the daydream fund challenge thread

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

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

There are anemones near here, but not in this location, only in the valleys. I'm sure bluebells would thrive, but not so sure about the foxgloves. We have a few, but surely we should have loads on the existing hedge banks? Odd. They're one of the species I'll be encouraging, in the right places of course.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

There are anemones near here, but not in this location, only in the valleys. I'm sure bluebells would thrive, but not so sure about the foxgloves. We have a few, but surely we should have loads on the existing hedge banks? Odd. They're one of the species I'll be encouraging, in the right places of course.

We had none here, anywhere. Sowed and lanted some last year and they are as happy as larry. I will be having to thn them out in future years i think!

Worth pointing out these are in my garden, not in the wild bits yet.

rhiwfield

lostinrates wrote: »

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!

Try Flora Locale suppliers. I've never had to buy plugs as we relied on adjacent flower rich areas to colonise our descrubbed areas.

If anyone included ragwort in a meadow mix they might be justifiably hung, drawn and quartered, although I'm told that most animals avoid the fresh stuff (doesnt help when its dried in hay!) As for the rest I'm not up on what plants are bad for grazers, but am amazed at the sheer variety of herbs that could have interesting effects. One of my favourite plants is the tiny, tiny Fairy Flax, a very strong and dangerous purgative

rhiwfield

Had some good news, just got top rated and powerseller status on Ebay :j

So a welcome 20% discount on final value fees and a nice rosette on listings . I'm told that it improves your search rankings as well but havent got into it that much yet.

But going through a weird patch on sales, get the odd one selling very high, but unsolds are rising to levels not seen for a while .

Other even better news is that DW starting to recover from infections

Itismehonest

There are quite a few wildflowers that will grow in woodland, Dave, depending on how much light can get through. In addition to the anemones & bluebells there is, of course, the snowdrop (Have you been to Snowdrop valley?) & several others.

Foxgloves grow like weeds around here. They are known to be a danger to horses but usually the beasts seem to have enough common sense to steer clear of them. Here's the Wiki list of horsey no-nos

I don't think any responsible company would sell any mix with ragwort in. They'd find themselves in court because it's illegal to allow it to spread.

The Schmallenberg virus is a concern but, if it's not one thing it's another
It's spread by a midge. It isn't confined to sheep but can also cause problems with cattle & goats. However, at the moment the UK sheep seem to be the most prone. October was the most likely time for the midge to work it's wicked way in the SW so many ewes would have been carrying lambs of 1 month gestation. That's why it's a problem for lambing now.
According to Defra it's been identified in 52 farms in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent, E. Sussex, W. Sussex, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Hampshire & Cornwall.
Tracking the path of the midge means the at risk areas are now Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Gloucestershire & Wiltshire & therefore an increase in risk for South Wales.

Itismehonest

Glad to hear your wife is getting better, rhiw.

lostinrates

Itismehonest wrote: »

There are quite a few wildflowers that will grow in woodland, Dave, depending on how much light can get through. In addition to the anemones & bluebells there is, of course, the snowdrop (Have you been to Snowdrop valley?) & several others.

Foxgloves grow like weeds around here. They are known to be a danger to horses but usually the beasts seem to have enough common sense to steer clear of them. Here's the Wiki list of horsey no-nos

I don't think any responsible company would sell any mix with ragwort in. They'd find themselves in court because it's illegal to allow it to spread.

The Schmallenberg virus is a concern but, if it's not one thing it's another
It's spread by a midge. It isn't confined to sheep but can also cause problems with cattle & goats. However, at the moment the UK sheep seem to be the most prone. October was the most likely time for the midge to work it's wicked way in the SW so many ewes would have been carrying lambs of 1 month gestation. That's why it's a problem for lambing now.
According to Defra it's been identified in 52 farms in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent, E. Sussex, W. Sussex, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Hampshire & Cornwall.
Tracking the path of the midge means the at risk areas are now Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Gloucestershire & Wiltshire & therefore an increase in risk for South Wales.

Thank you for explaining about the virus. Interesting.

Re ragwort.....well.....imo while there is no doubt its a terrible thing it iphas become the scape goat of british weeds..it gets all the bad press and others get away with a 'well, at least it isn't rag wort'.


Also, its needed by some species of britipsh butterflies. While the horse woman/animal keeper on me seeks to pull it out whereever i see it i cannot help thinking for the sake of butterflies perhaps we should have more ragwort...and other nasty weed, sancturies better spaced about the place. Just not our fields, lol! And no, i cannot see me planting or preserving it here. Weed nimbyism!

Itismehonest

If you drive around Devon there's plenty of ragwort along the roadsides. I don't think it's in any danger of being eradicated. Have you seen a copy of Defra's joyous little book on it? It's about 50 pages long *rolleyes*

rhiwfield

re Wiki horse no nos.

We've got:

Ground Ivy LOTS! (once used for flavouring ales)
Solanum dulcemara (bitterwseet)
Oak
Red Clover
St Johns Wort (5 species I think)
Ragwort
Buttercups
Bracken
Foxgloves
Male Fern

Last field grazing, apart from rabbits, was horses, who were fine. But not cut for hay.

ukmaggie45

Itismehonest wrote: »

.
Fox & cub is Hieracium brunneocroceum

Found it online now ...http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/foxandcubs.htm

Oooo, we've got that in the bottom of the garden, I really like it. But I think it's inclined to spread via root as well as the seed. TBH I'm beginning to think I can't be bothered with veggies, too much work for not a lot of return, other than garlic of course (OH planted loads in the autumn and they're just beginning to come up). Crave more flowers!