# Mowing The Grass....



## Roger the Dodger

After nearly two months of rain, finally I managed to get the paddocks on the estate cut today. As it was so clear and sunny, decided to hitch the Trimax topper onto our vintage 1948 Massey Ferguson to do the job, rather than the more modern New Holland. No air con. cab or power steering on this baby! You do need arms like Arnie to turn this beast! The grass was very long due to the rain, and the old girl struggled a bit, but on a day like today who cares? God...I love my job......sometimes......!

Clear blue sky for a change....look at the length of the grass!










1948 vintage Massey Ferguson (restored) hitched to Trimax topper.




























The view from the driving seat....and a gratuitous pic of the OM just to prove it's me driving!










So...what did you do today?


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## tixntox

Ah the days of chugging along on the grey Fergie with the smell of TVO and oil fumes! :thumbup: Pure nostalgia - sore bum and a bad back! :yes:

Mike


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## Roger the Dodger

tixntox said:


> Ah the days of chugging along on the grey Fergie with the smell of TVO and oil fumes! :thumbup: Pure nostalgia - sore bum and a bad back! :yes:
> 
> Mike


Too right, Mike....but on a day like today has been....who cares!


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## BondandBigM

Roger the Dodger said:


>


 B)

Do you need an apprentice ? :lol: :lol:


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## Roger the Dodger

BondandBigM said:


> Roger the Dodger said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> B)
> 
> Do you need an apprentice ? :lol: :lol:
Click to expand...

 Only if your name is Charlie Dimmock and you regularly like to 'smuggle peanuts'... :lol:


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## Alex11

Looks terrific! What exactly is your job?


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## Roger the Dodger

I'll try again...the last attempt got wiped out by the 'glitch'...I manage a small (8 acre) estate for a local property developer. This involves looking after all of the grounds, 2 acres of which are formal, and 6 acres of paddocks. I started out in the 70s as an entomologist (insect geek) with ICI when I left school. This was followed by 10 years at the famous engineering firm and compressor makers, Compair Broomwade in the maintenance dept, looking after the lifts, overhead cranes, and foundry machinery. A move to the construction industry found me training as a site chippy, but I soon diversified into joinery and cabinet making. Finally, at the age of 44, I went back to college and retrained as a RHS horticulturalist, and found my present job which I have done for the last 14 years. It allows me to use all the skills I have learned over the last 40 years...today I was cutting grass in the glorious sunshine...tomorrow, I'm going to start the summer clear out of the formal borders...Wed..who knows?...I might get called to site to fit some skirting boards...Thursday might involve a bit of welding...Friday...I could be out on the lake, clearing weed....pretty cool eh? :yes:


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## mel

Long Grass, LONG GRASS?

Surely that's Hay Roger?

Agronomy - - one of the jobs I took the qualifications for and got sidetracked by music from. I can still look at a grass surface and pick out the bents and fescue tho' :lol: even 50 years on!

:weed:


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## Roger the Dodger

Believe me, Mel...5" is long for a topping mower...it should really only be about 2" max, or the blades struggle to clear the cuttings from under the canopy. If I'd had more time, I would have crosscut it...ie. mown it again at right angles, but there wasn't time...this was the second of two paddocks, and it took all afternoon to cut them both, once.


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## William_Wilson

God I hate cutting grass! We've been having a dry spell, so I have not really been arsed to even try lately. I have to avoid sunlight, so that leaves the evening when the bugs are out. :yucky:

Anyway, when I do need to bother, I use this 1984 baby Japanese Ford 1520. It has a 60" Bush-hog on the back. I also have a couple of John Deere residential riding mowers as well as two or three Gravely riding mowers. The smaller stuff always seems to need fuel and/or a battery when I want to use it. 



















Unfortunately, when I do need to cut, there is between 25 and 30 acres to do. 

Later,

William

Later,

William


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## William_Wilson

Roger the Dodger said:


> Believe me, Mel...5" is long for a topping mower...it should really only be about 2" max, or the blades struggle to clear the cuttings from under the canopy. If I'd had more time, I would have crosscut it...ie. mown it again at right angles, but there wasn't time...this was the second of two paddocks, and it took all afternoon to cut them both, once.


When we have normal rainfall, in a two to three week period we get three to five foot growth. Though it is true, I spread the wheat, barley and oats the chickens don't finish, everywhere. :lol:

Later,

William


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## OldHooky

The tractor reminds me of one my grandfathers had during my childhood. The picture has brought back some very fond memories.


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## Deco

William_Wilson said:


> Unfortunately, when I do need to cut, there is between 25 and 30 acres to do.
> 
> Later,
> 
> William


GET SOME COWS!


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## foztex

Nice one Roger, love the tractor.

I was in the UK this week dropping off the kids for their annual summer holiday with the grandparents. My dad helps run a shooting syndicate and they rear 3000 pheasants and 1000 partridge each year. The pheasant pens are all done but on Thursday last week I helped them build the partridge pens. I'm afraid I cant remember the make or model but we were shifting all the panels to and from the pens in this beauty. It's cracking down here but I do miss the English countryside.










Andy


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## Roger the Dodger

Another beautiful day on the estate, and this time the formal lawns are having their weekly chop. I use a Honda Pro 365 to cut the edges, but the bulk is done with the Allett 24" ride on cylinder mower.



















There's quite a bit to do!










This is a Victorian feature, and very rarely seen these days. It's called a 'Ha Ha', and the lawn and paddock beyond seem to be as one, but in reality, there is a 3 foot drop between the two. The idea was to create the illusion of one huge expanse of lawn. In the old days, livestock would have been in the field beyond, and unable to access the garden due to the height difference.

The illusion....










The reality...










The angled brackets along the top of the wall support a wire mesh barrier to stop rabbits jumping up on the lawn. (Note to self...strim the base of that wall on Monday!)


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## Roger the Dodger

Another reason for the Ha Ha...a pair of Roe deer that appeared in the paddock the other day.....if they get in the garden, they'll eat all they can find....


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## Phillionaire

Great photos there Rog. Sounds like a pretty enjoyable job overall.

There's no such thing as lawn mowing where I am. They set fire to the grass.


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## William_Wilson

Roger the Dodger said:


> Another beautiful day on the estate, and this time the formal lawns are having their weekly chop. I use a Honda Pro 365 to cut the edges, but the bulk is done with the Allett 24" ride on cylinder mower.


 All of that flat ground must make a real difference in your mowing experience. I've got hills, rocks and divots all over the place. When I do open up the throttle, it's either terrifying or what I imagine riding on a paint mixer would be like.

By the way, that open reel mower looks rather frightening in its own right.  Does the dead man's switch bar disengage the reel or kill the whole thing?

Later,

William


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## Roger the Dodger

William_Wilson said:


> By the way, that open reel mower looks rather frightening in its own right.  Does the dead man's switch bar disengage the reel or kill the whole thing?
> 
> Later,
> 
> William


 Will..the Allett is only a couple of years old...we used to have an Atco 24" which had very primitive controls...no safety features at all. This mower has two safety devices... front bar engages the cutting cylinder, and the rear bar engages the rear roller drive for propulsion...let go of either and everything stops. The trailer seat is the one off the old Atco...there was no need to buy a new one, as there was nothing wrong with it. Allett mowers are used for very fine mowing, and are frequently used for sports pitches and golf greens. If the grass gets too long, it has to be topped first with a small tractor and deck...

Ford 14HP Diesel Lawn/garden tractor...










After I showed the pics of the old Fergie with the Trimax on the back...










...and explained that this mower was for short grass only, we had to dig out the old Wessex rough cutter and put it on the Ford 1920 in order to get the paddocks down to a reasonable length for the Trimax.










Ford 1920 and Fergie together.










1920 with log splitter still attached...










As you can see, all our tractors are fitted with grass tyres to prevent tearing up the turf...those rear 1920 ones are nearly 2 feet wide!


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## William_Wilson

That Wessex deck does resemble the Bush Hog deck. What is its width? I assume it is a tri-blade.

I noticed all of the turf tyres. Where I am, the ground is so hard that when it rains turf tyres just spin. You need chains or tractor tyres. A couple of the intermediate riding mowers have ATV tyres mounted. :lol:

Later,

William


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## Roger the Dodger

It's 1.8m (6') and a tri-blade...as with your Bush Hog, the rear gauge wheels can be set for a much higher cut than the Trimax is capable of....I'll get some pics of it attached to the 1920 tomorrow. The problem with the Trimax is it has a full width roller at the front and rear of the deck, for fine finishing and striping.Because of this, it cannot clear the clippings if they are too long because there is nowhere for them to go...you can see the deck is tight to the ground...also, you cannot do sharp turns with it...you have to lift the three point linkage, or risk breaking the side arms...we used to have stabiliser bars fitted, but they snapped fairly quickly!


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## Roger the Dodger

Here you go William...this is the Wessex deck on the back of the 1920.



















In this pic, you can see that there are only some small anti scalping rollers at the front, and plenty of clearance at the back edge. There is an adjustable flap at the back to prevent to much debris being flung out. Note the height adjusting chains which will only allow the front to drop to a set height.


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## stew1982

Now that (in the OP) is a ride on lawn mower! - im going to get me one of them....................as soon as I can also afford a Garden big enough!


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## Dick Browne

Love old Fergies - when I was at school I used to work at an agricultural engineers fixing the things. Marvelous job and I wish life were still that simple


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## Roger the Dodger

The grass heap this year has grown to enormous proportions due to all the rain, so as today was a lovely sunny day, got some different machines out and dug a new hole to start filling with grass. I normally have 3 of these pits going at any one time... one filling, one rotting down and one in use...about 8 feet deep by 12 feet wide and 8 feet across. Every week, a trailer load of grass cuttings goes in, followed by a bit of backfill, or bonfire ash. One of these pits takes a year to fill, and will eventually be about 6 feet above ground level, so the depth of compost is about 14 feet. Eventually, in about 3 years time, this will be dug back out and used as compost on the garden, and the pit will be re-used.

Takeuchi mini digger and Thwaites hi tip dumper.










Hi tip dumper for loading skips.










This beats using a shovel!










Loading the dumper.










Nearly done...


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## William_Wilson

I've seen mini diggers like that with attachments for handling posts as well. Wish I had the price. Oh well, I have my dreams. :lol:

Later,

William


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## IGGULDEN

Impressive machinary and workplaces chaps. my current view is the qe2 bridge! im also pretty much stuck at my desk all the time. not great.

i used to work at a waste disposal firm in the yard, they had manitou forklifts, massive 360 diggers, hiab cranes,, loads of stuff to play with. loved that life, but the financial stuff got in the way and i had to get a 'real' job. :down:


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## PhilM

I have to say Roger, what a brilliant post, thoroughly enjoyed reading it and looking at some great photos :yes:


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## Roger the Dodger

Thanks, Phil...glad it's of interest. I didn't know if folks would be interested or bored rigid by it. I might keep it going like a blog throughout the year if others would like to see more of what goes on.


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## Javaman365

While it's not entierely on topic, it's not entirely off-topic....

Any recommendations for a Petrol mower - push or self propelled?

What do I need to know about maintenance etc?

Recommended make?


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## Roger the Dodger

Sorry, chaps...been offline for a couple of days due to my router popping its clogs on Sunday night. Javaman...do you want a striped lawn? If so, you need a mower with a rear roller, as this is what creates the stripe. If you're not bothered, then a four wheel job will suffice. How big is your lawn? Is it flat or sloping? Any bigger than 10m x 20m and I would go for self propelled (roller or 4 wheeled) As to brands, Hayter, Atco, Flymo (they do wheeled mowers as well as hovers) and Honda (top of the range, my choice, but around £1.2K for a good one with a roller...mine's a big one for pro use...you may find a smaller, cheaper one.) Go to a *decent *Garden Centre with a *decent* machinery section and be guided by the salesperson...they're specialists, and know their stuff.

Maintenance consists of sharpening the blade every so often (Remove the blade first!..I use an angle grinder or the bench grinder in the workshop), an annual oil change (oil available from where you buy the mower), and the occasional air filter change (again, from where you buy the mower) Hope this helps.


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## Javaman365

Thanks Rog, it's a start.....

Don't need a striped lawn.

As for size, difficult to judge - it's 3 portions.

Portion 1 - 3 ft by 20ft.

Portion 2 - 5 ft by 60ft.

Portion 3 - 5ft by 30 ft.

given that they are on different side of the house/seperate by footpaths and walls, and usually mowed at different times owing to differning grass types and growth rates (former point according to current gardener, latter point by the old eye-ometer), propulsion type isn't a big issue.

Could you define "decent" gardening centre? I believe there are a few alternatives near to me aside from the BIG ORANGE WAREHOUSE national chain....but are there any companies you'd recommend?


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## Roger the Dodger

Wyevale GC's are usually pretty good, but search out your local independant GC and see what they offer. Other than that, look in your Thomson Local/Yellow Pages/online for a local garden machinery specialist and try there. Husquvarna are another decent brand of mower.


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## Roger the Dodger

As the weather cleared up this afternoon, it's time to start the autumn leaf clear up. The Sycamores are always the first to go and I collected a trailer full ready to start this years leafmould heap.



















These go into my leaf composting corale to rot down over the next year and provide a lovely soil conditioner to be dug in, or used as mulch on the borders. Leafmould in itself, has no nutrient value so cannot be used as a fertilizer, as the trees extract all the goodness from the leaves before they fall, but the rotted down remains provide a brilliant soil conditioner and moisture retentive mulch. On the left, you can see last years batch, which has recently been turned, and is ready to be spread on the borders. On the right is the first trailer load of leaves, spread out and awaiting the next load. When all the leaves are collected in, this heap will reach the top of the fence, and will fill the gap between the two piles. After a year, they will rot down to the size of the heap on the left.










This is the result of a years rotting down....a lovely crumbly, sweet smelling leafmould soil conditioner/mulch.


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## Roger the Dodger

Been a long time, but finally managed to get out with the roller today and firm up the front paddock. We have driven several machines over the wet grass and made some serious ruts during the winter, and now I am going to try to smooth them out a bit....

Ford 1920 tractor, fitted with wide grass tyres to spread the load, coupled to a 2 ton roller with extra weight in the top box....










Ruts caused by forklift carrying pallets of bricks...










..and after rollering...










The grass will grow back in a few weeks.


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## Roger the Dodger

Had a good result from sowing Mistletoe berries this year...they are strange plants in that there are separate male and female versions. Here is a female plant I sowed in an apple tree about 5 years ago. As you can see, it has lots of berries.....










