Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

Davesnave

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Does that sound like a plan?

Yes, and no!

If there aren't many worms there's a reason for that, which importing more won't cure. It's most unlikely that worms can't 'find' your plot.

Worms don't like acid soil much, so checking pH is something that ought to be on your list if worms are a priority. However, there could be other reasons why there are so few.

In our garden, worms aren't abundant, which I put partly down to pH. The rest is possibly due to the large numbers of moles and blackbirds/thrushes we have.

Incidentally, the largest slugs aren't always a problem, as they tend to be the ones that just eat dead stuff.

lostinrates

Alfie, watch the critters. They are vulnerable too. With the state of the 'discharge' situation its highly likely just padding around outside in the garden when its rained is exposing the dogs


I certainlY think for they safety of future occupants of the property the guy from environmental health should be told. Iirc lepto can hang around for months in water.....I'm thinking of your stream and particularly your pond as being potential reservoirs for this. While peoe should always 'work clean' if there is known contaminant then its pressing.


Take care dear one.

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

I certainlY think for they safety of future occupants of the property the guy from environmental health should be told..

I second that, not only for the serious reasons above, but also because it will cause more well-deserved headaches for BUHA and his employer. :p:p

Do take it easy and give the antibiotics a chance to do their work.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

I second that, not only for the serious reasons above, but also because it will cause more well-deserved headaches for BUHA and his employer. :p:p

Do take it easy and give the antibiotics a chance to do their work.

Well, it will also potentially confirm what Alfie was saying about the state of discharge there. Mr Pratt will probably take the fall but he was very rude to our alf and shouldn't be doing work they do not know how to do properly.

Quite literally alf's health has been damaged by this shabby treatment of a tenant. I'm actually getting furious just thinking about it.

moneyistooshorttomention

Davesnave wrote: »

Yes, and no!

If there aren't many worms there's a reason for that, which importing more won't cure. It's most unlikely that worms can't 'find' your plot.

Worms don't like acid soil much, so checking pH is something that ought to be on your list if worms are a priority. However, there could be other reasons why there are so few.

In our garden, worms aren't abundant, which I put partly down to pH. The rest is possibly due to the large numbers of moles and blackbirds/thrushes we have.

Incidentally, the largest slugs aren't always a problem, as they tend to be the ones that just eat dead stuff.

I did wonder re whether it might have some sort of relationship with type of soil.

It's been on my to-do list to do a DIY test on my soil since coming (vague idea that I need to use bicarb. of soda for this from somewhere?). I have a suspicion it might be a bit on the acid side. Think I read somewhere that moss is a sign of that and I can see a couple of nearby lawns seem to be 50/50 lawn and moss garden and there are odd bits of moss growing down near the ground on a wall in my garden.

1. Can anyone refresh my memory on DIY ways of checking for acidity of soil?

2. What does it mean if my soil IS a bit acid? Any crops I can grow that others maybe cant? Any crops I intend to grow that I might struggle a bit with because of it? etc?

The worms I've got coming are a bit of a mixed bunch, so hopefully at least some of them will find the terrain to their liking.

I've not seen any sign of moles in the area anywhere. Birds...I confess ignorance as to how to identify most species. There's loads of birds in abundance. Bluetits like it around here, but that's as far into my bird identification book as I've got at present.


Blackbirds...even I could manage to identify them....don't recall any preponderance of them here. Off to check out identifying signs as to what a thrush looks like...

lostinrates

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/plants-for-soil-types


But a pH monitor is much more accurate. We finally bought one last year and have boringly neutral soil


For a smallish garden and a one off test you can buy packs of three little soil testing test tubes to test three different parts of the garden.

Davesnave

The crops that struggle most on acid soils are brassicas. Regular liming is the answer, but how much to apply is difficult to assess.

I find my soil will grow things like kohl rabi, but broccoli has struggled, though that might have been because it dried out too much.

No time to faff at present, but will investigate further eventually.

alfie_1

morning..

im coughing like a good'n horrible dry cough..

i agree with regards reporting the prob to enviro..again
oh, AND the bees in the window area AND the bats in the roof ??:D

on a serious side i know mr pratt has lost the "plumbing"side of any works here AND his electrical skills have been thrown into doubt... :D not sure how word got out ????

im just doing lighter chores today.. having a bonfire etc.

CTC... please do NOT apologise to ME... you have enough on your plate. your "bits" will be safely stored and i will make a trip to you with them when this debarcle is over..:D
my mum cooked the ham and my sister and i were eating it as it came out of pot much to my mums annoyance...:rotfl: yum yum

and LIR... i just luv you so i will pop up to see you again after too.. i will be such a free agent i wont know myself.:D

ROLL ON SPRING :j:j

welcome back ferret i want to know how the piggy enterprise is going too

phoebe1989seb

Hi all

Back after a fab birthday weekend getting some culture and seeing our darling DS Strangers on a Train was amazing, especially the stage sets and Mr Fox was (imho) sexy as always DH was happy too as has a thing for Miranda Raison Had some super gifts, including a lovely original Art Nouveau lamp......just needs rewiring Managed to not gain any weight either, which is good news as I'm still ahead of my targets in that dept!

Good news on the plumbing front too as our favoured (but not so local) guy will be fully recovered from his op by next week and has booked us in for two days to get the last-but-one stage of first fix done

Alfie - that sounds terrible, you poor thing Definitely sounds as though it could be linked to conditions in the house and something the enviro peeps should be aware of......Mr Pratt has a lot to answer for, grrrrr!

Sounds as though the panto went off well, Dave - you can relax now and get back to normality/reality

ferretkeeper

Ahhh yes the piggies...

All going well, still supplying the posh restaurant, although they are quiet ish at the minute and were in the run up to xmas. I am in discussion with a couple of other places locally and also hatching a plan for a different outlet but needs some time and energy investing in which I can hardly spare ATM. The breeding is coming along, had a small litter born Halloween, another sow is in pig, and about to put the next girl in with Winston the boar...

CTC like the look of your piggy produce, good that you're getting repeat customers too, that's the key!

The second half of last year was manic, no let up this year either, hence slipping out of the loop here, time is going soooooo quickly.

The biggest issue was hubby nearly losing his job, he was under a disciplinary suspension for 6 weeks, sent home from work with less than a days notice. It was a very stressful time but in the end he returned to work with equally short notice, cleared of all charges.

It shook us to the core and since then we are building resilience to such an event, his work is very fickle and could happen any time, we now have some savings! His contract is til dec 31st and we will know soon if there's scope beyond that but tbh the sooner we can get things running here the sooner he can come home for good and get involved properly. He really feels he's missing out on a lot.

While that was going on we were told we got the farming grant we had applied for almost a year prior. It was a tough call - f hubby didn't go back to work we would lose everything, plus we had to take a mahoosive loan to pay for the grant work before we could claim it back.

Anyway we decided to go ahead and since about October we have had major work going on here. I have tried to let the builders get on with it but I am having to be on hand all the time for every decision so wasting a lot of time. That said, it's better than other builders I've used who carry on without asking then stuff has to be redone...

We've been lucky with the mild weather, got most of the concreting done, now working on roofing. Unfortunately we also need to be fencing but the ground is toooooo wet. But OMG the wind and rain, scary stuff, power cuts, we are looking into a genny for back up, some sort of aircraft ground power unit should be enough!

And just to add a bit more to my plate a friend and I have started a new crafty venture, in its infancy but going well and feeling positive. Along side the grant work we're converting part of an outbuilding into a studio/classroom/kitchen so I can do the craft stuff there plus things like our own sausage making...told you I had my mojo back!

Alfie I do hope you're feeling ok, looked up Weils and it says it can take ages to recover, take it really easy x

I should be 'working' but I need to hunt out a nice wood burner, builders very kindly knocked a hole in the chimney breast one wet day, fire surround is up, just need a wee stove...liked yours BD but think we're going to look for vintage/antique to match the house...

Oh BTW alex, if it's any consolation us lot in the welsh mountains are experiencing damp in our properties like never before, it's the driving rain. Totally agree with others, some sort of cladding should help you. They're doing a lot of external insulation here, village looks quite smart. We had our whole house re-rendered couple of years ago and cavities filled, the damp has finally stopped coming in and I've redecorated, again!

Really must get back to work!

Take care all