Cheer of the Day!

[JoceAndChris]

:lol:

Horatio approves of champagne, in general, but thinks immersing oneself in water highly dangerous!

 

[DJH]

I'm saying nothing to Mrs DJH Penners...she might stop me from using PPUK. :shock:

Anyway, cheer of the day is that after planting her wisteria about six or seven years ago she has her first flower on it's way...





Doug

 

[Maddie-Rose]

I've (almost) finished the wood store. It was built this week in the rain as I can't do my rendering in wet weather and I I'm trying to put off insulating the loft. I just need another wet day to fill it with wood (tomorrow is looking good).

Malcolm that's fab

 

[Penners]

after planting her wisteria about six or seven years ago she has her first flower on it's way

Snap, Doug!

Our wisteria has been lounging around contributing nothing to the garden but leaves for about six years. This year it has at last got a few flowers on it!

 

[DJH]

I'm told by herself that a newly planted wisteria takes about seven years to blossom. She also says pear trees take about the same time to bear fruit and ours looks like it might well have a big crop this year. They say that you plant a pear for an heir... :?:

Doug

 

[Hobden]

They say that you plant a pear for an heir... :?:

I don't know about pears, but you do with a mulberry!

 

[LadyArowana]

They say that you plant a pear for an heir... :?:

I don't know about pears, but you do with a mulberry!

You could raise some silk worms, but with one mulberry it might take a very long time to get enough to darn your stockings :lol:

 

[JoceAndChris]

Gosh I didn't know that about pear trees! I have 6 years to wait! :lol: How lovely about the wisteria Mr P and Doug. I'm a fan. They have quintessential period property charm!

My cheer of the day is my new petrol mower arrived and I am, for the first time, at the stage in our project where I can spend some time on the lawns getting weed free and neatly rollered stripes!I have woken up worrying about it though! It's a big beast of a thing and was £1000 and I just killed our ride on by repeated encounters with tree stumps. Chris says if I crash this one I'm going to be in BIG trouble. There's no variable speed on this mower and I'm worrying about how quickly it drags you along and how quickly the shrubs on the edges come up - we have a big but lozenge shaped garden so I will need to make eleventy billion short turns for my stripes to run vertically from the property as horizontal stripes would be plain wrong.

Oh dear I don't know if this is a cheer or a grump :roll:

 

[a twig]

It's just a matter of adjustment, I bought my Dad a new mover for his birthday, one of the Hayter professional jobs without speed control.

The first time he used it, it shot off and he looked like something from Looney Tunes, legs windmilling with his body at a 45 degree angle as he tried to catch up. By the 3rd stripe he had it nailed, and now he whips through the weekly mowing in half the time that he used to. He's pushing 70, so should be a piece of cake for you

 

[88v8]

There's no variable speed on this mower

I wonder what evil b***d in a marketing dept decided that an essential feature should become an optional extra. I bought a newish Hayter six years ago, it was a push mower but the pointless high speed of the engine soon got on my wick, along with the silly dead man's handle (that at least I was able to eliminate) and after a few weeks it was resold.

We still have our 1984 Mountfield. Push petrol rotary. Can use one hand to lift up shrubs around the lawn edge while pushing the mower beneath, nose under plants and trees and into corners 'n back out. Variable engine speed, most of the cutting is done just above idle.

We previously had a powered mower, an Atco. Fine for big square unimpeded lawns, but even with variable speed it was a chore to prevent it from charging off into the borders.

Was reading a chicken feature in the dentist's the other day. It was said that some breeds like grass but will leave the borders alone. And unlike the mower, if a chicken becomes disfunctional one can eat it.

Ivor

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: Ivor and a twig, I'll reply in the lawn mower thread I made, I didn't mean to take over two threads with tales of mowers

 

[malcolm]

Talking of mowers, I went to the shed to get my mower out this afternoon and was reminded of the honey bee colony that recently took up residence in the shed wall beside the door. Fortunately there is a plastic lining in the wall so the bees don't come inside. I have resolved not to open the door as it would make the wall move around and disturb them. The mower had to come through the house.

I'm doing well for bees at the moment. The solitary bees are multiplying again this year. The masonry bees in the chimney are alive and well. They are a friendly bunch and I was careful to leave their entrances open while I was re-pointing. Then without thinking put hessian over the new pointing and they didn't come back for the rest of that year. They are as stupid as me - around fifty of them came down the chimney on their first day, got out of the wood burner and had to be rescued. A cover to keep the light out of the wood burner seems to have done the trick.

It was sunny today and I had a nice day in the garden. I got rid of the bramble and it's roots (I'm sure it will be back) and I'm having a birds and bees moment. Robin and the little birds are still nesting in the garden, but I think the poorly located blackbird nest may have been relocated due to stocky ginger cat. Pigeon nest fell out of the willow. I don't understand how those things can breed.

 

[LadyArowana]

I'm cheerful because my neighbour didn't die! I'm no great lover of the nanny state and overbearing 'elf n safety, but really this seems a tad unwise, and stopped me properly enjoying my cornflakes!

 

[Hobden]

I got rid of the bramble and it's roots (I'm sure it will be back)

Bramble? Singular? If only ... we've just moved into a house with a two acre garden and one acre of that is brambles. I've been cutting and pulling for the last two weeks and I'm seeing them in my sleep!

 

[Hobden]

I'm cheerful because my neighbour didn't die! I'm no great lover of the nanny state and overbearing 'elf n safety, but really this seems a tad unwise, and stopped me properly enjoying my cornflakes!

A fine line between bravery and recklessness - and I'm not sure which side of the line he's on! I think long and hard before going up a ladder ...

 

[Feltwell]

A fine line between bravery and recklessness - and I'm not sure which side of the line he's on!

In fairness to him it was go out there or risk getting caught by the husband.......

 

[LadyArowana]

A fine line between bravery and recklessness - and I'm not sure which side of the line he's on!

In fairness to him it was go out there or risk getting caught by the husband.......

Ooooooh I wonder how much it's worth for the photos?

 

[88v8]

I got rid of the bramble and it's roots (I'm sure it will be back)

Bramble? Singular? If only ... we've just moved into a house with a two acre garden and one acre of that is brambles. I've been cutting and pulling for the last two weeks and I'm seeing them in my sleep!

SBK Brushkiiler is effective against brambles. Or was, provided the 'safety' crackpots haven't got at it.
https://www.pitchcare.com/shop/amateur-and-domestic-weed-killers/sbk-brushwood-killer-1l.html

Ivor

 

[Hobden]

SBK Brushkiiler is effective against brambles. Or was, provided the 'safety' crackpots haven't got at it.
https://www.pitchcare.com/shop/amateur-and-domestic-weed-killers/sbk-brushwood-killer-1l.html

Thanks for that. We had hoped to be green and avoid chemicals, but if repeated cutting and digging doesn't do the trick then we may have to go nuclear!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Wow 2 acres Hobden! I feel your pain! We have four with much of that being a field - still haven't reached all the brambles yet, after 9 years!!


But, the best thing we've found for them is the Stihl petrol strimmer retailing at about £750. I love it and use it every week - the thick brambles in front of our haha at the front and the verges are all now lush, lovely grass. Fabulous tool and much nicer to use than chemicals. Seriously recommend. Did not like the Stihl combi system at all where one engine supplies several attachments, you need a beefy designated strimmer with the proper handles.

Joce x