The male plant looks identical, but has no berries. In order to to achieve berries, you must have a male and female in close proximity. Fortunately, this female has a male growing right behind it, and of all the plants I have growing at the moment, its the only female...all the rest are male. Last year, in ApriI, I took some of the berries, and smeared them (they are horribly sticky) into the forks of some other apple trees (apple is one of their favourite hosts, along with Hawthorn and Ash), and have been rewarded with some new growth. Normally, the berries are deposited by birds, high up in the trees, and you would never get to see this, but these are young Mistletoe plants, just emerging from the host tree (Mistletoe is a parasitic plant, taking its nutrient from the host tree, but not harming it in any way).




























I hope those of you who are interested in nature will like these pics, as they are very rarely seen.


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## Roger the Dodger

As I was taking the pics of the Mistletoe, I was struck by the elegant beauty of some the Lichen growths on the tree boughs. Here are a couple of pics...


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## Roger the Dodger

...and finally , some bracket fungi growing on an old Cherry tree stump...


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## Who. Me?

I think you need to make this a regular series. The Watch Forum's Percy Thrower.

So - is now the time to roller? I levellled part of our lawn the autumn before last with spoil from our new pond, but it's pretty lumpy (looks OK but the mower bucks around all over so it won't cut). Tried rollering it again last summer but it had gone rock hard (clay soil).


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## Roger the Dodger

Who. Me? said:


> I think you need to make this a regular series. The Watch Forum's Percy Thrower.
> 
> So - is now the time to roller? I levellled part of our lawn the autumn before last with spoil from our new pond, but it's pretty lumpy (looks OK but the mower bucks around all over so it won't cut). Tried rollering it again last summer but it had gone rock hard (clay soil).


I would probably wait another month, when the frosts are coming to an end. The reason for rolling is to gently firm the ground where the frost has lifted it over the winter. It needs to be damp, but firm, and not sodden, or you will cause the opposite effect...compaction. If the roller is leaving an obvious rut, it's too wet...wait for it to dry a little. We have only done ours now because of the deep ruts caused by driving over the wet ground with a fork lift carrying pallets of bricks...if we have a lot more frosts, I will have to do it again. Also, avoid rolling, or even walking on frosty grass...it will turn black when it thaws and become weakened.


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## jasonm

Cheers Roger.... Very interesting! :yes:


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## Roger the Dodger

Who. Me? said:


> So - is now the time to roller? I levellled part of our lawn the autumn before last with spoil from our new pond, but it's pretty lumpy (looks OK but the mower bucks around all over so it won't cut). Tried rollering it again last summer but it had gone rock hard (clay soil).


 As an addendum to the above, rollering won't actually get rid of high and low spots. With bumps, all you will do is compress the soil and make it harder for the grass roots to penetrate, leading to weakened patches. Added to this, the mower will scalp the high spots, again weakening the grass, thus allowing moss to get a hold. The way to get rid of bumps and hollows is physical removal/addition of soil from under the affected area...and I've taken a few shots today to show how this is done. First, get an edging iron, or spade and cut an 'H' right over the problem area.










With a spade, lift the turf and fold it back. Aim to cut about an inch deep.










Now remove the excess soil that's making the bump, and loosen the resulting nice flat surface. If it's a hollow you're repairing, make it level with some sifted soil...ie. no stones.








Finally, fold the turf back into place, and gently firm. The cuts will disappear in a few weeks.




























Hope this helps.


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## Roger the Dodger

...and this is what I meant about the grass going black when you go on it when it's frosty....the boss drove his golf buggy on the grass a couple of days ago...now we've got two black tyre tracks starting. By the weekend these will be really dark.


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## Who. Me?

Thanks for the tips. :thumbsup:


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## Roger the Dodger

The farmer who owns the field next door to the estate was ploughing this week, and as usual, the seagulls were eager to get to the worms turned up by the plough...they must be hungry as there seemed to be more than ususal....


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## mach 0.0013137

Not a good time to be a worm 

Great photos Roger :thumbsup:


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## Roger the Dodger

Due to some building alterations at work, I had to move the Acers (Japanese Maples) to a safe place for the duration...they've just come into leaf, and I'm always astounded by the beautiful colours of the new leaves.


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## jasonm

I just bought myself a nice Acer this morning, it has deep burgundy leaves...... Love the vivid coulours..


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## Who. Me?

Do like Acers, but they can be a bit pricey. I was gutted when mine died off last spring. Dropped all its leaves in a late frost and never recovered.

I left it a year just in case, but the wood was totally dead this spring, so off it went to the firewood pile.


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## Roger the Dodger

It's been along time since I posted here, but today's project seemed worthy...the boss is having a huge extension added to his house (and when I say huge, I mean 162m2.....that's bigger than three of my houses!  ) The outlook is going to be over an existing lawn area that is hidden ATM by a 50m laurel hedge. So it's got to go. Twenty years in the growing.....just over 20 minutes in the clearing.



















Going.....










Going....










Gone....










The stumps will be pulled out with a digger tomorrow......just in case you're wondering, the chicken wire fence is an anti rabbit device....another problem I have to address.


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## jasonm

Blimey! Drastic....

( just to change the subject from the laurels , my Acer got sunburn and most of its leaves are frazzled :threaten: It will recover next year apparently and its quite common...)


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## luckywatch

What a shame, that was one nice looking hedge.


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## Roger the Dodger

luckywatch said:


> What a shame, that was one nice looking hedge.


 Don't get me started...last year, I spent nearly a day reducing the height by about a foot, and getting it all leveled up....now he wants it gone completely. :taz:


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## William_Wilson

Roger the Dodger said:


> luckywatch said:
> 
> 
> 
> What a shame, that was one nice looking hedge.
> 
> 
> 
> Don't get me started...last year, I spent nearly a day reducing the height by about a foot, and getting it all leveled up....now he wants it gone completely. :taz:
Click to expand...

 What will become of the porn?

Later,

William


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## Roger the Dodger

William_Wilson said:


> Roger the Dodger said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> luckywatch said:
> 
> 
> 
> What a shame, that was one nice looking hedge.
> 
> 
> 
> Don't get me started...last year, I spent nearly a day reducing the height by about a foot, and getting it all leveled up....now he wants it gone completely. :taz:
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What will become of the porn?
> 
> Later,
> 
> William
Click to expand...

 Unfortunately, as these are private grounds, I never did find any 'hedge porn' thrown under it. 'Hedge porn' is now a dying phenomenon due to the ease of access to internet porn. :yes: Do they still make 'Escort', 'Razzle', 'Mayfair' et al? :hmmm9uh:


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## apm101

Only just discovered this- what a great thread!

Roger- your job looks like very hard work but so rewarding! Keep these posts coming for us desk jockeys! :thumbup:


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## Silver Hawk

jasonm said:


> just to change the subject from the laurels , my Acer got sunburn and most of its leaves are frazzled :threaten: It will recover next year apparently and its quite common...


My Acer died and went back to PC World.


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## tixntox

I've just completed some "running repairs" to My Suffolk Colt. I noticed spots of dying grass on the lawn and realised that the mower was going through petrol at an alarming rate. It seems that the float needle in the carbie had worn a ridge on it and wasn't seating properly so was "dribbling" petrol onto the lawn as I was travelling. Normally, the mower would have stalled due to the richer mixture but another problem was making the mower run fast. The governor (a plastic flap controlled by the air cooling of the engine passing over it) had melted slightly on one edge, so became ineffective. Replacement needle valve and governor fitted and all is now running sweetly (and more slowly and quietly- it's amazing how you get used to something that shouldn't really be as it is!). :thumbup: Thanks for the updates on the ranch.

Mike


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## William_Wilson

Silver Hawk said:


> jasonm said:
> 
> 
> 
> just to change the subject from the laurels , my Acer got sunburn and most of its leaves are frazzled :threaten: It will recover next year apparently and its quite common...
> 
> 
> 
> My Acer died and went back to PC World.
Click to expand...

 :thumbup:

Later,

William


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## Roger the Dodger

Some 'extreme' gardening today! The Guv'nor decided he wants a new border so that when the house extension is built, he can look out on some colour. Size? Just a mere 3m wide by 25m long. No shovels and spades here...this calls for some heavy duty gear!

Here's the new border marked out...first, the turf has to be lifted.










Here's my 'spade'...



















The first load ready for the compost heap...










...and an hour later...stripped and ready for digging.










...but that's for another day....I'll keep you posted.


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## Stuno1

Must be nice being out and about. I'm couped up in a office all day :0(

Get to work from home though so not too bad I guess.


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## Who. Me?

Roger the Dodger said:


>


 Can't believe I'm jealous of dirt, but I wish it looked like that under my lawn.

I've got glacial clay with limestone boulders in it - claggy when it rains, like concrete in summer and you have to break the rocks up before you can go near it with a shovel.


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## Roger the Dodger

...continuing with the new border, the whole thing was dug over a couple of days later...to loosen the soil...again with a machine. This is virgin soil and never been touched before...a rotovator would only have dug about 10" deep. The Takeuchi can get deeper, especially with a narrow trenching bucket fitted. If this had been a small area, I would have used a method called double digging, where the topsoil is removed to a spades depth, (spit) then the subsoil is turned over to the same depth with well rotted compost added, before replacing the topsoil. It's backbreaking work and is also known as 'bastard trenching'.










The whole border was dug over, then graded level.










Next, it was time to add some compost.You might remember in a previous thread I showed a deep pit being dug to take all our grass clippings and other garden waste. This is one of those pits after about 4 years of rotting down....lovely dark crumbly compost.










This was tipped onto the newly graded surface to be levelled at a depth of around 8". I used around 5 tons.










...and after levelling...










Finally, the edges were cut with an edging iron to straighten everything up. This will be planted up soon, and there is also a new rockery on the way. I already have several large pallets of Westmorland stone to do this. I'll post more pics as the work progresses.


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## BondandBigM

Roger the Dodger said:


> Some 'extreme' gardening today!
> 
> Here's my 'spade'...


 I want one of those, will you take a Golf GTI in part ex

:lol: :lol:


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## Roger the Dodger

Today, I started grading and levelling the old border, ready for turfing. The plants were removed from here and put in the new border I made in the last post...you can see that to the left of the dumper in the first pic.

Here's the old border with all the plants removed, and the first grading pass made with the digger. You can see that the digger has a wide grading bucket fitted...this, with the bulldozer blade will do the work.










A few hours and a lot of raking later, and the area is nearly ready for turf, but this won't be laid until the weather gets a bit less warm.










We're going to create a rockery at the top end to act as a focal point in the long border...to do this I'm using nearly 5 tons of Westmorland stone which came from another project...lucky really, as you can't get hold of this rock anymore...the limestone pavements are now protected....but it does make the best rockery!










Unfortunately, where this has been stored under some trees for the last few years, it's got a covering of green algae all over it...this wasn't apparent until it got wet from the sprinkler...tomorrow, I'll have to jet wash it to clean it off.










I'll post some more pics as the project progresses.


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## Roger the Dodger

Started on the new rock garden today....first job was to jet wash the algae off the rocks...



















Now that the stones are clean, it's time to mark out the area...



















What I want to achieve is the look of an outcrop of rock emerging from the ground. At all times, I'm trying to avoid it looking like a 'currant bun'....ie. a heap of earth with a few stones randomly dotted about the surface...or even worse, the'dog's grave'...a couple of flat stones and maybe one upright one....the staple of many so called rock gardens!  I'm limited by space, and the amount of rock I have, but I'll try my best. This will be a semi-circular shape, in order to blend in with the existing garden. The first row of rocks go in...each one tilting backwards to look as though it is emerging from the soil. As the circle goes back on each side, the rocks are buried deeper to create the effect.










The second layer is added....all of these rocks are placed with the digger...this one is nearly 3 cwt! I decided to create a step in this layer to break up the concentric circle effect...this meant I could then make two different levels either side of the step to give an asymmetric feel to the outcrop.


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Several hours later, and I'm happy with the effect...I know a semi-circular outcrop probably wouldn't appear in nature, but given the space I had to work with, I don't think it looks too bad...the Boss is pleased with it anyway....  Here are the stones emerging from the ground...




























Here's the 'step' that breaks up the shape...



















This will be planted up during the next few months, and should come into its own next Spring.


----------



## William_Wilson

It will be interesting to see what happens as the soil settles. I might have been tempted to use concrete blocks beneath soil as a foundation for the terracing.

Later,

William


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Good point, William, and had it been a different soil...clay for instance...the rocks would have been bedded on a dry, lean mix (say 1 part cement to 8 parts ballast)...but I have two things working in my favour...the soil here is very sandy, and tends not to move...like laying block paviours on a bed of sharp sand. Secondly...these were very big pieces of rock with large footprints...they ain't going anywhere! Incidentally, I had a sprinkler running over it for a few hours just to see if there would be any movement....it hasn't sunk or moved.....yet! :sweatdrop:


----------



## luckywatch

Fascinating to watch. Looks like you done a really professional job. :yes:


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Some time ago, I posted some pics of lichens that I found growing on an apple tree....Lichens are an alga and a fungus living together in a symbiotic relationship...ie. they grow together for mutual benefit, but are not parasitic on the host.



















The other day, while pruning a Hawthorn bush, I came across another type...aptly called a Stag's Horn lichen. Not often seen, and strangely lovely...


----------



## Roger the Dodger

On the gardening front, not much can be done at the moment due to the rain and subsequent flooding......

The Ha Ha with 12" of water at its base...










The pond overflowing its banks...










The borders underwater...



















The only job I have been able to start (and this was before Christmas....nothing done since) is reducing the height of a long Hawthorn hedge by 12" as it was becoming unmanageable.










...still a way to go...










Hopefully, I'll have more to show as the Spring approaches, and we commence the development of the new border created last year.


----------



## William_Wilson

Roger, those pictures suck!

They just remind me that we have snow arranged into numerous 12 foot tall piles. 

Later,

William


----------



## Cleisthenes

Your job looks fantastic! I'd love to have a job like that/own a house/estate like that!


----------



## Roger the Dodger

A little teaser for the dedicated followers of this thread........I've got a couple of new toys to play with......one brand new, and one second hand.......I'll keep you waiting for a week to see if you can guess what they are......


----------



## William_Wilson

A large tractor mounted tree trimmer and a sod cutter.

Later,

William


----------



## Roger the Dodger

William_Wilson said:


> A large tractor mounted tree trimmer and a sod cutter.
> 
> Later,
> 
> William


Errrr.....no, Will! :lol:


----------



## William_Wilson

Aw c'mon... These things are awesome:










Later,

William


----------



## Roger the Dodger

William_Wilson said:


> Aw c'mon... These things are awesome:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Later,
> 
> William


Must admit, that is a pretty awesome piece of kit, Will.....I'm guessing that it can trim both sides and the top of a hedge/bush (the width of the vertical cutters is obviously adjustable, as is the height of the lateral cutter) in one pass....?


----------



## William_Wilson

Yes, pretty much one size fits all. There are many versions in use over here by landscapers. Last year, the town had contractors trim back the trees along the the ditches. The one they were using cut to approximately 15 feet high and dropped the cuttings into a chipper.

