Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

Itismehonest

lostinrates wrote: »

Rummer, you could fulfil a dream of mine and have a moss garden. It would love the damp shade, not need mowing and be beautiful soft miniature hills of green. Perfect for non girly fairies or pixies, a couple of biggish rocks if you like that sort of thing, or some shade tolerant planting.......

Is the garden damp all year round, Rummer?

I used to love moss & still do in some circumstances but once established, & given the right circumstances, it very easily gets everywhere - including all the places you don't want it like walls & driveways - & is an absolute swine to get rid of.
If you want any, though, Rummer, just send a fleet of lorries down here :rotfl:

lostinrates

Itismehonest wrote: »

Is the garden damp all year round, Rummer?

I used to love moss & still do in some circumstances but once established, & given the right circumstances, it very easily gets everywhere - including all the places you don't want it like walls & driveways - & is an absolute swine to get rid of.
If you want any, though, Rummer, just send a fleet of lorries down here :rotfl:

I still want a moss lawn. I a, trying to remember I couldn't justify waterinng a lawn in summer.

choille

Put in some staged raised beds differing in height with architectural plants - bronze fennel, variegated trailing ivy, herbs, spring bulbs etc - you can buy raised beds from £15. You can use old scaffolding boards - you could make a pond & have ferns - dark loving plants.

Davesnave

I wonder if you could adapt the front garden to the sort of plants that thrive in my stream area? At the moment, those are naturally occurring Shuttlecock and Hart's Tongue Ferns and ivy, to which I'm adding Geraniums, Alchemilla, (I have a smaller one than Mollis) Woodruff, Brunnera, Vinca, small Persicarias + other things, which should help me to depend less on the ivy for ground cover.

The stream area won't get much attention and the idea is that it will be more or less self-sustaining once it's planted. Like you, I'll get a bit of creeping buttercup, but that will be easily dealt with if I just wander up there once a month and paint a few drops of glyphosate on any new rosettes I see. There are lots of other 'weeds' but the buttercups and stray nettles are the only ones I would get rid of.

So, perhaps not mosses , but ferns and a few other tough things that don't mind shade and getting their feet wet?

EDIT: Choille has beaten me to it! :T

Davesnave

I've had quite a productive day, finishing off where the digger
cleared out the stream by Mr Dog's. There were only my straggly blackthorns left there, so I cut them out and got the whole channel clear for 20m or so.

After that, there was the jungle bit I didn't get to last year, so I worked my way downstream with the saw and bumped-off all the rest of the small blackthorns, though I couldn't heft them out, especially as Mr Organic's blackberries were still right across the stream.

I made it the full 50m down to the point where I gave up last winter. What a difference! The streamside from there on is now easily manageable and there's evidence of the hedge bank being colonised by more wild flowers, including a few primroses. We also have a small amount of meadowsweet in the stream there, which also has a chance to spread.

I dunno why Mr Organic grows brambles beside his electric fence(!) but when I swap to the metal slasher head on the brushcutter, I'll be able to go up the stream again and sort them out properly. He can keep them, but they're not coming over to my side again!

alfie_1

hi folks

i feel like iv been hit round the head with a shovel....:o

i hardly ever get colds but when i do ...i do em proud.:(
about every 2-3 yrs in fact.

well water is a no show.
spoke to waterboard who started to fafff about saying they will contact agent but i said i want em to do "what it says on the tin" so to speak.... and quickly... they have promised to get back to me asap.
spoke to envoironmental people and they are getting back to me next week.
im going to bill the agent for fuel used for pump [extra £20+ pw], for the pump i had to buy. for the cost of launderette etc
im gonna claim for a fart if i can...;)

its been a lovely bright dry day but chilly...well its bluddy cold tonight !!

im hungry but dont know what to eat ??:o cant taste anything at the mo. trouble is i have a stonking headache which i know will be helped if i DO eat.....

choille

Dave - you should make some blackthorn sticks - they make an attractive cane.

You sound busy & productive - always great to get out at this time of year & get mucky.

We've been doing a bit of wood too. It's a filthy day, but rather mild - before the onslaught ...I guess.

Had two lambs down the bottom field in brambles this morning - so I've let that slip this past year - that's this weeks job & more.....

Davesnave

Alfie says it's cold and choille says it's warm, but one of them is running a temperature, I think!

Yes you should 'feed your cold,' Alfie, but I know how it is when nothing tastes right, or even tastes at all. Just shovel something in.:) In a couple of days you will beat it, but bugs tend to run their course once they get a hold like that. Nice hot toddy for the headache....after eating!

I thought it was warm today, but I had to over-dress to cope with the brambles etc, so when I came in for lunch, I had to strip it all off and change, I was so wet with sweating. Seems to be about 9c now and no wind at all. It's only 17.2c in the office here, so according to rhiwfield I should be cold, but he's reckoning without the long johns! :rotfl:

Nice sticks eh? Judging by the way my back feels (did 90 minutes strimming too!) I will probably need one tomorrow!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

it is bl00dy freezing..... and the cold blast supposed to be next week!!!!

Davesnave sound as though you done loads today...

I am so bored watching C.I.N ... feel like sleeping..

Davesnave

WARNING: Shameless advertising.

Having returned to the brushcutter as the only tool that will cut the grass now, I'm so glad I have this line and not the rubbishy fluorescent yellow stuff I bought in Mole Valley Farmers last year:

http://www.rvtrading.co.uk/brushcutter-accessories/cutting-line/nylsaw-cutting-line-3mm-x-37m-kramp-fgp015048.html

Yes, it's more expensive, but unlike the other line, it doesn't fray or need feeding out every 5-10minutes, so you use much less. It whips through the grass as well.

I think I've already mentioned that I've modified my brushcutter to stop the automatic bump feed. There's no useless blade waiting to slice off surplus line either. Those conveniences cost!

Anyway, I managed a full tank's worth of strimming this afternoon on the same bit of this line! That just has to be MSE! :beer:

Edit: CTC, it's still 9.2c outdoors here. :cool: