Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

I have also seen some miserable solutions on organic principals. And sheer bloody laziness at times too.

Trust me to get the latter! :wall:

I've never understood how someone who professed love of the soil could bury so much crap in it, though recent excavations by the stream and chats with others have revealed more naughty behaviour pre-dating the arrival of my predecessor. :mad:

It was pretty much the case that if one dug anywhere in the garden here 5 years ago, at least one piece of orange baler twine would come up + one other mystery item, like a piece of carpet, a rusty pipe, a bit of charred wood, or maybe even a lucky mangled plant pot.

However, I'm still trying to work out, how the collar tag on a dog that was buried under the hedge on the western boundary 20+ years ago, showed up this year in our new garden, over 60' away.......It puzzles the person who buried her too! :think:

lostinrates

Farmers often bury stuff. Or used to. Don't know what farmers do now,


Or soil is clay and baler twine

We also find lots of glass, metal and other carp. Still, most plants seem happy enough.


There are lots of bits of garden here I just don't know what to do with because the ground is SO rubbly. More like one hears of new builds being. I don't love raised beds everywhere, so while a great solution for the heart garden, I don't really want to only have raised beds in the back garden, If nothing else would get very expensive.


But just not sure what to do because its a new problem for me.

E.g. We sprayed a narrow strip facing west along the back of the house recently and its clear and we'd like to prepare it now, and have some stuff to go there and get put of pots but when we went today to have a poke about its pretty much ......stone and rubble. Really don't want a raised bed there and so guess the idea of a thing there might have to be postponed till we can afford time and money for a skip? Remove a whole load of Stoney soil to replace with gritty soil? ( guessing will need the drainage of grit, but just a guess) any way, its annoying, because everything takes SO much longer than would on decent land and in other gardens where I've gardened. There was a building there in the past, so guess is was stone and earth floored. There are some brick lines elsewhere I want to keep ideally, might not.

Originally I wanted to landscape a bit more dramatically, lowering the back section of garden a foot or two, till I saw what lurks beneath when we trenched. Not I realise even leveling ( we are almost level, just a bit of a slope I'll like pancaked) might be a night mare and we might be better raising, but ......imagine the cost of shipping in enough stuff to raise the level!!!!!

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

Well, we're making progress against the weeds.

It does get better, but this will be the only time I make a garden on a formerly wild field area. The bits we did first are definitely less prone to overnight weed infestation.

You will win.

Sorry Rummer, I hope it wasn't too onerous, finding homes.....;)

moneyistooshorttomention

Speaking personally, I'm envisaging that it will take more effort to find nettles/comfrey/etc and make my own plant food, rather than buying it readymade from a nursery. More effort to really keep on top of pests and weeds than just "blasting them with bought Megadeath". Must be quicker to just hand over a few £s for chemicals than sit and research through the best natural solution for whatever-it-is and then have to make it up.

Farmers of all descriptions astonish me by their habit of leaving rubbish around the place, though I'm horrified at just how much litter lout behaviour there is round here (astonishingly high amounts compared to what I'm used to, which was bad enough). My own place = nary a bit to be found basically:) and I'm widening my radius to include picking up litter further out from my place.

My own take is that its harder work to "do things proper like", but its my choice to do so and feel happier with my food and myself.

I do worry that organic farmers must often have non-organic neighbours and busy roads nearby, but, as with anything, they do what they can and I do what I can and are left wondering what to do about the "There's always One" factor. My googling for remedies has so far only come up with American websites, but no answers as to what to do about it in Britain yet. Gap in law time possibly? The only British thing I have found so far is about a woman who had been wondering why the plants for about a foot inside her garden boundary were dying, until she realised the Council were poisoning them with their spray drift when out spraying chemicals around the area. I did what I could back in home area about our local Council doing the same and, as my house was straight on the street, I'd fulfil my responsibility to remove the weeds from outside my house myself and, as a precautionary measure, remove them from neighbours houses too if they were too lazy to do so themselves. Wouldn't have protected me from a thick jobsworth intent on spraying everywhere regardless of whether it "needed it" or no, but all I could do about that was hope to catch them at it (for the only time they would ever try that lark......) and tell them whatfor.

Dave - re the roofs = if people want to waste time/money cleaning them thats up to them, but I've checked to see whether its actually necessary to do so or no (having been told that it was) and found that it isn't. Hence I won't be doing it personally. I shall clean my gutters at intervals (because that is necessary) but thats it.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

It does get better, but this will be the only time I make a garden on a formerly wild field area. The bits we did first are definitely less prone to overnight weed infestation.

You will win.

Sorry Rummer, I hope it wasn't too onerous, finding homes.....;)

Wild field would be alright, as you suggest, its previously farmed field......battling some other beggar's buried crud is worse than weeds anyday.

Still shuddering about your dog collar.


A few weeks a go DH came back from the dogs late night walk and dog dog had a paw. An actual paw, Of a fox. Covered in maggots. I was in bed, and why DH thought he had to bring this to show me is beyond me.

He acted out the scene with a hand from clash of the titans while realisations dWned slowly upon be and I started to retch in the bed.


Its just as well I have a sense of humour. :rotfl:

lostinrates

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Speaking personally, I'm envisaging that it will take more effort to find nettles/comfrey/etc and make my own plant food, rather than buying it readymade from a nursery. More effort to really keep on top of pests and weeds than just "blasting them with bought Megadeath". Must be quicker to just hand over a few £s for chemicals than sit and research through the best natural solution for whatever-it-is and then have to make it up.
[COLOR="rgb(139, 0, 0)"][COLOR="rgb(139, 0, 0)"]making it maybe, but finding it, really? [/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]
Farmers of all descriptions astonish me by their habit of leaving rubbish around the place, though I'm horrified at just how much litter lout behaviour there is round here (astonishingly high amounts compared to what I'm used to, which was bad enough).in London we had rubbish collections at least three times a week iirc. Here, once a fortnight. I'm not surprised people less careful to avoid packaging resort to dumping stuff. Forgiving, no, but surprised, not really. There is also no budget for road rubbish clearance out here, people do it themselves, where as in towns or main routes its oft budgeted for as more pressing and greater amounts , just seen less as people paid to collect it. My own place = nary a bit to be found basically:) and I'm widening my radius to include picking up litter further out from my place.

