Daydream thread continues.....

Itismehonest

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Itsme... the wall isnt straightfroward... the chimnley needs to come down, and the top 3rd of the wall has 'blown' so will practically need to be rebuilt,( along wih the chimley) also around the 2 windows on that wall ( these have been added later) they have put breeze blocks and concrete, so as we need to put in new windows, he will re-do the surounds in stone .

Then, yes, you could be looking at 6 weeks.
Probably best to rebuild the whole wall from what you say. Do you have foundations?

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Itismehonest wrote: »

Then, yes, you could be looking at 6 weeks.
Probably best to rebuild the whole wall from what you say. Do you have foundations?

the other pine end wall might need to be re-built, but we need to hack off the bloody rendering they put over it:mad::mad:

foundations ??? dont think so????? until we do more clearing around the house ( once this flipping rain stops for a few days for us to actually try and do some work) then we can see exactly what the score is

Davesnave

Ooops! Went out today and failed to look at the forum......:o:o

I see you have had lots of good advice already, CTC, but I too would guess that liming would be right for your soil.

As for weedkiller, despite the mild conditions it is too early for that. You'll get much better results when things start to grow rapidly in the spring. It's well-known that I used a fair bit of selective herbicide in the first two years here, though only by targeting individual weeds, but in the year just gone, I needed to use very little. That said, I haven't beaten the creepy buttercups either!:mad:

Asulox, or something based on Asulan, (don't look for it in the back of a wardrobe!:rotfl: ) may be back by 2016. There are pressure groups lobbying the government hard on that, but of course it's the EU responsible for the ban. As they knew it was coming, I expect most hill farmers have enough Asulox stashed away.....;)

As for mare's tail, the legal remedy now is Kurtail:
http://www.progreen.co.uk/Weed-Killers/Total-Weed-Killers/Kibosh-0-5LT/prod_2.html

...but I understand that Ammonium sulphamate, now banned as a weedkiller, used to be effective. Ammonium sulphamate is still available as a "compost accelerator" on ebay ;) but as you will see, it's much more expensive than simply peeing on the heap!

To be honest, I don't think 2012 was a fair test for any soil. My courgettes were very iffy and the squashes didn't grow at all well. The onions were OK, but they were in a deep bed which had had plenty of rotted manure added in the winter. I think if you increase the humus content of your soil and get drainage right, then liming will be the icing on the cake.

Davesnave

Concreting in the rain seems to be a family trait. I remember the concrete going down for the Outlaws extension floor and the heavens opening just afterwards, and the same thing happened to BiL on his barn conversion too.

In both cases the stuff survived though it didn't have a smooth floated finish or anything like that.

I'm doing nothing major.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

so, it would be

spray ( zap the booggers:D)

add manure/chicken manure pellets

then lime?

from march onwards

so if it didnt need lime, would it do any harm adding some?

Itismehonest

Davesnave wrote: »

Asulox, or something based on Asulan, (don't look for it in the back of a wardrobe!:rotfl: ) may be back by 2016. There are pressure groups lobbying the government hard on that, but of course it's the EU responsible for the ban. As they knew it was coming, I expect most hill farmers have enough Asulox stashed away.....;)

Hopefully it will be someone else's problem by 2016

Unfortunately, the scale of the bracken problem means that either they've used theirs up or, for those that still have some, are hanging on to what they have left for dear life.
As some (I'm sure you can guess who) large landowners won't treat the bracken it's an uphill task for everyone else.
It's evil stuff - harbours & helps ticks (Lyme disease) & the spores are carcinogenic.
It's only visitors who walk the hills in shorts :rotfl:

alfie_1

evening all

i have been given a new fangled phone [mobile]...........:o

i have managed to turn it on....:o

then im at a loss....:o

honestly, its got more "things" on the screen than raisens in a xmas pud..... i do not have a hope....oh boy am i getting old......:o :rotfl:

it has stayed dry today :j forecast high wind and rain tonight tho....:(
just think, in 10yrs time when iv mastered THE PHONE, i will be able to get weather forecasts on it ....:D

rhiwfield

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

so, it would be

spray ( zap the booggers:D)

add manure/chicken manure pellets

then lime?

from march onwards

so if it didnt need lime, would it do any harm adding some?

CTC, lime/manure I dont think should be done at same time. IIRC liming is done every few years with acidic soil. Manure tends to make soil more acidic. For most crops a neutral soil is best, so having too acidic/alkaline soils can restrict some crop growth.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

ok thanks rhiwie,

I am getting confused now, humus? I thought that was well rotted manure?

just came back from our nightly piggy food run, and they have doughnuts, cookies, puff pastry mince pies, cucumbers, cauli's etc.... must admit i have kept a pack of strawberry iced doughnuts back for us:D

Itismehonest

A few days ago people were talking about weather stations.
I've found this online which looks interesting - particularly the live update page.

It says they use a LaCrosse WS2300 :