that there is a terrible virus going round which is effecting lambs, they are dying within minutes of being born...:o

Alot of people are worried now that this will have an impact on lamb prices in the supermarkets, plus on future breeding stock

Good luck at the bank.

I didn't fancy dh at first either. In fact....i felt a bit sorry for him and agreed to go out for a drink with him on that basis....you know, cannot put the sweet shy guy of asking out a woman :rotfl:Shows how stupid i was! Second drink was because i thought he was a nice person and we could become friends. Don't remember third date, but fourth date i had told the guy i was seeing more seriously it was over and dh and i went to the algarve......two weeks after i felt a little sorry for him.:rotfl:
Mine is my best friend too. Soppy fools that we are, eh?!

Davesnave

I don't think we will be able to give our fields the right conditions, bearing in mind that Pete will be putting a limited, but significant amount of fertilizer on them, to boost the haylage crop.

However, we were only thinking about this yesterday, so we also have an agenda. We want to extend our mini woodland a little, rather than optimise the amount of land given over to grass. It's not a big area, but it will mean Pete losing a bale or two and slightly reduce the grazing capacity.

There's probably no wildflower benefit there, but wildlife certainly uses the existing woodland strip.

covenanter

LIR, Ellenberg's indicator values for British Plants is downloadable (PDF file) for free here http://www.ceh.ac.uk/products/publications/untitled.html

(Thanks, rhiwfield for mentioning this, never heard of it before).

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Davesnave..... how are pete's sheep? I have been reading that there is a terrible virus going round which is effecting lambs, they are dying within minutes of being born...:o

Alot of people are worried now that this will have an impact on lamb prices in the supermarkets, plus on future breeding stock

Err.....dunno!

To be truthful, I've not seen Pete for weeks, but that isn't surprising, as he's a busy guy and his main run of work is all in the valley a few miles away. The sheep were doing fine when they left here and won't be in lamb till April.

Davesnave

Just had the news that, after expenses, we raised £1120 for local charities with last week's Panto. :j

Good to know that being confined in a small space for about 22 hours last week has borne so much fruit. Not so sure how others will view it, if they find they've caught the bug I was carrying towards the end!

All aches and pains today, so do I write to HMRC, assist my DD with the secretarial aspects of her essay, which I won't understand, or go plant some more hedging? It's a no brainer, I think! :rotfl:

Lots of tomatoes up, and the 'fast' ones have a couple of true leaves now.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

There's probably no wildflower benefit there, but wildlife certainly uses the existing woodland strip.

Beautiful little wood anemones, bluebells, if there is no grazing access foxgloves....



When i was younger inloved near woods that had wild strawberries in them, They were amazing, all the better for not being in a garden.