My own take is that its harder work to "do things proper like", but its my choice to do so and feel happier with my food and myself.pretty much how we all got here. But neighbours etc might not feel the same, Its their prerogative to feel differently.

I do worry that organic farmers must often have non-organic neighbours and busy roads nearby, but, as with anything, they do what they can and I do what I can and are left wondering what to do about the "There's always One" factor. My googling for remedies has so far only come up with American websites, but no answers as to what to do about it in Britain yet. Gap in law time possibly? The only British thing I have found so far is about a woman who had been wondering why the plants for about a foot inside her garden boundary were dying, until she realised the Council were poisoning them with their spray drift when out spraying chemicals around the area.

some aspects of American agriculture impact on householders in America and uk is different. Just by nature of space. We are inevitably going to suffer more noice at harvest time for example, in rural but non agricultural comumunities because we insist on living in them, and we have little fields and houses relatively densely population per acre within them. Unlike many areas of us where you can drive and drive and drive through agricultural land and see NOONE. So drift isn't a problem. We also have issues of size and age when it comes to road lay out and net work. I know very little about arable farming in US but regardless of organic issues I'd rather eat highest welfare meat products from UK than many other countries in the world, and this is something that while I don't have Upto date information on I was once reasonably 'expert' in. I hope I am enough out of date on this to render my knowledge useless.

Dave - re the roofs = if people want to waste time/money cleaning them thats up to them, but I've checked to see whether its actually necessary to do so or no (having been told that it was) and found that it isn't. Hence I won't be doing it personally. I shall clean my gutters at intervals (because that is necessary) but thats it.

This depends on roof and area surely? We get tremendous moss build up and have to clear gutters a couple of times a year at least, with lots of extra spot clearance, I'm sure is our rooves here were sounder and we cleaned them x( or wanted to) this job would be less onerous. But loads of people do things I don't consider 'vital' and I don't do things other people roll eyes at, The world keeps turning.

Really, I feel anything other than tolerance of others ways is a hiding to frustration? As some one used to being an 'incomer' I have always found it easy to be accepted. I find a big part of this is a big smile and nodding and listening but just not following through with the stuff I don't want to and if questioned just saying , oh yes, I just couldn't do that this year, but I see how it works so well for you, and continuing to ignore for myself but praise for others.

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

Wild field would be alright, as you suggest, its previously farmed field......battling some other beggar's buried crud is worse than weeds anyday.

Still shuddering about your dog collar.

I will take a piccie of all the stone DW removed from the new garden....or at least some of it, as we had to start a new heap. It runs into many tonnes.

But stone is OK and the soil is mostly all right or we wouldn't have arable here, just not the bit where they dug out the septic tanks and brought up clay. We also have a clay seam with stones running through the valley. It's not very wide and not related to pipework either, so far as I know.

There has to be a rational explanation about the dog tag. We did cut down and remove the roots of a cherry tree around there, using a digger, but I'm not aware that we took any soil away. We may have laid the roots there after excavation and the tag fell off in some soil.

Don't get me started on the horse burials. Almost worse than your fox foot story! :rotfl:

alfie_1

MONEY....

i have read all your derogatory comments towards any human being that does/says anything you disagree with,with interest. you cant possibly know what every roof owner/farmer/gardener does/thinks so please refrain from lumping everyone you oppose [which makes for everyone by your comments] into one bucket.
im amazed you moved to where you are living without having the SAS do a recky first.
maybe im out of order but please......LIGHTEN UP

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

Don't get me started on the horse burials. Almost worse than your fox foot story! :rotfl:

It seems as if wildlife dies locally it comes on to our land somehow. We've had bits of a fair few things, and the dogs love it all. :eek:



Re horses. My plan with special girl when I was 'working' was always to have her mounted, but whe. It actually happened last year I didn't even want her ashes back. I feel really odd about that now. I am not over ly sentimental about the ashes , because my faith is such that I feel the spirit has left the body then and on its next stage if their is one, and the body is 'meat' but it was meat I had loved for longer even than my husband.

Had we been here always or longer I think I would have winter her here , ashes or body, but this was only home to her because we and old girl were here. She settled well almost wherever we went and I don't think she felt this was somewhere 'special'. So I don't feel bad, just odd.


A vet once told me a hilarious story that his mother had always. Had the pony ashes back, before it was that common, in a nice urn, they moved to somewhere more country fied and when a pony died asked if they could and the guy looked a bit bemused and said , well he supposed so, never done it before., would take a day to clear out the fires so it was just their pony definitely etc etc. then at the end of the week or when ever their pony was returned to them in something several times over the size they were used to getting , hand delivered proudly and kindly by the guy who had done it, and they realised the swizz they'd had with all the previous ponies.

There was also a horses crematorium scandal not that long ago. If one is sentimental, burying them when allowed seems sensible really.

I don't know what I'll do with my small furries now. All the ones from childhood are in boxes in the barn . I've not lost one as an independent adult.

Rummer

Davesnave wrote: »

Sorry Rummer, I hope it wasn't too onerous, finding homes.....;)

I was joyfully busy! All that googling, planning and planting!