Doing the garden , again.

[robgil]

Is it just me or do other people end up doing the garden more than the house at this time of year?
I havent lifted a finger to the cottage for ages now and seem to spend all my time in the blooming garden, which is rather annoying really but the weather is just so nice. And to make matters worse I am now doing landscaping as my day job as well so all I really do indoors is esat and sleep.
I'm never going to get this cottage finished!

 

[jocelyn plummer]

You mean like this? Well, I am 13, supposedly too old to dig a hole.

 

[worms]

Is it just me...rather annoying really but the weather is just so nice...

We've had nothing but rain for weeks! Don't think we have had a single really good day since April! But on the bright side, my wisteria is about to come into leaf!

 

[robgil]

We are in the middle of the worst drought since records began ,and I decide it would be a good idea to plant a couple of lawns.

 

[middi]

We are in the middle of the worst drought since records began ,and I decide it would be a good idea to plant a couple of lawns.

Mr Robgil, a word of good advise is in order here ( and Jocelyn is adding fuel to the fire with those envious photo's)
Now, Mr R., if you think that by creating that beautiful romantic corner dispaying that relaxing vista of a rural bench covered by a rose arch is a good idea you will be wasting your time and effort. By the time you finish the cottage there will be no grass and you will have forgotten where the seat is as you will not be able to see it, it will be covered with thatch, wood, plaster, metal, wire old bikes,discarded toys and the wife's curtains that she changed ( you intended to get a skip, you see, but somehow you never got around to do it)

I hope I have been of great ( and depressing) help

Middi

 

[Juju]

It's raining all the time here in Oxfordshire! Can't remember the last time I had to water the pots... I had a mammoth effort getting the garden ready for the party but then it rained of course so we couldn't sit out there! I do a bit of weeding etc first thing every morning but everything has grown so much with the rain and intermittent sunshine. The potato plants are taking over the entire garden!
In two weeks time hopefully when my manic period of paid work is over I shall back on my very long list of jobs in the house and the garden... I'm afraid the jobs do get neglected cos of giving so much of my time for free to the NT!
Juju

 

[Penners]

What is this "rain" of which you speak?

 

[Moo]

It's that wet stuff that fell from the sky while I was away in London for a week.
So yesterday's visit to the allotment to inspect the strawberries turned into a three-hour weeding slog (and that was just the strawberry bed).

 

[AMc]

I laid my 290m2 lawn last November - so it got the chance to spend several weeks under snow straight after it was laid with almost no rain and is now being parched to death If any of it makes it through to the end of the year I will raise a glass to the skill of the lawn growers in Lincolnshire.
When it rains - and it's not that often - small bits of it grow like mad so I have to mow all of it which takes ages Then it stays dry for weeks and doesn't do anything but look ragged and too fragile to be cut.

I hate gardening - it's like cleaning the house only I don't spend any time in the garden except to hurt it with power tools or remove plants growing that I don't want next to the remains of plants I've paid for that are being murdered by drought.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Ow - I feel for you! But I think your lawn will recover. If you mow anything regularly it becomes grass they say. My orchard grass started off very feebly but is just now looking better, and I've done nothing to care for it at all.

Our 4 acres have had an army of workers lately - my hired girl, me 5 hours a day, and Chris when he can, and his parents too. Then, a farmer turned up and cut the grass in the field for nothing, and says he'll come back with different attachments on the tractor for the trees and the weeds, and he can dig out the spring for the animals as well. In return, I'm offering him grazing.

Then, other men have turned up and are shooting at the rabbits and the rats who have caused subsidence here and there so it really is beginning to look cared for.

I need painkillers to move these days but as Mr P knows we back sufferers smile through our tears.

The house progresses as quickly as funds permit, so not very quickly at all!

 

[Penners]

In return, I'm offering him grazing.

Be a bit careful about doing bartering deals for grazing, Joce. I can't remember all the details but there are certain circumstances under which you can find yourself saddled with a de facto agricultural lease - which is not to your advantage.

My father owned a couple of fields that he allowed a local farmer to use for grazing - the farmer gave him a duck for the oven from time to time and a turkey at Christmas. But to avoid the legal risks my father used to have a legal document signed by him and the farmer, which had to be renewed every year.

Sorry that's all a bit vague, but I can't remember any more of the minutiae. However, you may want to take legal advice about it.

 

[LadyArowana]

In return, I'm offering him grazing.

Be a bit careful about doing bartering deals for grazing, Joce. I can't remember all the details but there are certain circumstances under which you can find yourself saddled with a de facto agricultural lease - which is not to your advantage.

My father owned a couple of fields that he allowed a local farmer to use for grazing - the farmer gave him a duck for the oven from time to time and a turkey at Christmas. But to avoid the legal risks my father used to have a legal document signed by him and the farmer, which had to be renewed every year.

Sorry that's all a bit vague, but I can't remember any more of the minutiae. However, you may want to take legal advice about it.

From http://www.letlink.co.uk/letting-fa...ess-agricultural-and-mixed-use-tenancies.html

The Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 has now been superseded by the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 (ATA) which took effect on September 1 1995, although the Agricultural Holdings Act will continue to apply to agricultural lettings which commenced before this time. ATA creates a new class of "farm business tenancy" and security of tenure no longer applies to these new tenancies. But these tenancies will endure on a year-to-year basis until terminated.

That site also refers to an agreement called "tenancy at will". I would do a bit of research on the statutes and then do as Mr P suggests and have something formal drawn up, even if it doesn't change the substance of your agreement with the farmer it would give you peace of mind.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, it's only a very temporary arrangement due to this year's drought and lack of grazing, nothing formal at all - I'd imagine these animals will be slaughtered in the autumn anyhow. I want my own animals there next spring.

Thanks for looking out for me anyway! xxx

 

[Moo]

I'd imagine these animals will be slaughtered in the autumn anyhow.

My word, just goes to show how a relatively short spell of country living can turn a sweet, gentle bunny-hugger into a callous pragmatist!