Later,

William


----------



## no8yogi

I've lurked this thread for ages just thought I would say I love it! Is it some sort of chipper? Or pumping equipment?


----------



## Mutley

Roger the Dodger said:


> A little teaser for the dedicated followers of this thread........I've got a couple of new toys to play with......one brand new, and one second hand.......I'll keep you waiting for a week to see if you can guess what they are......


Bucking bronco neck massager with additional simulation attachment


----------



## William_Wilson

Mutley said:


> Roger the Dodger said:
> 
> 
> 
> A little teaser for the dedicated followers of this thread........I've got a couple of new toys to play with......one brand new, and one second hand.......I'll keep you waiting for a week to see if you can guess what they are......
> 
> 
> 
> Bucking bronco neck massager with additional simulation attachment
Click to expand...

Maybe it is one of those two pronged ones. 

Later,

William


----------



## Who. Me?

William_Wilson said:


> Yes, pretty much one size fits all. There are many versions in use over here by landscapers. Last year, the town had contractors trim back the trees along the the ditches. The one they were using cut to approximately 15 feet high and dropped the cuttings into a chipper.
> 
> Later,
> 
> William


Not quote so civilised round here - they use flail cutters on jib arms to whack back the hedges. Does a great job of keeping the hedges in check, but you don't want to be stuck behind one - the fallout is viscious.


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Who. Me? said:


> William_Wilson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, pretty much one size fits all. There are many versions in use over here by landscapers. Last year, the town had contractors trim back the trees along the the ditches. The one they were using cut to approximately 15 feet high and dropped the cuttings into a chipper.
> 
> Later,
> 
> William
> 
> 
> 
> Not quote so civilised round here - they use flail cutters on jib arms to whack back the hedges. Does a great job of keeping the hedges in check, but you don't want to be stuck behind one - the fallout is viscious.
Click to expand...

Totally agree, Andy....flails are OK if the owner (usually the council or a farmer) have bothered to sharpen the flail blades....pieces of right angled steel on the ends of short chains....if they're sharp, they do a fairly decent job. But if they're blunt, they literally smash the twigs and branches off, leaving the hedge looking a total mess with split and frayed ends...and as you rightly say, dangerous to be stuck behind. The blades get blunted very quickly when the flail is used for its other purpose...that of 'mowing' roadside verges to keep the sight lines clear. The amount of stones, discarded cans and other detritus buried in the grass soon wrecks the blades.

This a pretty common sight here in the UK during the summer....a flail in action 'cutting' a roadside hedge.










This, for the uninitiated, is what's underneath that flail head...rows of angled cutters on short chain links, attached to a shaft that spins at high speed. The cutters are flung outwards by centrifugal force to acheive the cutting action.










...and these are individual cutters...the wide edge is supposed to be kept sharp, but usually isn't, resulting in hedges that look as though they've been raped.


----------



## Roger the Dodger

no8yogi said:


> I've lurked this thread for ages just thought I would say I love it! Is it some sort of chipper? Or pumping equipment?





Mutley said:


> Roger the Dodger said:
> 
> 
> 
> A little teaser for the dedicated followers of this thread........I've got a couple of new toys to play with......one brand new, and one second hand.......I'll keep you waiting for a week to see if you can guess what they are......
> 
> 
> 
> Bucking bronco neck massager with additional simulation attachment
Click to expand...




William_Wilson said:


> Mutley said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Roger the Dodger said:
> 
> 
> 
> A little teaser for the dedicated followers of this thread........I've got a couple of new toys to play with......one brand new, and one second hand.......I'll keep you waiting for a week to see if you can guess what they are......
> 
> 
> 
> Bucking bronco neck massager with additional simulation attachment
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Maybe it is one of those two pronged ones.
> 
> Later,
> 
> William
Click to expand...

Some pretty imaginative suggestions there, but sadly all wrong....though I would like the neck massager! :yes:


----------



## William_Wilson

Roger the Dodger said:


> Some pretty imaginative suggestions there, but sadly all wrong....though I would like the neck massager! :yes:


Over here, the term "neck massager" is used as code for "naughty bits" massager on some TV adverts. :wink2:

Later,

William


----------



## William_Wilson

Roger the Dodger said:


> Who. Me? said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> William_Wilson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, pretty much one size fits all. There are many versions in use over here by landscapers. Last year, the town had contractors trim back the trees along the the ditches. The one they were using cut to approximately 15 feet high and dropped the cuttings into a chipper.
> 
> Later,
> 
> William
> 
> 
> 
> Not quote so civilised round here - they use flail cutters on jib arms to whack back the hedges. Does a great job of keeping the hedges in check, but you don't want to be stuck behind one - the fallout is viscious.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Totally agree, Andy....flails are OK if the owner (usually the council or a farmer) have bothered to sharpen the flail blades....pieces of right angled steel on the ends of short chains....if they're sharp, they do a fairly decent job. But if they're blunt, they literally smash the twigs and branches off, leaving the hedge looking a total mess with split and frayed ends...and as you rightly say, dangerous to be stuck behind. The blades get blunted very quickly when the flail is used for its other purpose...that of 'mowing' roadside verges to keep the sight lines clear. The amount of stones, discarded cans and other detritus buried in the grass soon wrecks the blades.
> 
> This a pretty common sight here in the UK during the summer....a flail in action 'cutting' a roadside hedge.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This, for the uninitiated, is what's underneath that flail head...rows of angled cutters on short chain links, attached to a shaft that spins at high speed. The cutters are flung outwards by centrifugal force to acheive the cutting action.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...and these are individual cutters...the wide edge is supposed to be kept sharp, but usually isn't, resulting in hedges that look as though they've been raped.
Click to expand...

We see that in North America as well, but due to the litigious nature of the U.S., less potentially dangerous options are preferred by manufacturers.

Later,

William


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Tomorrow, I'll reveal all...........


----------



## BondandBigM

I've just moved and inherited a dreaded 6' hedge out front which apparently I'm responsible for. Any good ideas to kill it off before I have to go and buy a set hedge trimmers and fall off ladders twice a month. Or can I rent you tractor and implements.

:lol: :lol:


----------



## Roger the Dodger

BondandBigM said:


> I've just moved and inherited a dreaded 6' hedge out front which apparently I'm responsible for. Any good ideas to kill it off before I have to go and buy a set hedge trimmers and fall off ladders twice a month. Or can I rent you tractor and implements.
> 
> :lol: :lol:


 I'll refer you to these pics taken last summer.... the guv'nor wanted this laurel hedge removed....about 5' high.

This is my method....pretty extreme, but quick if you have access to the kit involved.

The hedge...a 5-6' Laurel.










The first bit of kit required....a small chainsaw....










20 mins later....










This is what you have to get rid of.....we burnt this lot....if you're not allowed to burn in your area, you'll have to take it to the tip.










To remove the stumps, you'll want one of these.....










Better still...get a tree surgeon to come and do the job, and you can just look out the window with a Jaeger Bomb in your hand and no energy expended apart from a couple of hundred quid :laughing2dw: .


----------



## Roger the Dodger

New toys....as promised. A new 'shovel'......a lovely Hitachi 8 ton digger....with an 8 metre reach!



















We'll be able to dig some big holes with this baby...



















The view from the cab...



















In the last pics you can see that we have a grading bucket attached, but we also have three different sized digging buckets as well.


----------



## Roger the Dodger

The second piece of new (well...secondhand) kit is a medium sized New Holland (Ford) tractor. This sits nicely between our small Ford LGT and the full sized Ford 1920 farm tractor. Its fitted with turf tyres as are all our tractors, and comes with all the usual refinements...Three point linkage, rear PTO, hydraulic PTO (for tipping trailers etc). The unique thing about this tractor is that it has a swinging front axle. As you turn the sreering wheel, not only do the wheels turn, but the axle turns as well allowing the front wheels to turn to nealy 90o. This allows the tractor to turn in virtually its own length....very handy when reversing trailers!



















Three point linkage (with quick hitch attached) rear PTO and hydraulic PTO spool valves.










Controls for 4 and 2 wheel drive, high, medium and low ratio gears, hydraulc PTO...










The front wheels and the swinging axle...in the first pic you can see how the axle has turned as well as the wheels.

.


----------



## William_Wilson

Roger the Dodger said:


> New toys....as promised. A new 'shovel'......a lovely Hitachi 8 ton digger....with an 8 metre reach!
> 
> A teaser...


 God, I wish I had one of those diggers.

I guess in a way, it is for ultimate hedge trimming. 

Later,

William


----------



## no8yogi

I had equipment fail on me today!



Untitled by jorritschrauwers, on Flickr



Untitled by jorritschrauwers, on Flickr

not good! the moss has got its own back!!!

The good thing is I get to go to the garden centre and purchase a new one!

I went for one that looked a bit sturdier and so far I am well pleased



Untitled by jorritschrauwers, on Flickr


----------



## Lynn0916

Fresh Air and Beautiful Scenery.


----------



## Roger the Dodger

By the side of the pond at work...


----------



## Roger the Dodger

It's been a while since I posted an update of the extention at work. Progress continues on the building, though it's all inside work now as all the fixtures and fittings are installed. Now that the big push on the building side has finished, I have been able to get back out into the gardens to design and plant new beds and borders. The first bit of planting was started last week, with approx. 220 Box bushes to create low, formal border edges. This will be followed by the larger specimen shrubs later this week. I think I'll be planting Box in my sleep! All of our plants are sourced from a large wholesale nursery called 'Plants Limited' in Chobham, Surrey. They also supply us with all the plants used on our sites.

Box (Buxus sempervirens 'microphylla') bushes laid out ready for planting. The ground to the left still has to be cleared, topsoil added, graded and sown with grass seed.










Here, the Box has been planted, and the ground prepared and seeded as above.










In these two shots, the Box has been trimmed to begin its training into neat, dwarf hedges.



















A couple more beds...this existing Apple tree was left in situ and the new patio built around it. It was finally edged with Box.










Two new beds, created to help break up the enormous expanse of Indian Sandstone patio...Photinia x fraserii 'Red Robin' surrounded by Box.










Will add more as the work progresses...


----------



## William_Wilson

How are you going to control growth between the paving stones/patio slabs?

Later,

William


----------



## Roger the Dodger

William_Wilson said:


> How are you going to control growth between the paving stones/patio slabs?
> 
> Later,
> 
> William


 Good question, Will....the ground workers prepared the base sustrate, which was a 9" layer of scalpings, (in the UK, 'Scalpings is a compactable mixture of stones and clay, usually pink in colour) graded and tamped with a vibrating plate 'Whacker' and then covered with a geotextile membrane (a very tough, woven and therefore permeabe to water fabric that resists root penetration) The Geotextile is then covered with sharp sand, which is graded to the levels requierd, before being covered with the slabs. These are laid on a fairly dry mix of sharp sand and cement, tamped level, then pointed with a resin based grout. This is (supposedly) guaranteed to prevent weed growth and root penetration between the slabs. As a seasoned landscaper, I'll be interested to see if it prevents said weed growth, but more importantly, root penetration or upheaval.....


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Going back to last year, do you remember the rockery being laid?




























Well...we're nearly a year on, and the rockery is starting to become established. Luckily, during the worst winter rain and flooding, the stones stayed put, just as I thought (hoped!) they would due to our really sandy soil. This year has seen the planting of some perennial Campanulas, the small, blue bell shaped fflowers, which will develop year on year, and some really brightly coloured annuals to give an instant burst of euphoria amonst the stones. The really bright, daisy like ones are Mesembryanthemums , or Livingstone Daisies to give them their common name. Also here are Welsh Poppies, Pelargoniums, and Coreopsis. There's still a lot of bare earth, and a lot more to be planted, but it's been a busy year and I haven't been able (allowed) to do as much in the garden as I would've liked.


----------



## Roger the Dodger




----------



## Roger the Dodger

Sorry Guys....it's been a long time since I updated this thread, but due to a real big push to get the new extention at work finished, things have been a bit hectic. Today, I finished installing the new auto watering system. We have had auto watering for years, but the new build meant more had to be added. This involved three new systems, as follows....

New borders need watering daily to get the plans to establish.....on this scale, I can't spend the time standing around with a hose, watering each bed individually. So we go auto. In the UK, there are a lot of auto systems around....mostly 'Hoselock'.....the most expensive if you dare try it. Luckily, being in the trade, I have access to much more affordable stuff. In the garden centre, two 16mm elbows ...Â£4.99.....from my supplier 16p each!....Garden Centre price for 25m 16mm delivery pipe Â£30......my wholesaler..100m for the same price.....

Anyway enough of that....here's what I've been doing in the last few days....

Have had to put in a couple of new auto systems....these are the new timers...you might also notice that I have put the PRV (pressure reducing valve) above the timer. Most suppliiers will show the PRV below the timer. I put mine above the timer so that it isn't under constant full mains pressure, as I have found in the past that the timer can burst if submitted to constant mains pressure. The reason for a pressure reducer in the system (either before or after the timer) is that all the pipework after the timer is 'push fit', and anything above, say, 1bar will blow it apart. These are Pro PRVs, and are fully adjustable (about Â£11 from the wholesaler), not the non adjustable ones from Hoselock.



















These are very simple timers...no frills or digital displays, just around 15 pre-programmed cycles to accomade every need. Don't be fooled by the 'high tech' digital versions....they do the same , but in a very complicated way...ie. you have to programme them yourself. At the end of the day, all you want it to do is to switch on and off for a set period.

Drilling through a wall to take the 16mm delivery pipe.










The spray heads in action...these are 180o heads...so they only spray sideways and forwards.....and there are individual drippers for specific plants...


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Today, after nearly 7 months, I finally got back to the walled garden and rose arch. The last time I was here was when I planted some potatoes (Alfred Barnet 'Red Roosters') back in March. As you will see from the first couple of pics, this is what happens when you don't (or in my case, can't) keep on top of things. The first job was to give the dwarf Lavender its annual trim. The gravel path was hoed and raked, and then the potatoes were dug up and put into storage for later use in the kitchen. Finally, the garden was dug over, raked and is now neat and tidy, ready for the onset of Autumn.

7 months of neglect...the Lavender needs trimming, and the path is full of weeds.










The walled border is full of Nettles, Chickweed, Bindweed and the old, dead stems of some Cardoons that were growing against the wall...










Digging the potatoes...










Several hours later,and the Rose arch path has had the Lavender trimmed and the weeds removed. The gravel has been raked smooth.










The walled garden beds have been dug and raked, and all the dead material removed. The plants in the protective arch are strawberries...the arch prevents deer and rabbits eating them.


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Today, the Boss wanted me to re-insall the lead cistern in the courtyard area. This involved building a plinth to stand it on that matches the front door step. The plinth was duly built, the (genuine) cast iron pump was installed behind the cistern, and every thing levelled up correctly. The lead cistern needs a forklift to manouvre into place as it's so heavy. A few plants were added to mask the pump pipes. Flick the switch and the pump pours into the cistern.



















