Daydream thread continues.....

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

No....there was a lot that had to be changed to day. The valve and another expansion tank...that makes the third! And some electrics need rejigging.

Ah..... Shame.

It's never quite like it is in the movies, is it? Well, hardly ever.

I remember getting our one & only posh fire. The fire came from one shop, the marble from an importer and the limed oak surround was sourced at a third place & hand made to stay in proportion to the chimney breast etc.

Anyway, having brought all the bits together, it was installed and nothing was wrong. We sat down and marvelled at it, unwilling to believe it could possibly work first time. :rotfl:

rozeepozee

Thanks for the explanation about aspect, Dave. I thought I was being thick. There is a part of the day as the sun goes over the house, especially when it's low like now, when this strip is in the shade, but other than that, it may be a little gem of a spot to garden in. The rear of the strip is sparsely hedged by a line of trees and then drops down steeply into the dingle. We've stock fenced it to stop the children escaping/falling over the edge, but I don't know the practical effects of this boundary with the woodland. For example, will it attract a load of marauding slugs or squirrels?!?

I think I'm going to be doing a lot of this http://www.naturescalendar.org.uk/ in the next few months and years...

Rummer

rozeepozee wrote: »

I've bought £100 worth of that weed surpressing stuff that you guys recommeded.

Currently very over grown with... just stuff: ivy, geraniums, grass, alpine strawberries, the inevitable buttercup.... I'm hoping if I can cover it well for the next few months, I can pop some raised beds in there and perhaps in the back garden which is SE facing.

What brand was it Rozee? I can remember the discussion but not the make. We have horrid bit of garden (floods and never really dries out) that I am going to cover with weed suppressant and then make a raised bed area using tyres. The weed control fabric I got before though was too thin and didn't last long.

I realised when looking at my side garden today that at least 75% of my lawn is really creepy buttercups :mad: they so annoy me!

rozeepozee

Rummer wrote: »

What brand was it Rozee? I can remember the discussion but not the make. We have horrid bit of garden (floods and never really dries out) that I am going to cover with weed suppressant and then make a raised bed area using tyres. The weed control fabric I got before though was too thin and didn't last long.

I realised when looking at my side garden today that at least 75% of my lawn is really creepy buttercups :mad: they so annoy me!

This stuff http://www.lbsgardenwarehouse.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=R-GCP&name=phormisol&sfile=1&jump=0

I don't know if everyone does this but I was impressed by the permaculture peeps tucking it into the ground on either edge using a spade so that it was like a tidily made bed. Then, when that portion of ground had been surpressed, leaving one edge in and bringing the other over it to do the next bit of weed surpressing, making a seamless/borderless cleared area. I don't know if that makes sense - I think you need a diagram

The market gardener who uses it says if you look after it, it will last ten years. I think it's guaranteed for five. I don't intend to plant into it, so it won't be cut. I'm just using it to surpress the plants that are already there before I take it up and put some raised beds on top of the covered soil. I don't know if I'll need to take it up and perhaps put another, cheaper weed surpresser between the original soil and the new raised bed soil. I don't know if I've left myself enough time now to do it for spring planting.... I've been trying to do this work for ages but keep getting interrupted. I really need a full day or two in the garden, which is something that really doesn't exist for me, with the kids an' all.

We have about 3 acres of creeping buttercup. That's to be tackled at a later date.... I'm starting small.

rozeepozee

The other thing that got me very excited about permaculture was the hugelkultur http://permaculturenews.org/2012/01/04/hugelkultur-composting-whole-trees-with-ease/

I want to try it at least. We have loads of rotting wood that isn't good enough to burn (according to OH) which he was going to bonfire. But I have plans!

Rummer

rozeepozee wrote: »

We have about 3 acres of creeping buttercup. That's to be tackled at a later date.... I'm starting small.

:eek: I think that would be too much for me :rotfl:

I have been fighting them for years here and I have lost every step of the way. Mind you my happiest times in the garden are when I am happily ripping creeping buttercups out by the roots using my Fiskars gadget, very satisfying

rozeepozee

I love my Fiskars, but it would basically mean removing every bit of field in parts! I've bought enough of the weed surpressor stuff to cover enough ground to give me plenty planting space. As I said, I want to start small. I was told in no uncertain terms by the typically direct Northern European market gardener I met on the course that, with small children, I wasn't going to do any meaningful gardening until they were four. That's in 18 months time. A lot of unwanted plants can be surpressed in that time if I'm persistent.

I've been told the weed surpressor won't rid me of the persistent stuff but will make the plants a lot weaker and easier to remove. It's going to be a war of attrition. If that don't work, I'm thinking I'll put in higher raised beds....

Davesnave

Rummer wrote: »

Mind you my happiest times in the garden are when I am happily ripping creeping buttercups out by the roots using my Fiskars gadget, very satisfying

I broke my Fiskars ratchet lopper the other day. Such a shame, as it was really efficient at severing those 3-4 cm branches that take longer with a bill hook, and then not so neat a finish. Unfortunately, I picked on a dead bit of really hard blackthorn, which does look very like living blackthorn at this time of year!

In the market for a new one. No plastics this time though!

Davesnave

rozeepozee wrote: »

I've been told the weed surpressor won't rid me of the persistent stuff but will make the plants a lot weaker and easier to remove. It's going to be a war of attrition. If that don't work, I'm thinking I'll put in higher raised beds....

Phormisol 100g/m2 will pretty much cope with anything, except brambles, maybe. They might push it up in the air. We use it here and have used it over the past 12 years or so for standing out areas. We haven't worn much of it out either!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

morning all

Been mooching through the bay, and i tapped in 'preppers' in the search bar..

looks as though sellers have cottoned on to how big this getting, they are even using preppers in the listing titles of old gardening books.

selling, what looks like army/rescue rations etc...

As I metioned over on a os thread, I have allways stored/prepped/hoarded:D food, as before when we were living hand to mouth etc i used to buy extra food etc when we had the money, as it was like famine or feast in our house...

I own up I am now turning into a nerdy prepper:cool::p, but I am prepping ourselves for more price hikes...etc... I think alot of people now are preppers and dont class themselves as one, because they are not preparing for the end of the world, or riots etc...

Like our Rhiwie is a prepper... mr & mrs rhiwie have been prepping for cheaper energy and heating etc...

I wouldnt go as far as doing a 'bug out' or getting gas masks etc, but then again... with hubby's farts, the kids smelly feets, and cat litter trays around the house, it might be a good idea:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:


I must admit....I was thinking of getting one of these

http://www.shoppingtrolleysdirect.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=HOPPA-ST65-POLKADOT-RED-WHITE&cat=59:cool::cool::cool:

well with that supermarket being so close, it seems mad to drive the car over:D