Next thing I know.....he wants a pergola over it.....a few hours later and a fair bit of carpentry....Well I think it looks OK.....A few bits of scrap timber and a few screws later...




























What do you think?.....he's still not happy......


----------



## dobra

Just started reading/looking at your interesting log Roger - excellent, please keep going. :thumbup:

Suggestion - take the Boss down to the pub for a pie and a pint plus an A4 pad, so he can sketch and sup???

Mike


----------



## Davey P

I think Roger's definition of "scrap timber" is a bit different to the rest of us..... :lol:


----------



## William_Wilson

Davey P said:


> I think Roger's definition of "scrap timber" is a bit different to the rest of us..... :lol:


Roger's boss appears to possess a penchant for renovation similar to that of the late nineteenth century's leisure class.









Later,

William


----------



## luckywatch

I too love reading this thread Rodger but that Pergola doesn't look right for my taste. Maybe it's the trellis or maybe it wants some black/slate grey stain.

Some tubs might help with something growing around it to help soften it.

Cheers Scott.


----------



## Roger the Dodger

It's been moved to another part of the garden now, and will undergo some alterations when I go back to work next week....I'm on holiday this week.


----------



## Who. Me?

Is it genuine? My brother in law used to be a buyer for an architectural antiques company and I helped out there for a couple of summers. Moved a few lead cisterns and they all had white, powdery oxidisation on them.

Never saw one that looked that clean or that dark. Maybe it could do with a bit of 'ageing'.


----------



## Roger the Dodger

AFAIK it's the real deal...it stood out in the paddock for the last 18 months, then it was jet washed and lead patination oil applied. (Patination oil is applied to lead to make it look shiny, and prevent the white carbonation forming and staining surrounding areas)


----------



## Who. Me?

Maybe that's why it doesn't look right to your boss, although he doesn't recognise the problem? It looks too new because all the patina that shows its true age is missing. I reckon of it was aged again it wouldn't stand out as much. The splashback is aging nicely.


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Who. Me? said:


> Maybe that's why it doesn't look right to your boss, although he doesn't recognise the problem? It looks too new because all the patina that shows its true age is missing. I reckon of it was aged again it wouldn't stand out as much. The splashback is aging nicely.


Yes...and that's where you can see the difference....I cut the splashback out of an old sheet of lead that came off the roof during the renovations...it's still showing the signs of white carbonation. I only made this recently to stop the water from the pump splashing the wall behind. It works well, but it won't be long before it gets cleaned up to match the rest.


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Having a tidy up today, I came across a couple of hibernating butterflies. I had to move them carefully to another cool, dark location, as we needed to work in the area where they were. They transferred OK, but before I put this fellow back, just had to have a shot or two...It's a Peacock, with a small piece missing from its right fore and hind wing, and if you look closely, you can see some fragments of spiders web adhereing to the edge of its right fore wing. When the first warm days of Spring arrive, it'll be out looking for a mate.

[IMG alt="Peacock butterfly." data-ratio="75.00"]https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/forumgallery/monthly_2020_04/large.011_zps5ioymkia.jpg.c3762f8ebb2ce3bdebd86cd577267d54.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG alt="Peacock butterfly." data-ratio="75.00"]https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/forumgallery/monthly_2020_04/large.010_zpsm6uhp50x.jpg.5c1e5c572867442f6c3d62f63957521d.jpg[/IMG]


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Bit chilly this morning...decided I needed to warm up a bit....


----------



## luckywatch

That reminds me I need another sacrifice....................... :yes:


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Going to try and revive this thread. Pollarding some small Willows tomorrow...will get some new pics up.


----------



## Roger the Dodger

So today I did a bit of pollarding. This is pruning a vigorous tree to keep it small and under control. Pollarding is done at the top of the trunk, whereas coppicing is done at ground level. Both techniques make the tree produce nice sturdy shoots. Coppicing is usually done to Hazels to produce the straight sticks for hurdle making and hedge laying. Willows can be coppiced and pollarded to provide the wands for basket making and other uses.

These small trunks are supporting one years growth....they grow very rapidly.


















Tools for the job...a bit of overkill, but gets it done quickly.

















The finished look. In a few weeks, new shoots will sprout all around the cut surfaces. Most will be rubbed away, just leaving the outward pointing ones, so the tree assumes a 'wine goblet' shape...as in the first pic.


----------



## Alexus

Excellent thread.....a very interesting journey......hope it keeps going..


----------



## mel

Rog, could you pop up to Edinburgh and trim my Wasingtonia Palm Trees? :yes:

Lovely piccies of the Flutterbyes, brightened up my day that did!


----------



## hughlle

Roger the Dodger said:


> So today I did a bit of pollarding. This is pruning a vigorous tree to keep it small and under control. Pollarding is done at the top of the trunk, whereas coppicing is done at ground level. Both techniques make the tree produce nice sturdy shoots. Coppicing is usually done to Hazels to produce the straight sticks for hurdle making and hedge laying. Willows can be coppiced and pollarded to provide the wands for basket making and other uses.
> 
> These small trunks are supporting one years growth....they grow very rapidly.


 Sounds like topping


----------



## Roger the Dodger

hughlle said:


> Sounds like topping


 A very 'vulgar' term to the 'highly trained' horticulturist, Hugh.........'how very dare you'........










:laugh: :laugh:


----------



## hughlle

Better than a FIM  that is how I dare! REBEL SPIRIT!

I love that the picture you've posted has trees in the background trimmed in just such a manner :laugh:


----------



## Roger the Dodger

hughlle said:


> Better than a FIM  that is how I dare! REBEL SPIRIT!
> 
> I love that the picture you've posted has trees in the background trimmed in just such a manner :laugh:


 Read the whole thread, Hugh...you may like it, realise why I feel so priviledged to be able to do it, and see why the others like it too.....way different to a 'desk drivers' job.... :yes:


----------



## hughlle

And very different to my homegrown experience. My brain is telling me you are an estate manager or groundskeeper?

I'll get around to reading it all at some point. Just up my alley. A complete tangent, but I love anysing my attitudes over time. Funny how people quite literally come full circle. I grew up in the garden and fields, rapidly changed to desiring everything technology could offer, and recently have come back around to wanting to be outside working with my hands, and shunning most modern technology because it is beyond useful or of acceptable convenience. Now the idea of being a ghillie is like a world's best job concept.

And I read some of the thread. Enough to see you burning my winter supply of packing pallets  I collect them from the high street vendors to put in the wood burner to dry my laundry. This past year it's been nothing but the blue painted ones. Paint and fire is no fun.


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## Roger the Dodger

hughlle said:


> And very different to my homegrown experience. My brain is telling me you are an estate manager or groundskeeper?
> 
> I'll get around to reading it all at some point. Just up my alley. A complete tangent, but I love anysing my attitudes over time. Funny how people quite literally come full circle. I grew up in the garden and fields, rapidly changed to desiring everything technology could offer, and recently have come back around to wanting to be outside working with my hands, and shunning most modern technology because it is beyond useful or of acceptable convenience. Now the idea of being a ghillie is like a world's best job concept


 Thank you for that nice reply, Hugh. I have worked in a lot of fields (not those sort......yet) since I started out, My parents always wanted an academic future for me , but I always knew where my heart wanted to be. I started work (at 17) at the great ICI...at Jealotts Hill research station, speciallising in entomology (study of insects) and that's where my first qualifications came from (HNC in entomology, and biology). However, research work is very boring, and I wanted to do something different, but 'hands on'. My father-in-law was forman of the maintenance dept at the great British firm of Compair Broomwade, compressor manufacturers. At one time, every portable compressor driving the pneumatic drills doing road works was one of theirs. Here I learnt engineering, machining, welding. Then I moved into the building industry and trained as a carpenter. Then I had a serious car accident that kept me out of work for 2 years. During that time, I learnt wood turning and became very competent at it. But years later in my 40s, I finally decided to do what I'd always wanted to do and re-train as a horticulturalist. So I went to my local horticulture college, BCA (Berkshire College of Agriculture) and trained for 4 years (part time) to gain my 'Dip Hort' from the RHS. As you quite rightly percieve, I am now the estate manager on a small country estate in Berkshire. Not only do I get to look after the grounds and formal gardens in a horicultural sense, but I also, and do, use all the other skills I have gleaned along the way in the maintenance and upkeep of the 'big house'...so none of my time has been wasted.

This is why I believe that 'Mowing the Grass' is so popular. It's such a different thing to what most people do. I'm so lucky to be able to see all of nature every day, yet keep all the other skills that I've learnt along the way alive. Two years ago, I went back to BCA to learn the art of 'hedge laying' ..still to be used on the estate, but another string to the bow.....never give up learning if the opportunity arises..... :yes:


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## Roger the Dodger

hughlle said:


> This past year it's been nothing but the blue painted ones. Paint and fire is no fun.


 We get loads of them come back from the building sites we develop...bricks, blocks everything come on pallets, but no-one wants them back...it's un-economical to skip them, so we burn 'em. Wait till you get some of the pink painted ones....they're fireproof.......you chuck them on the fire and they go 'Yeah...we're gonna turn black, but we ain't gonna burn, muthaf'kr'....and they're still there an hour later, flicking the finger at you....but they do burn eventually...you just have to persevere. :laugh:


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## BondandBigM

Roger the Dodger said:


> We get loads of them come back from the building sites we develop...bricks, blocks everything come on pallets, but no-one wants them back...it's un-economical to skip them, so we burn 'em. Wait till you get some of the pink painted ones....they're fireproof.......you chuck them on the fire and they go 'Yeah...we're gonna turn black, but we ain't gonna burn, muthaf'kr'....and they're still there an hour later, flicking the finger at you....but they do burn eventually...you just have to persevere. :laugh:


 Send them to me, there's a yard down the road that recycles them and gives a couple of quid if they are in decent nick.

:laugh: :laugh:


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## Stan

Jesus H palomino. :laugh:

I have no desire to offend the Religious, just the self destructive individual. :wink:


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## Bob Sheruncle

Roger, serious question, and I'm genuinely puzzled, can you help me to understand pollarding please.

You have just pollarded trees that were pollarded last year (I'm assuming). What is the point of it? Will the tree never by allowed to grow for more than a year?

Help! :laugh:


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## mel

My limited knowledge of pollarding ( I have a qualification in Agronomy - - that's grass to most folks) includes the fact that pollarding and coppice work is used to help produce continuing yearly ['or so'] "crops" of material for basket weaving, woven fences and the likes. In a sense, it's the same as pruning a rose bush, or an apple tree to train/force the plant to prduce more of what you want, i.e. roses or apples rather than just grow like Topsy. :yes:

I have no doubt Rog will have a better technical description of things, that's how it was explained to me - - - Ooooh! 40 odd years ago. The plant, tree or shrub thinks it's under attack and puts out buds and more shoots in order to survive!


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## Roger the Dodger

Hi, Bob...I'll try to explain....Some trees....especially willows and hazels (as they are very fast growing) were found to be so useful in providing the raw materials for a never ending market for baskets, coffins, eel traps (willow) and hurdles, wattle and daub, walking sticks, thatching spars, and charcoal (hazel) that over the years various methods of producing young, straight, shoots were sought. Rather than plant, then fell a tree after the useful parts had been used, it was discovered that you could divest a young tree of its last years, or even older branches, and the resulting stump/trunk would then provide you with a further supply without the need for re-planting. Hazels are usually coppiced on a 7 year rotation (coppicing is done at ground level, and the operator will usually have a licence to operate in the area that he works) Pollarding is a method of producing a nicely shaped tree from a very vigorous species. It was also done at height to prevent rabbits or deer eating the the young shoots at ground level. Willow, if left to its own devices, will eventually produce a tall, straggly tree that has no shape or charisma at all. By annually pollarding, the sturdy trunk will always produce a lovely shaped tree, and an abundance of straight wands that can be harvested. The rest will remain until it's pollarded in the next year. I don't have any pics of an un pollarded willow against a pollarded one, but I will by tomorrow, and then you will see the difference.

Great question...and thanks for wanting to know.


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## hughlle

Great post Roger. My experience is in a slightly different context, however from my observations, pollarding seems like something that many tree surgeons etc often completely fail at. Just a year or two ago the church opposite our house (the one from hot fuzz) decided to have all of the trees pollarded (they were about 15m tall, chopped them down to about 5m "stumps". Someone cocked up and one moment we have a beautiful church yard, the next a bunch of ugly stumps, and before we knew it they had just chopped every tree down. I've seen this on numerous occasions.


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## Roger the Dodger

Great reply, Hugh...the one problem with pollarding is that the tree will always try to make amends by producing lots of 'adventicious' shoots from around the cut stump. Trees...and other plants have this ability to produce new growth from the cells nearest to the trauma. (Pity us 'poor' mammals can't do that in cases of amputation!) Usually, there will be new growth all around the cut surface, and if the unwanted ones aren't removed, then you get the 'Witches broom' effect. When pruning any tree or shrub, the shape you are looking for is a nice, open wine glass shape. So all shoots/buds that are facing inwards are rubbed away...only the outward facing buds are allowed to remain...and even these will be reviewed later and the weak or crossing ones removed. Sadly, when pollarding is done at a high level, the tree surgeons are highly unlikely to return to perform this task, and so each stump begins to look like a besom (witches broom)

As those pollards that I have just done begin to produce shoots, I will show you what has to be done to make it work in my favour....in the plant world you have make the plants do what you want them to do, not the other way round....

.....you can't wait...can you....... :laugh:


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## hughlle

and a great reply from you as well. Ive only experience with, ah, house plants, not trees. Im just sat finding the terms used really interesting compared to those used by potted plant growers. Makes me think/realise that in certain contexts, people seem to be using alternative terms, such as topping, FIMming, mainlining, supercropping etc almost as an attempt to try and make their past time seem more unique, an attempt to try and detract from the fact that they are not wizards, rather they are nothing more than gardeners. Same goes for the strict adherence to NPK ratios, ph, water temps. Sure such things have a role to play, but i feel that real horticulture, the kind you speak of, is just an honest art, while these other contexts, well they're just trying to make it a science to somehow increase their feeling of worth or expertise.

Alas with the trees in the churchyard, it wasn't a case of no tree surgeon following up on their work later on, every single one just died so had to be chopped down. Very sad.


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## Roger the Dodger

Wikipedia is your friend here....just google adventiousness........and enjoy the ride! :laugh:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventitiousness


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## xellos99

hughlle said:


> Enough to see you burning my winter supply of packing pallets  I collect them from the high street vendors to put in the wood burner to dry my laundry.


 Not in your living space I hope. Those pallets are usually dipped in a substance that's poison smoke when burns.


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## hughlle

xellos99 said:


> Not in your living space I hope. Those pallets are usually dipped in a substance that's poison smoke when burns.


 Hence why I only get the non-treated ones. I cut them up with a jig saw and pop them in the wood burner. It's that or it takes a week and a half for my clothes to dry, by which time they smell like funk and have to be washed again.

Remember though, log burners are not like fires. All smoke goes up the chimney. The birds can deal with it, teach them to squat!


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## Bob Sheruncle

Thanks for the great explanation Roger, I appreciate it.


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## Roger the Dodger

No probs, Bob.....always here to try to explain horticultural stuff. That was a great question BTW.....not one that most would ask. :yes:


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## mel

Rog, thanks for the full explanation, my meagre knowledge has now (as I suspected) been expanded considerably :yes:

Next question : how does a Weeping Willow occur Rog, is that trained or is it a natural phenomenen fro a separate sub species - - again as I suspect?


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## Roger the Dodger

Ok..so today I took a few pics of some willows that were grown at the same time as the pollards. These were all grown from cuttings, taken from the prunings of the Orange stemmed willow (Salix alba var 'Britzensis') about five years ago. The cuttings were the thickness of a pencil, and about 30cm (a foot in old money) long. They were taken at about this time of year and buried in the ground so that only two buds were above the soil. The resulting young trees were planted out all at the same time...the three next to the pond that have been pollarded every year ever since, and some were planted on the boundarys to provide screening and cover. The pollards, as you have seen, still have small trunks (a metre high) and produce nicely shaped trees every year. The ones on the boundary have never been touched, and have grown into tall, shapeless trees with little or no character, but do as intended and fill in gaps. Another reason for the annual pollarding is that this particular variety has bright orange stems on the one year old growth...if left, this reverts to the normal dull greenish colour of willow. These orange stems are particularly beautiful in the winter sun.

OK...so here's the pollarded willows next to the pond...in one year, with a bit of management, they have produced the nice compact shape you see here...and remember, these are exactly the same age, and from the same stock as the next ones you'll see...










...and here's what happens when left to their own device this one is about 8m tall....now you can see the difference, and I hope, Bob, that has answered your interesting question.









...and just so you can see, this is a one year old Orange willow branch showing the colour.


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## Roger the Dodger

mel said:


> Rog, thanks for the full explanation, my meagre knowledge has now (as I suspected) been expanded considerably :yes:
> 
> Next question : how does a Weeping Willow occur Rog, is that trained or is it a natural phenomenen fro a separate sub species - - again as I suspect?


 Mel...sometimes a plant will throw up a variation that sets it aside from the norm. This can be caused by a virus, a trauma, frost damage or even GM. If it is a good variation, plant breeders will try to replicate it, by seed, by cuttings or by grafting. Seeds of variations don't usually come true to the original form, or they will be sterile, so the usual method of reproduction is either by cuttings ( where the new plant will exhibit exactly the same characteristics of the donor...as it has the same DNA. These are known as 'clones'). If the variety is too difficult to raise from cuttings, they can be grafted onto a straight rootstock...one very common one you will see is the 'Weeping Kilmarnock Willow'...one of the 'Pussy willows'

At some point in the past, a common willow obviously deveoped a weeping habit, and this was then exploited to produce the trees we are familiar with today. They are very fast growers, and I grew one from cuttings taken at the same time as those pics in the thread above...this tree is just 5 years old. As an aside....all Leylandii are clones...the trees don't produce viable seed being the result of that almost unheard of situation...an intergeneric cross. This happens in the plant world, but never in the animal kindom...it would be like a cat and a dog mating and producing viable offspring. All Leylandii are grown from cuttings.

5 year old weeping willow grown from a cutting...


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## mel

Again Thankyou Rog! As said a very old Agronomy qualification from when I was involved in Golf, so maybe I'm dangerous ( a little knowledge and that :yes: )

My Box cuttings are thriving well, and filling up gaps in the back garden nicely, I' not doing much except keeping them compact and "no straggling now" :nono: :laugh:


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## Roger the Dodger

Someone asked me today what the difference was between Primroses and Polyanthus....after all....they both have the same flowers, same leaves, look similar...or do they?
On closer inspection, Primroses have their flowers on individual, thin, floppy stems, whereas Polyanthus have thick stems with several flowers (hence Polyanthus='many flowers') growing from the top of it. The Cowslip is a natural, wild polyanthus, which hybridises easily with the wild primrose to produce the false Oxslip. Over the years, primroses and polyanthus have been bred in lots of attractive colours. They all belong to the Primula family.

These are Primroses...
















...and these are Polyanthus...
















the wild Cowslip...


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## William_Wilson

They might as well be the same thing. In my mind, plants can be placed in four categories:

1) Crops
2) Grass
3) Trees
4) Weeds

:biggrin:

Later,
William


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## Roger the Dodger

Any plant can be a weed, Will......the RHS definition of a weed is 'Any plant growing where it's not supposed to be'........so the 'Lonely little Petunia in an Onion patch' was in fact a 'weed'. :yes:


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## Roger the Dodger

It's been a long time since I posted some 'hands on' stuff so here goes. As we're well into spring now, the paddocks on the estate need their first real cut. But before that, I had to grade all the driveways, as over the winter period, the pea gravel has been thrown to the outsides of the bends by the wheels of passing cars. I used to do this with a large landscaping rake, but it took ages, so a couple of years ago, I made a grading bar to tow behind our little Ford garden tractor. Now I can grade the drives in a matter of minutes instead of taking all morning.



















The paddocks have grown long and can't be cut yet with our Trimax mower.....this only cuts shorter grass, and as it has full width rollers front and rear, there's nowhere for the mass of cuttings to escape, so they build up underneath the deck and stall the tractor. Today I'm using a Wessex topper which rides a little higher than the Trimax and has clearance at the rear to expell the cuttings. This is coupled to our Ford 1920 tractor.


















This topper has no full rollers, so doesn't produce stripes, but is useful for getting the grass to a height that the Trimax can cut. There is a pair of swivelling gauge wheels at the back, and three small anti-scalping rollers at the front. Their job is to lift the blades clear of any high spots.









The deck is 6 feet wide (1.8m) and there are three rotating blades underneath, driven by large V belts under the white covers, via the blue gear box on top. This in turn is driven by the PTO (power take off) shaft connected to the rear of the tractor. The whole thing is mounted on the tractors 3 point linkage which can lift it off the ground via hydraulics. The tractor is fitted with 2 foot wide (60cm) turf tyres to help spread the weight and prevent sinking into soft patches, and making ruts.









In this shot you can see the three point linkage. There are two arms, one on either side at the bottom, and one in the centre at the top. The top link is adjustable in or out so the deck can be levelled. The crank on the RH lower link is to adjust it to be the same height as the one on the other side. The PTO shaft is inside the yellow protective outer casing. The two chains are adjusted to allow the deck to only fall to a predetermined height, and keep the anti-scalping rollers just clear of the ground.









This tractor has 3 forward and 1 reverse gear, (on the left) but it also has 4 'ranges'...Ultra low creep speed, low, medium and high ratio, so in effect has 12 different forward gears. It is also equipped with selectable 2 or 4 wheel drive. Like most tractors it is fitted with a hand throttle as well as the normal foot one. This is used to set the PTO speed, and will hold its position when released.....a bit like cruise control....that's the orange handle on the right.








View from the cab...









On Friday, the paddocks will be cut again, but this time with the Trimax on our lovely old Fergie. Will update again.


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## Roger the Dodger

So it's Friday, and mowing day (as per the thread title!) A bit of a re-visit....some members will have seen all this, but I still think it's interesting and worthy of re-posting.

So first I have to mow 2 acres of formal lawns.....the edges, and complicated lawns (ie. Too many bends and curves) are cut with the Honda 536 Pro. This is a 21" cut, self propelled rotary mower with rear roller to stripe.









Then I move on to the Allet 24" cylinder cut to complete....and there's a lot to do....













































Finally finished....









You can't bag this lot up for the bin men...they go nuts!










So it gets dumped in a hole (see previous threads) to rot down for compost. Thankfully, I don't have to shovel it off...this trailer is a tipper....









Now that's done, it's time to get the Fergie out and re-cut the paddocks from a few days ago.....this is the Massey Ferguson with the Trimax topper attached.










This old girl is a real pro from way back when. There are no creature comforts with this baby. Air con?...you're sat in the open aren't you? Sat Nav?...just look ahead....Power steering?...No...this old girl has 'bar steer'..a direct link from the steering wheel via a simple gear box...you need arms like Arnie to steer this beast!










Here's the deck...and the rollers front and rear. These are are full length rollers, and require that the deck is lifted at each turn, otherwise the strain put on the three point linkage could easily break an arm....in my opinion they should have been split rollers, to allow turning without lifting.


















..and finally here's a shot of the controls...








At the bottom you can see the twin brake pedals. In normal use, these are linked together and act on both the rear wheels. But in exceptional circumstances (should you need to do a real tight turn), they can be separated, and pressure on one pedal will cause that wheel to stop, but allow the opposite one to keep turning and effect a really tight turn. All tractors that I've worked with have this feature.

Next up you can see the two gear levers...the short one in front selects high and low ratio gearing, while the longer one at the the rear selects 1, 2, 3, and reverse gears. This tractor, along with all vintage Fergies, only has a hand throttle. However, this stays where you set it, so once set you can forget it. Hope you enjoyed this.....more if you want it!


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## graham1981

Roger the Dodger said:


> Next up you can see the two gear levers...the short one in front selects high and low ratio gearing, while the longer one at the the rear selects 1, 2, 3, and reverse gears. This tractor, along with all vintage Fergies, only has a hand throttle. However, this stays where you set it, so once set you can forget it. Hope you enjoyed this.....more if you want it!


 Great post Roger :thumbsup: Always reminds me of when I got to use tractors (alas no more) the amount of times I went to pull away and ...... nothing, then you realise one of your three gear sticks (hi - lo range, normal gears, column shift for forward/ reverse) wasn't in gear :swoon:


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## Roger the Dodger

graham1981 said:


> Great post Roger :thumbsup: Always reminds me of when I got to use tractors (alas no more) the amount of times I went to pull away and ...... nothing, then you realise one of your three gear sticks (hi - lo range, normal gears, column shift for forward/ reverse) wasn't in gear :swoon:


 Still wearing the 'T' shirt, ol' pal! :laugh:


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## Roger the Dodger

Back in February, I posted some pics of some Willow trees that I pollarded at work. As I explained at the time, this is done to produce a nicely shaped tree, and keep it small and compact. At the time I said I would keep you updated. The new shoots have now grown, and are in the process of being selected to form this years branches.

This is how the tree looked before and after the removal of last years branches.



















This is the same tree with this years shoots emerging...










The trick now is to rub away all inward facing and crossing shoots until only outward facing ones remain. This will go on for a few more weeks, as the tree will keep producing shoots for a while. Eventually, all the remaining shoots will start to curve upwards to form a nice 'wine goblet' shape, as seen in the top pic.


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## Roger the Dodger

Cutting the grass again today, but before I start I wanted to show how a couple of days mowing (admittedly, it's probably more than you would do on average) reduces a sharpened blade to a horribly rounded and chipped edge. The majority our lawns on the etstate are edged with a timber board to prevent the rabbits from digging holes in the edges and the gap between that and the drive kerb stones are filled with rounded pebbles. What's happened is that the Green Woodpeckers have discovered that by flicking the pebbles up onto the grass they can get at the ants below. While I take great pains to walk round and replace these, inevitably a few get missed and cause severe blunting of the blade. While a blunt blade will still 'mow' the grass blades, it doesn't slice them cleanly, knocking them off, rather than cutting. This leads to bruised grass tips, and eventual browning of the same. While the grass will still keep growing, it doesn't have that nice, crisp look to it. Having said that, a rotary mower will never cut as nicely as a cylinder one. 
I keep two blades going at any one time....one on the mower, and one in the workshop being sharpened, and they will last for one season.

Here are 3 blades...one blunt, one sharpened and a new one for comparison. The middle and RH blades are a new design, with slots cut in them, but I don't know what this is supposed to do...I haven't noticed any difference in performance. You may notice that the blade ends are lifted, in fact the whole blade has a slight twist to it, so it acts like a propeller, sucking the grass clippings up and blowing them into the bag.









This is a newly sharpened blade....









...and this is after a couple of sessions mowing...









This has to be trued up, and all the dinks and notches ground out before sharpening. However, every time you do this, the blade starts to wear back more and more, until it can't be done anymore. This takes about a season.

Here's a brand new blade....










...and this is how much has been ground away since the start of the mowing season back in March. I'll be able to continue with this blade until the edge meets the slots, then it'll be a new blade...at £30 a pop.










The other point to bear in mind is that the blade must be in balance. If you take too much off one side, it will cause the mower to vibrate, and could shake the blade loose.
I have a very sophisticated tool for this... :laugh: .....All good to go!


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## graham1981

Roger the Dodger said:


> The middle and RH blades are a new design, with slots cut in them, but I don't know what this is supposed to do


 I wonder if this is to help create an 'up-draft' to lift the grass so it cuts better roger? I'm just trying to visualise what effect these holes would have - I'm guessing the spinning blades will create somewhat of a down draft (much like a helicopter blade?) And I'm wondering if these holes are supposed to create 'vortex's' in that down draft creating an up-draft and sucking the blades of grass up to meet the blades? Just a guess and probably completely wrong :laugh:


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## Roger the Dodger

graham1981 said:


> I wonder if this is to help create an 'up-draft' to lift the grass so it cuts better roger? I'm just trying to visualise what effect these holes would have - I'm guessing the spinning blades will create somewhat of a down draft (much like a helicopter blade?) And I'm wondering if these holes are supposed to create 'vortex's' in that down draft creating an up-draft and sucking the blades of grass up to meet the blades? Just a guess and probably completely wrong :laugh:


 I must investigate more, Graham....I'll get the part no. tomorrow and google it....see what turns up.


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## Roger the Dodger

If you scroll back a couple of pics, you'll see the Willow trees that were pollarded and the new shoots growing. Two weeks have passed, and now you can see just how fast Willow grows. The new shoots are now beginning to form a nice goblet shape.


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## xellos99

Christ we don't have gardeners round my way with even half the gear you have.

Typically they have :

1 small to medium ride on.

1 half decent mower.

1 decent strim.

transit van.

hedge cutter.

hand tools etc.

Then you have the guys who have a car with a mower on a trailer and charge by the hour + fuel for basic mowing.


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## Roger the Dodger

Ok..so going to cut a (big) hedge today. This is a Golden Leylandii ('Castlewellan Gold') hedge for a regular. This hedge is is about 3m (10ft) tall and requires a mobile tower scaffold to cut the top. There's about a 15m length to do. The main thing to remember here is the shape of the hedge, and to cut it to that shape. Many times you will drive past a hedge and think that looks wrong....and it is.....it looks 'V' shaped....A hedge should always, but always be cut to resemble an 'A' shape. Why?

Because if the hedge is wider at the the top than the bottom, light can't reach the lower levels because they are in shadow due to the wide top, and the lower levels will suffer... There is also the distinct probability that should it rain or snow heavily the hedge will catastrophically fall apart due to the weight of water/snow on the overwide top. These are RHS recommendations...

So here we go. This is what we (I) have to do do. Here's the hedge....









The equipment....probably won't need the pole pruner (chain saw) attachment for this job...note PPE ear defenders and safety glasses....









View from the top...a lot to do...










Don't forget to rake off the clippings...









And the top nicely finished...










Just the sides to finish now...and here it is done...a perfect RHS shaped hedge...


















And just in case you need to know what not to do.....don't make it look like this.....this is completely wrong.....(this is the neighbours hedge!)


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## dobra

Years ago an old boy told me my hedges were like green slabs, he was next door's gardener! So I tapered the sides as he instructed. For one hour's domestic use, Screwfix do a super 18 VDC hedge trimmer for about fifty quids. Lasted well over an hour with me. No spare battery, so I may buy a second one as a spare and use its battery to double the time available.

I too used to drive a Fergie 500 years ago, for long grass cutting, sh*t spreading and towing the milk trailer. Big advantages were they were light and didn't compact the soil, and a 12 bore rested easily across the steering wheel... I rented a cottage on the farm, Banisters in Finchampstead. The house was owned by the late Major and Mrs Salt, the latter was a friend of my late first wife. I worked at REME Arborfield as a radar instructor. Sorry about the deviation Rog, but keep this thread going, as I like to look and learn.

mike


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## Roger the Dodger

Nice to see you were local, Mike...I know Finchampstead very well as my sister in law lives there, and I often have to visit the big sawmill there (now a branch of Travis Perkins) to pick up large timbers for work.


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## Roger the Dodger

I want to show you all something very special today. When I was studying for my RHS qualifications, one term came up quite regularly, the 'Fibonacci Sequence'. Before I go on, many will think that this is irrelevant or boring, and will go back to the home page, or look at something else, but if you read on, you might discover something quite remarkable or even beautiful....well I think so anyway, and I've been looking at these things for years!

The Fibonacci sequence is a mathematical progression that starts 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34 etc. Each number in the sequence is the sum of the two preceding numbers. Here's the complicated bit...if you draw a square with each number's value as the outline, and then make an arc joining opposite corners, you arrive at the Fibonacci spiral, (or 'Golden' spiral, as it's sometimes called). This pattern is repeated 'ad infinitum' in nature, whether it's the way that leaves are arranged around a stem, or seeds are formed within a seed capsule.

















A couple of shots of a pine cone displaying the same sequence

















BTW....all of these shots are hosted on the gallery here, not from PB, Flickr or elsewhere......a great resource. Thanks, Roy! :thumbsup:


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## William_Wilson

It may be of interest Roger that sunflowers generally have dual spirals. One running left and the other right.

Later,
William


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## Roger the Dodger

William_Wilson said:


> It may be of interest Roger that sunflowers generally have dual spirals. One running left and the other right.
> 
> Later,
> William


 Absolutely correct, William...as can be seen from the above pics...the pine cones also exhibit a dual spiral. :thumbsup:

Even snail shells exhibit this sequence...and although not a land snail, but a mollusc all the same, check out the shell of a Nautilus....(one of Roy's most famous)










...and in real life


----------



## Roger the Dodger

It's that time of year again when the pond willows get coppiced. I showed this last year, and I think a lot of viewers didn't think the trees would grow again. This was how the trees looked last year after coppicing...










...and this was few weeks later as the first sprouts appeared...










These were then thinned to leave only outward facing shoots in order to produce a nicely shaped tree.










Now we have come full circle, and this is one years growth and the shape of the tree.










And back to a stump to begin the process again for this year.










A similar technique is used on our Pampas grasses (Cortaderia selloana)....they are cut down each year in order to keep them tidy and make them produce copious flower spikes in the Autumn. This is best done with a hedge cutter and thick gloves, as the leaves are like razors and will cut you very easily.

Before cutting...

















and after.


----------



## WRENCH

I think I'll get on of these new fangled motor mowers this year.


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## Karrusel

WRENCH said:


> I think I'll get on of these new fangled motor mowers this year.


 Did Roger give you permission to film him at work ? artytime:


----------



## Roger the Dodger

WRENCH said:


> I think I'll get on of these new fangled motor mowers this year.


 Too slow ol' pal.....I have to cut 8 acres in half a day.......if it's long, I'll use the Ford 1920 with a brush cutter attached....










When that gets the sward under control, I use the 'Trimax' topper....a fabulous mower that cuts the grass to cricket pitch perfection.....and all done on a vintage Fergie...

God......thank you....I love my job......










Sometimes, I think to myself....'You're such a lucky bloke, Rog'.....


----------



## Roger the Dodger

A while ago, back on page 2, I did a thread about Mistletoe, and as it is such a strange plant, thought I would post a little guide if you fancy trying to grow some yourself. Firstly, don't try this with berries from the stuff you get at Christmas. This is harvested before the berries are ripe, and they won't germinate if you use them. You need some berries from a plant at the end of Feb, beginning of March for them to be viable. This will be a long term project....you won't see a result for at least a year, and you won't get berries for at least 5. The best hosts in the garden are Apple, or Hawthorn. Start by squeezing the single seed out of the berry....it won't germinate if left inside. They are extremely sticky. Select a fork in a younger, higher branch, and smear the seed into the fork so that it sticks. Place several seeds in each site, as probably only one or two will 'take'. Another reason for this is that Mistletoe has seperate male and female plants, and you need several plants in order to make sure of getting a female, and some male plants for pollination. If the seeds germinate, in about a year, you will notice a slight swelling at the seed site, and a tiny pair of leaves emerging. This is all it will do in its first year, so be careful not to knock it off. Each year thereafter, it will increase in size until around its fourth or fifth year, when it should produce flowers in the spring.

Ripe Mistletoe berries.










The seed squeezed out of the berry.










Put several seeds at each site....preferably the fork of a younger branch. This is an Apple tree.










After a year, you should see this.....an embryonic Mistletoe seedling...










In its second year...










...and third...










until after five years you are rewarded with some more berries!










A really established plant.


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## Roger the Dodger

Now that winter is nearly over, I was wandering around the grounds, trying to visualise the plans for the borders this summer, and took a few pics of the 'blank canvass' I have to work with. Altough bare and desolate at the moment, in a few months time, the difference will be astounding. But there's a lot of greenhouse work to do first in order to produce these displays.

My blank canvass.



















...and a few months later...


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## Roger the Dodger

Seeing all that bare 'canvas' reminded me of all the greenhouse work that has to be done to achieve the summer displays...and I started last week. For several weeks, I have been perusing the seed catalogues, looking for the normal space fillers or more unusual seeds (these I buy for for my own amusement, the normal seeds I get reimbursed for) and there will also be seeds that I collected and saved from last year. The hothouse has been raised to 20°C, the compost and seeds are ready....it's sowing time!

I use a professional growing compost made by Sinclair...95% peat and 5% sand (I don't care what the 'weirdy beardys' and 'treehuggers' say...you can't beat a peat based compost) and to this I add 25% vermiculite. This helps with water retention, but also helps keep an open soil structure and so aids aeration, vital for young root growth, and helps prevent 'damping off ' disease...a fungal infection. Vermiculite can also absorb some of the nutrients in the soil and release them slowly over a period of time.

Sinclair compost...I buy this in bulk, usually 12 bags at a time, from a horticultural wholesaler, LBS Horticulture.

https://www.lbsbuyersguide.co.uk/










Vermiculite...and then mixed with the compost.

















Over the years, I've made a few tools that help speed up the seed sowing process...two of which are these pressers, that firm the soil in the tray, and mark out planting holes for larger seeds.



















Once sown and watered, I wrap the trays with industrial cling film to help with moisture retention and stop the surface layer drying out in the 20°C heat. I used to use glass sheets, but they were cumbersome and needed washing and sterilising after each use. This is much simpler, and the film is just discarded after use.
























The trays go in the hothouse until the seed starts to germinate. As soon as this happens, the film is removed and the trays are moved to the cool house (10°C) to prevent the seedlings growing away too fast and becoming 'leggy'.

In the hothouse. The trays with the film removed have just germinated and will be moved to the cool house.



















This years seedlings in the coolhouse. This just the start....eventually all the bench area will be full. In April/May most of these will be transferred to the cold frames outside to harden off ready for final planting out. These will form the backbone of the formal displays, though a fair amount of 'in situ' seed sowing will take place in the garden where they are to flower when the weather warms up. The tomatoes and cucumbers will stay in the greenhouse in growbags, which I make up myself from the compost already mentioned above.


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Forgot to post this earlier. A couple of days ago it was a bit rainy here in rural Berkshire, but combined with a spot of sun, it was quite beautiful....


----------



## Roger the Dodger

One of the jobs I have had to address at work just recently was the renovation and tidying up of the pier and gazebo that I built nearly 18 years ago. There wasn't much to do really, the gazebo was removed, the whole thing pressure washed, a couple of parts renewed (two of the 'gallows' braces) and re-finished with a wax based stain (to protect the wild life in the pond)

As the Guv'nor now has young grandchildren, some trellis work was added to prevent them falling/jumping in the pond! :laugh:

The gazebo back from the workshop and ready to be fixed into place. This was just screwed to the deck before, but as several of the fixing screws had corroded and snapped off, meaning that it had to be crowbarred up, a different and more efficient method was used which will allow easy removal in the future.The gazebo is lowered into place so that some heavy duty angle brackets can be positioned and marked out.










A gap is chiselled in the foot to accommodate the strengthening crease in the bracket. The foot will sit on the bracket to hide it.

















The gazebo is lifted again and the brackets fixed. You can see the feet hovering about 40cm off the deck!










It's lowered back onto the brackets, and secured with self drilling, passivated (the yellow colour = prevents rust) coach screws.










The handrails are re-fitted.










And the new trellis infills are cut and fitted.










All ready for another 18 years, but I doubt that I'll be around then! :laugh:


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## Karrusel

Pay attention folks, do you know where your hard earned taxes are going ?

Rogers real identity is............Sir Peter Viggers. :yes:

artytime:


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## bridgeman

Karrusel said:


> Pay attention folks, do you know where your hard earned taxes are going ?
> 
> Rogers real identity is............Sir Peter Viggers. :yes:
> 
> artytime: Duck duck duck


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Karrusel said:


> Pay attention folks, do you know where your hard earned taxes are going ?
> 
> Rogers real identity is............Sir Peter Viggers. :yes:
> 
> artytime:


 He claimed £1645 for his duck house.....what was it? Gold plated? I made that one out of some scraps of roofing batten and some left over featheredged fencing for [email protected] all. Even the 4" thick jablite float that sits under the base was going to be skipped!


----------



## Karrusel

Roger the Dodger said:


> He claimed £1645 for his duck house.....what was it? Gold plated? I made that one out of some scraps of roofing batten and some left over featheredged fencing for [email protected] all. Even the 4" thick jablite float that sits under the base was going to be skipped!


 Good man, so your just a pleb........like me. :laugh:


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## Roger the Dodger

Karrusel said:


> Good man, so your just a pleb........like me. :laugh:


 Exactly! :thumbsup:


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Must admit I prefer the traditional look of mine compared to that monstrosity he had made....


----------



## WRENCH

Well @Roger the Dodger, I did some weeding this afternoon. Grass cutting looks like it's going to be a month early as well.




























:laughing2dw:


----------



## Roger the Dodger

WRENCH said:


> Well @Roger the Dodger, I did some weeding this afternoon. Grass cutting looks like it's going to be a month early as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> :laughing2dw:


 Nice! I always like to take the easy route too.....remember this....? (About 10 posts down)......Actually, this might have been before you joined......have a look at the whole thread when you have a spare few minutes... :thumbsup: ........That cultivator attachment is neat, and I've been cutting the lawns and paddocks down here for about 3 weeks now.

http://xflive.thewatchforum.co.uk/index.php?/topic/76760-mowing-the-grass/&page=3&do=embed


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## Bob Sheruncle

Roger, can I ask your advice please?

My daffodils are just about finished now. Should I cut them off at soil level, or bend them over and secure with an elastic band, or just leave them to die off and clear up the dead leaves once they've died right off?

I get conflicting advise from my friends and am never quite sure what is best.

Thanks.


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Bob Sheruncle said:


> Roger, can I ask your advice please?
> 
> My daffodils are just about finished now. Should I cut them off at soil level, or bend them over and secure with an elastic band, or just leave them to die off and clear up the dead leaves once they've died right off?
> 
> I get conflicting advise from my friends and am never quite sure what is best.
> 
> Thanks.


 Great question, @Bob Sheruncle and here's the answer. Definitely don't cut them yet! The Daffodil is a bulbous plant that relies on its leaves to produce as much food as possible (sugars) from the available sunlight (not much about in spring!) in order to bulk up and survive until next year. One common, and completely wrong conception that you might see is the bending over and securing with elastic bands, or even worse, the knotting of Daffodil leaves. The leaves are there for a purpose.....to produce as much food as possible for next years growth. If you bend them, or even worse, knot them, you will break / kink the veins that are needed to carry the nutrient to the bulb, to be stored for next years flowers. For all bulbous plants, and this includes Alliums (flowering onions), Daffodils, Snowdrops, Crocuses, Tulips etc., leave the top growth unmolested for at least 6 weeks after flowering, then you can safely remove it. Personally, although it may look untidy for a few weeks, I leave the top growth until it has died completely. That way, I know my bulbs have aquired the maximum nutrient from sunlight available to them. If you have bulbs growing in a 'wild' situation in a lawn for example as we do here, leave that section unmowed for at least six weeks after flowering, then 'top' it with the mower on a high setting. The following week, mow as normal.


----------



## Bob Sheruncle

Thank you Roger.

I let them die down as you recommend last year, and I'm sure they look better this year. I will continue to do it this way.

Ta very much


----------



## Roger the Dodger

One of the tasks here on the estate is the annual fish 'rescue'. Unfortunately we are right on the water table for our area , and our natural pond level is the actual water table level. Between winter and summer, the pond can drop 6 feet in level, and in some years, it dries up completely. It's not uncommon for it to drop two to three inches a day in hot weather. About 8 years ago after trying all sorts of different species of fish in the pond (Koi, Goldfish, Golden Orfe, Golden Rudd, etc which fell prey to herons and other aliments) I introduced half a dozen Crucian carp as a last resort, these being very hardy little fish, able to withstand seriously deoxygenated and even polluted water better than most other carp species...one of the reasons they are often found in farm ponds, full of all sorts of muck! During the first couple of years, the pond didn't dry out and the fish were left to fend for themselves. In the third year, while pond dipping round the edges to see what was about, I found several carp fry...the fish had bred. That year, the pond did dry up and I had to rescue the fish by netting...we had three of the original larger adults (the other three must have died or been had by the heron) and around 90 fry about an inch long. Over the next few years, this number increased until last year we had a total of 180 medium sized Crucians. These are held in a large holding pond until the natural one refills again during the winter, and the fish are then released in early spring.

Here's the pond full to the brim in March...










...and this is July, just 4 months later...










Now it's time to get the wellies on and start netting the fish out. There is a plank that extends out into the middle of the pond and at the end of it is a deeper pit that is just wide enough to take the net. The fish are netted over a period of about a week until eventually they are all out. This was the result of the first session this morning...45 three inch Crucians...these are just a few. Will keep you updated as to how many we eventually get this year.



















EDIT: It's such a pity that this thread has been ruined by those unsympathetic barstewards Photobucket. Thankfully, all new pics are now hosted on the Gallery here.


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## Roger the Dodger

Just as an addendum to the piece above, here's the fish holding pond where the carp are held until the main pond refills. It is an 8 foot diameter round fibreglass pool that is 2 feet deep, with the bottom foot sunk into the ground. The green netting on the bamboo frame serves two purposes....it gives the fish some shade on hot days, and during the autumn, when pulled right across the pond, prevents leaves falling in and polluting the water. A pump with a sprinkler fountain head is also turned on during hot days to aerate the water. The fish are fed with high protein sinking pellets until the cold weather comes when they naturally stop feeding and hibernate at the bottom of the pool.










...and here's your's truly standing in the pond netting out the remaining fish...we're up to 68 now.


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## Karrusel

Nice to see you getting down & dirty. :thumbsup:

P.S. Bet you get through some soap. :tongue:


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## Roger the Dodger

Karrusel said:


> Nice to see you getting down & dirty. :thumbsup:
> 
> P.S. Bet you get through some soap. :tongue:


 A quick rub down with some carbolic and a rough jute flannel and I'm good to go.... :biggrin:


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## Robden

Not being into gardening myself, I can't be @rsed to read through all the posts. (No disrespects intended). But the title reminded me of something my ex father in law told me.

I don't know if it will work but it made sense to me. He told me how to keep the stripes in a lawn from one mowing to the next.

Cut/mow the grass to the, or just over, the desired height. Then go back to the start and do alternate mower widths at a lower setting. Then as the grass grows, one stripe is always longer than the one next to it, giving the allusion of stripes.

@Roger the Dodger Would it work?


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## Roger the Dodger

Robden said:


> Not being into gardening myself, I can't be @rsed to read through all the posts. (No disrespects intended). But the title reminded me of something my ex father in law told me.
> 
> I don't know if it will work but it made sense to me. He told me how to keep the stripes in a lawn from one mowing to the next.
> 
> Cut/mow the grass to the, or just over, the desired height. Then go back to the start and do alternate mower widths at a lower setting. Then as the grass grows, one stripe is always longer than the one next to it, giving the allusion of stripes.
> 
> @Roger the Dodger Would it work?


 Never heard of that one before, Rob, so I can't comment. It's the rear roller, not the blades that creates the stripes, by bending all the grass stalks in one direction. Like running your finger over a snooker table and leaving a track in the knap.

Mowers without a rear roller won't stripe.

And don't worry too much about not reading the whole thread....those a'holes Photobucket have ruined it by deleting all the links to the pics in the first 8 pages. I've just spent nearly two hours uploading some of the original pics to the gallery here, so that I can re-post them as and when. It's a good job I downloaded all my PB albums to save my pics!.

Here's our Allett mower which makes really good stripes, due to the roller on the mower, followed by the roller on the trailing seat with all my weight on top of it.


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## Robden

Roger the Dodger said:


> Never heard of that one before, Rob, so I can't comment. It's the rear roller, not the blades that creates the stripes, by bending all the grass stalks in one direction. Like running your finger over a snooker table and leaving a track in the knap.
> 
> Mowers without a rear roller won't stripe.
> 
> And don't worry too much about not reading the whole thread....those a'holes Photobucket have ruined it by deleting all the links to the pics in the first 8 pages. I've just spent nearly two hours uploading some of the original pics to the gallery here, so that I can re-post them as and when. It's a good job I downloaded all my PB albums to save my pics!.
> 
> Here's our Allett mower which makes really good stripes, due to the roller on the mower, followed the roller on the trailing seat with all my weight on top of it.


 :thumbsup:


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Been in the greenhouse today due to the weather, taking cuttings of Osteospermums (Rain Daisy) and potting on some Camara lantana (shrubby Verbena) cuttings taken a few weeks ago. Cuttings are a very cheap and easy way to increase your plant stocks, though these ones will need to be kept in the greenhouse until next spring.

Osteospermums come in a variety of colours, and their common name of Rain Daisy is due to the fact that they close up on dull days.










Remove the lower leaves, and cut with a sharp knife just on a leaf joint...aim to have about 11/2 inches of bare stem, with about half a dozen leaves at the top.










Now dip the base of the stem into some hormone rooting powder, or gel....I prefer gel, and insert the cuttings into some potting compost. Water by standing in a bowl of water until the compost becomes moist.



















At first, the cuttings may appear to droop, but they should soon pick up....you will know this when new leaves start to appear. After a while (3 weeks), the plants may begin to look leggy. Nip out the growing point to encourage the formation of side shoots. In the pic below, you can see where I have cut out the tip, and the new shoots that are beginning to form.

After a month, you will see roots coming out of the bottom of the pot/tray....you have created a new plant!



















These can go outside until the first frost, but must then be overwintered in the greenhouse.

These Lantana cuttings were taken several weeks ago, and are now ready to pot on. Lantana camara, or shrubby Verbena is a common sight in Spain and Portugal, but will grow outside here in summer. It is tender, though, and plants need to be frost free during the winter.










These are the cuttings in their cell tray, ready to be potted on. I'm using 3 inch pots with a general purpose compost to which I've added some slow release feriliser granules.










Again, you can see that these cuttings have a well developed root system.










...and this is what they'll look like in a couple of weeks.










New plants....all for free!


----------



## dobra

Jusst caught up with your excellent and comprehensive thread.

Many thanks for a good presentation.

mike


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## BobJ

dobra said:


> Jusst caught up with your excellent and comprehensive thread.
> 
> Many thanks for a good presentation.
> 
> mike


 Same here, what a shame the majority of images have been decimated.

Good work Roger. :thumbsup:


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## Robti

Just a a read through this thread and although I don't do any gardening at all I really appreciate what you have done/ doing here and long may it continue, keep us up to date with everything

Thanks

Robert


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## WRENCH

:thumbsup:


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## Roger the Dodger

Been a while, but I have a new project on the go. About 15 years ago, I spent months cutting and fitting wooden edging to the lawns to stop the rabbits from digging the edges away. Although made of treated timber, these are now showing signs of rotting away, and in some places have gone completely. It's a huge job, first having to remove all the washed river pebbles that fill the gap between the brick haunchings and the actual lawn edge. The new edging is made of black plastic and should not degrade like the wood did. It comes on 50 metre rolls, and to start with, we've ordrered 5, which should just about do the front area. It's actually 140mm deep with sharp teeth on the bottom edge to dig into the soil, and a continuous series of A frames along the top which fold over the lawn edge and are secured about every fourth one with plastic pins. The grass will eventually grow through the frames and secure the top firmly. I've had to cut the depth down to around 100mm as the concrete that holds the bricks in place extends back and prevents the teeth digging in. When the pebbles are replaced, they'll hold the bottom edge down. It's about half the price of some of the aluminium or steel edgings that are available at an average price of £5-6 per metre

In this first pic you can see the lawn edges, the brick haunching and the pebble infill.










This is how the edges look after the infill has been removed (there's about 2 tons of this in total!) It will all be washed prior to reusing elsewhere. The lawn edges are recut and made vertical.










This is the new plastic edging. It's about 2mm thick and cuts quite easily with a jigsaw.










It fits to the edge of the lawn with these plastic pins/nails, and eventually the grass will grow through and hold it firmly in place.










How it looks when installed. The manufacturers say it is capable of having a lawn tractor driven along it.










The gap between brick and edge will be lined with landscaping membrane and filled with blue slate shale.


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## hughlle

Looks good. But a lot of work and money involved when one online post could see the rabbit problem gone for free :laugh:


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## Roger the Dodger

hughlle said:


> Looks good. But a lot of work and money involved when one online post could see the rabbit problem gone for free :laugh:


 Unforunately, we have far too many rabbits to deal with. Over the years we've had blokes with ferrets come in, we've tried trapping them, and I've shot so many that my freezer is permanently full of them...but then I do like a nice rabbit stew.


----------



## Roger the Dodger

As the weather's been a bit fresh over the last week or so, I was able to stay in the workshop and make a new pair of gates that we have wanted for a while to secure all our trailers. So a load of 6" x 2" and tongue and groove was ordered up and after a couple of days of basic carpentry, I ended up with a pair of 7 foot high, 5 foot 6" wide ledged and braced gates. Two 10 foot x 8"x 8" posts were sunk and concreted into the ground, and today, the gates were hung. I didn't think they turned out too bad, but I'm going to stink of creosote for the next few days...... :biggrin:




























Hung today....in the snow!


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## BlueKnight

Looks like the Gate at Castle Black ( The Nightfort). The Lord Commander would be pleased. :laugh:


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## Chromejob

Wow, marvelous. I'd forgotten this thread ... can I come over some weekend and work with you on some project? I'll keep the heckling to a minimum.


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## Biker

Chromejob said:


> Wow, marvelous. I'd forgotten this thread ... can I come over some weekend and work with you on some project? I'll keep the heckling to a minimum.


 NO!

You can both come to mine and set about my garden! I am getting bored with deer eaten Laurel and masses of grass.


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## Roger the Dodger

Biker said:


> NO!
> 
> You can both come to mine and set about my garden! I am getting bored with deer eaten Laurel and masses of grass.


 You don't need us....One of these should sort the deer problem.....just think of the venison steaks and sausages you could be enjoying....really get your own back!










:laugh: :laugh:


----------



## WRENCH

Roger the Dodger said:


> You don't need us....One of these should sort the deer problem.....just think of the venison steaks and sausages you could be enjoying....really get your own back!
> 
> 
> 
> ....and one of these will take care of the grass....
> 
> :laugh: :laugh:


 Or.










And.


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## Roger the Dodger

We didn't really have much snow down here in Berkshire...just a light covering, but I love going out to see the activity of the creatures we have around us from their tracks. It's the only time when we can see where some of the more undesirable critturs enter the property. This year, we already have a duck sitting on her nest in the duckhouse on the pond, but judging by the fox tracks around it on the ice, I doubt if she's still there...time will tell.

We had a light covering...perfect for spotting tracks.










Here's the duck house, frozen in the ice with fox tracks all round it....



















These are fox tracks...










...and here you can see where he came through the hedge...










Rabbit and bird tracks...


----------



## Biker

The front garden normally looks like this... (The gap either side of the felled tree, is where I tried to plant the Laurel hedge)










However, at the moment....

This is the view. ()Actually taken at 0730 this morning)










This was Friday



















Window ledge gargoyle..










Bedroom window!



















Not going anywhere!










Looking back up the drive was pretty special though..



















The main road between Helensburgh and Dumbarton..










The same road looking south 10 minutes later










We were followed right the way back up the drive by this chap, at one point I actually thought he was going to land on my hand!


----------



## Roger the Dodger

Biker said:


> The front garden normally looks like this... (The gap either side of the felled tree, is where I tried to plant the Laurel hedge)


 Biker...I'm guessing you were planting the common Cherry Laural (Prunus laurocerasus) that is seen all over Britain. Called Cherry Laurel because of the black, cherry like fruit produced in Autumn.










Funnily enough, this plant has no known predators, except in its very young stage, as it contains high concentrations of Prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide) which accounts for the 'almond' smell when you crush the leaves. Early entomologists used crushed/torn Laurel leaves in their killing bottles to subdue butterflies and moths before the advent of the cyanide killing jar. Indeed, I almost killed myself in the early days as a landscaper by using a mower to collect a huge amount of Laurel clippings. After packing them into bags and putting in the van, I kept feeling drowsy on the drive back to base, where it was revealed I was the victim of mild cyanide poisioning. Although it has no known predators, it has been discovered that after a really hard, cold spell like we've just had, deer will, in desperation, eat only young plants that may not have such large amounts of the toxin in them.

They will however, eat other forms of Laurel, notably the Japanese Spotted Laurel (Aucuba japonica) which doesn't contain cyanide.










This is deer damage to spotted laurel within our grounds...










...and also to Cyclamen...










However, the Portugese Laural (Laurus lusitanica) seems to escape unharmed, has attractive red stems and makes a great hedge.










There are several other hedging alternatives you could use which deer don't seem to like, including Buddleja, Box, Forsythia (lovely yellow flowers in late winter/early spring) and Ribes (flowering currant)...see here for more details...

https://www.cleevenursery.co.uk/blog/deer-damage-to-plants/


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## Biker

Excellent info, thanks. :thumbs_up:


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## William_Wilson

Roger, I'm going to commit a brief hijack of your thread. :wink:

During a warm spell at the beginning of March a friend and I removed the lift cover on my Fordson Dexta and adjusted the linkages. Since then, I've upgraded the cylinders and spool valves, adding down pressure and increasing capacity. I still need to replace the upper cylinder mounts and re-weld some cracked welds on the loader arms. Otherwise, I should be ready to start seeding and fertilizing the paddocks in a couple of weeks. I'm actually going to try and cut the grass this year, my friend is going to drop off his Bush Hog for the summer.

Anyway, a tedious hydraulic test:






Later,
William


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## Roger the Dodger

@William_Wilson Nice work, William! It's been very wet over here, and we're only just starting to get onto the paddocks despite the tractors being fitted with wide turf tyres. Initial cutting will have to be done with our Wessex topper...similar to your Bush Hog, I imagine...

















After we get it down to a sensible height, we can then use the Trimax mower.

















Your front loading shovel on the Dexta looks useful...we did have a front loader on an Iseki tractor, but that was sold several years ago when we got a Ryetek loadall...this has an extending boom and can be fitted with either forks, or a large bucket...I don't have a pic of it with the bucket fitted, but you get the idea...one of the useful features of this French machine is that all four wheels can be turned in the same direction, so called 'crab steer', and it then travels diagonally sideways...useful in tight spots. There are no axles or prop shafts...each wheel has a hydraulic motor directly behind it. You can just see the motor on the back of th front RH wheel in the first pic below.


----------



## William_Wilson

Roger the Dodger said:


> @William_Wilson Nice work, William! It's been very wet over here, and we're only just starting to get onto the paddocks despite the tractors being fitted with wide turf tyres. Initial cutting will have to be done with our Wessex topper...similar to your Bush Hog, I imagine...
> 
> Your front loading shovel on the Dexta looks useful...we did have a front loader on an Iseki tractor, but that was sold several years ago when we got a Ryetek loadall...this has an extending boom and can be fitted with either forks, or a large bucket...I don't have a pic of it with the bucket fitted, but you get the idea...one of the useful features of this French machine is that all four wheels can be turned in the same direction, so called 'crab steer', and it then travels diagonally sideways...useful in tight spots. There are no axles or prop shafts...each wheel has a hydraulic motor directly behind it. You can just see the motor on the back of th front RH wheel in the first pic below.


 It is rather wet in some areas at my farm as well. After posting that video, I tried to move a wagon load of hay and buried the tractor in about a minute. I had to lift the front end up with the loader and place planks crossways under the front wheels. It was a prolonged 900 point turn, stopping to lift the frontend and shift the planks until I was at a right angle from where I started. Needless to say, the trailer I really needed to move isn't going anywhere for a few days. :laugh:

I would like to get a flail mower to deal with all of the softwood trees that pop around my place, but that will have to wait... considering they cost more than I paid for the tractor. :wink:

That Ryetec must need a lot of ballast with that sort of extension.

Later,
William


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## Roger the Dodger

Like most 'Loadall' machines, all the weight is at the back, including the engine. Some of the bigger JCB models have a pair of hydraulic jacks/stabilisers at the front which can be lowered to prevent tipping forward at full reach. Some of the CB (counter balance) fork trucks I've driven have a lot of the parts at the back made out of cast iron to add weight to the rear...A ten ton Hyster with twin wheels at the front that we had at BroomWade had rear mudgaurds that were 4" thick cast iron. The Ryetek will lift a tonne bulk bag of sand or a full pallet of bricks at full reach.


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## Roger the Dodger

@William_Wilson Hi, William...had a bit of spare time today, so took a few pics of the Ryetec in various poses for you. This old girl may look old fashioned compared to modern 'loadalls' (and we have a few others...a Dieci, and a JCB), but to date, although we've tried to replace it, nothing compares or comes close. We had one company come to give us a demonstration (obviously I can't name them) who promised their machine would lift a full pallet of bricks to first lift scaffold.....it got halfway up and completely tipped forward, smashing the pallet of bricks to bits, and demolishing an established Leylandii tree. The operator wasn't hurt , thankfully, but they left red faced and without an order.

Ryetec with its 6 foot wide bucket attached. This can hold a tonne bag of aggregate, or scoop up the equivalent of whatever...soil, sand, gravel, pea shingle. This is fully retracted. I quite often use this bucket as a grader....by tipping it forward at 90o, I can use the front edge like a bulldozer blade and do some serious levelling.










....and fully extended.










This is how the steering works in normal mode...both sets of wheels turn in opposite directions to effect a tight turn.










...and this is how the wheels look in 'crab steer' mode. By positioning the rear wheels in the direction you want to go, a lever is thrown, and the front wheels turned in the same direction. The machine now 'crabs' sideways...not often used, but a bonus when needed.










Finally, a better shot of the individual hydraulic motors on the front wheels...same at the back.










You might have noticed that there is a spare set of hydraulic spool valves at the end of the boom...this is so you can add various embellishments like a breaker, side shift for forks, back opening bucket, etc.

Hope you found this interesting,


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## Teg62x

Roger the Dodger said:


> Hope you found this interesting


 I did thank you. I love seeing all the kit that is out and about.


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## WRENCH

Roger the Dodger said:


> Hope﻿ yo﻿u found thi﻿s interest﻿ing,﻿


 Much so. :thumbsup:

Although I must say, after a lifetime of working with this type of stuff, now in my new home, with all of my gear sold off, I find I am not missing it. Everyone said i would, but no.


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## Roger the Dodger

WRENCH said:


> Much so. :thumbsup:
> 
> Although I must say, after a lifetime of working with this type of stuff, now in my new home, with all of my gear sold off, I find I am not missing it. Everyone said i would, but no.


 Hope I feel the same in a years time... :thumbsup:


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## William_Wilson

Roger the Dodger said:


> You might have noticed that there is a spare set of hydraulic spool valves at the end of the boom...this is so you can add various embellishments like a breaker, side shift for forks, back opening bucket, etc.
> 
> Hope you found this interesting,


 Very interesting. Over here in N.A., those remotes would likely be used for a grapple, such as a rock rake or root rake. They are super handy for gathering large stones, logs, brush and so forth. As for the steering, we had that on a couple of models of cars at the end of the 80s. The idea was when the wheels turned in the opposite direction it would be good for high speed turning, and the parallelogram mode would be good for high speed lane changes. It scared everybody that purchased them sh!tless at 60 M.P.H. The idea was abandoned a year later. :laugh: Seems much more practical on a low speed piece of equipment.

Any maintenance issues with the profusion of hydraulics on the Ryetec?

Later,
William


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## Roger the Dodger

William_Wilson said:


> As for the steering, we had that on a couple of models of cars at the end of the 80s. The idea was when the wheels turned in the opposite direction it would be good for high speed turning, and the parallelogram mode would be good for high speed lane changes. It scared everybody that purchased them sh!tless at 60 M.P.H. The idea was abandoned a year later. :laugh: Seems much more practical on a low speed piece of equipment.
> 
> Any maintenance issues with the profusion of hydraulics on the Ryetec?
> 
> Later,
> William


 Re the cars..... :laughing2dw: :laughing2dw:

Re maintenance...in the 16 years we've had it, there's only ever been one incident, and that was when I ran over a piece of angle iron, the end of which shot up and severed the hose to the front steering ram. Apart from that, it's just the usual oil and filter changes as and when needed.


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## William_Wilson

Here is another pointless Dexta vid:






At the 3:00 minute mark you can see it hop up while pulverizing a large pile of sh!t. :laugh:

Later,
William


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## Roger the Dodger

This year, the pond at work has become very overgrown with an excess of pondweed. This is mainly due to not having enough time to manage it properly this year....we have been very busy on site and elsewhere. The majority of the weed is Water Violet (Hottunia palustris) which, from the introduction of 6 plants about 4 years ago, has taken over the pond. It's also infested with duckweed. While a small amount of the Water Violet is a good thing, (it's a brilliant oxygenator, and egg laying plant for newts) too much is detrimental to the ecology of the pond. When all this lot decays and sinks to the bottom, it will have the reverse effect and de-oxygenate and pollute the water. So today, I'm setting sail in the good ship Venus to manually drag the excess out. Initially, the weed will be left on the bank for a few hours to let any creatures dragged out with it escape back into the pond.

Sadly, the pond has become choked with weed.










So it's out with the boat and rake to remove the majority of it. No need for oars, as I use the rake to punt the boat.










All ready to set sail....










The first lot comes ashore...










It's left on the bank for a while to let creatures crawl out and back to the pond.....










.....before being loaded up for the compost heap.










The pond looks a lot clearer now.










While doing all this , it was good to find that we still have a lot of newts breeding in the pond....there are thousands of newt tadpoles. The smaller one at the bottom is a Smooth newt and the larger, Great Crested newts.










The Great Crested newt tadpoles have a thread on the end of their tails. As they continue with their metamorphosis, the orangey coloured gill feathers will be absorbed until they are non existant.










In the past, I've posted pics of one of our largest beetles, the Great Diving beetle (Dytiscus marginalis) and there were several of their vicious looking larva in the weed. These creatures prey on newt and frog tadpoles, and also fish fry, using their wickedly sharp scimitar shaped mandibles to catch them.



















and the adult beetle.


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## Roger the Dodger

A year ago, I posted a thread about taking Osteospermum cuttings and how easy it was to increase your stocks for free...(it's about a third of the way down on the previous page). To reinforce this point, and to show just how cost effective this can be, last spring I saw and bought a yellow version...'Blue Eyed Beauty'. Most Osteos are either mauve, maroon or white. It was quite an expensive little plant at £5.50, but I had a plan.

Osteospermum: 'Blue Eyed Beauty'.










From this one plant, when it was big enough, I got 4 cuttings which rooted successfully.










...and from these four clones, I have now got over 40 plants. At £5.50 for the original, that's a lot of money saved! The original plant and the four initial clones are still going strong, so there will be more to come! Have a go with yours!


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## Roger the Dodger

Last week was spent lawn scarifying on the estate, a little later than I would have liked, but we've been busy with other things. We hire a scarifyer in for this job as it's not worth buying a machine that is only going to be used once a year, or every other year. This is a petrol driven machine and much more sturdy than the little electric ones for home use. Unlike them, which usually have spring wire teeth, this has three rows of spring loaded blades which cut into the soil easily.































At this point, I must explain the difference between scarifying and raking, as they are two completely different disciplines and people often get them mixed up. Raking is a job that can be done all year round using a springtine rake or an electric machine. Its purpose is to remove surface detritus such as leaves, twigs, moss, worm casts etc. The rake tines do not penetrate the surface. Scarifying, on the other hand is a much more vigorous task where the blades are set to cut down into the soil by about 3-4mm and remove thatch, a layer of dead grass and roots that builds up around the base of the grass plants, but more importantly, to sever the tillers (creeping roots) of the grass which are actively growing now. This severing of the tillers, like any pruning, encourages more to form, thus thickening the grass. As this *only* occurs during early Autumn, this is the *only* time of the year that scarifying is done. If attempted in Spring, you are more likely to irreparably damage the lawn, as the new tillers will be lifted only to be mown off the first time the grass is cut. This will also make the grass more susceptable to drought.


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## WRENCH

11 January today, and the local council were out cutting the fairways on the golf course, and the rugby pitch. Earliest I've seen in a lifetime. :huh:

Some.of this stuff looks impressive.


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## Roger the Dodger

Pretty cool stuff! I haven't really stopped mowing yet this year...the paddocks haven't been mown since the end of November when the Trimax topper was taken out of use for its annual service which will include jet washing and scaling of the underside, painting with Hammerite and sharpening of the blades. The lawns are still growing and are being topped with the lawn garden tractor...the fine cut of the Honda or Allett aren't needed at this time. As ever, if it keeps on growing, then keep on mowing, except if there's frost on the grass...then wait untill its thawed.


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## Roger the Dodger

We've come full circle once again, and a bit of a sad time for me as this will be the last time I get to do this, unless my replacement is away on holiday or ill...as the title says...Mowing the grass.


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## JoT

Looks like a nice estate Roger, glad you will still be doing some work there when you retire


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## WRENCH

Roger the Dodger said:


> and﻿ a﻿ bit of a sad time for me as this will be the last﻿ ﻿time I get to do this,


 It will pass. I haven't touched a mower, repaired a mower, or cut grass for over a year now. :yahoo:


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## Roger the Dodger

WRENCH said:


> It will pass. I haven't touched a mower, repaired a mower, or cut grass for over a year now. :yahoo:


 I do still have a lawn at home, but my faithful old 'Al Ko' mower gave up the ghost recently. Just bought a Hayter 3 in 1 mower which mulches if required. Tried it out and was very impressed...no more smelly bags of grass clippings for me!


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## WRENCH




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## Teg62x

First time in over two weeks it's been dry enough to get some grass cutting done!


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## Craftycockney

Same here but mine had grown to around 2 foot tall!. The garden is 80m x 7m so spent 2 hrs and a about 500ml of fuel.

Same here but mine had grown to around 2 foot tall!. The garden is 80m x 7m so spent 2 hrs and a about 500ml of fuel.


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## Craftycockney

Sorry meant about 80ft!. Not the greatest job but for a £30 second mower I ain't complaining. :yes:


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## JoT

Craftycockney said:


> Sorry meant about 80ft!. Not the greatest job but for a £30 second mower I ain't complaining. :yes:


 Good piece of land!


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## William_Wilson

Roger's situation has slowed this thread a bit, so here I am cutting the front yard back sometime during July:






Later,
William


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## Roger the Dodger

William_Wilson said:


> Roger's situation has slowed this thread a bit, so here I am cutting the front yard back sometime during July:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Later,
> William


 New tractor and mower, William?


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## William_Wilson

Roger the Dodger said:


> New tractor and mower, William?


 I've had the rotary cutter for a couple of years now, Roger. I picked up the tractor a year ago, and have been repairing it ever since. :laugh:

Later,

William


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## Roger the Dodger

An update to this thread...It's now been a year since I retired, and a lot has happened! The wife and I are enjoying ourselves going away to Portugal a lot...well we were until the Corona virus put a stop to that for the time being...  But spring is here and I've been occupying my time getting the garden ready for planting, cleaning the waterfall ready for it's summer season and growing some new varieties of Osteospermum on the window cill in our lounge. Of course when I was at work, I had a heated greenhouse where I grew all my cuttings...that's a thing of the past now, but it bought back memories of many happy years working there.

The greenhouse was built as a 'lean to' when some other building work was being undertaken. It had double glazed windows and a tri-polycarbonate roof. The bricked end is the potting and maintenance area.










It had plenty of slatted shelving...this is the only pic I have left of the end section, but there was enough room overall to grow everything needed for a 2 acre formal garden.










During the winter months, I used to turn the end above into a 20oC hothouse for overwintering tender or tropical plants like my Hibiscus collection, the shrubby Verbenas (Lantana camara) and the Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) plants. In March, I would germinate the seeds that I needed for the coming year in there. I used to put a 4" thick jablite screen across the end to create it.

































It had a hot air blower that kept the temp up to the chosen level...this was controlled by a thermostat. The fan ran constantly from November to April, with the heat switching on as and when required. This kept the air moving so it didn't stagnate. It was a very economical way to keep it heated.



















That's just a memory now, but the new Osteospermums that I have will be increased in exactly the same way as I've mentioned in previous posts. They are usually shades of pink, purple or white, but just recently, more exciting colours have been becoming available. As well as the newer yellow colours, this year I have bought a stunning orange variety and a new white variety with a ring of purple petals in the centre, so looking forward to increasing these. Hopefully, in the next few days, I'll be doing a new video of the waterfall now that it's more than a few years old now...anyone who hasn't seen that can view it here...

http://xflive.thewatchforum.co.uk/index.php?/topic/104338-the-waterfall-project/&tab=comments&do=embed&comment=1080994&embedComment=1080994&embedDo=findComment#comment-1080994

Take care, everyone, stay safe and have a great Easter! :thumbsup:


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## Caller.

Roger the Dodger said:


> I used to turn the end above into a 20oC hothouse for overwintering tender or tropical plants like my ..........................the Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) plants.


 Do you have any pics of what you grew? I love this plant over here and initially grew some in pots, which was okay initially but then failed. I plan to get some more to plant in terra firma!


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## Roger the Dodger

Caller. said:


> Do you have any pics of what you grew? I love this plant over here and initially grew some in pots, which was okay initially but then failed. I plan to get some more to plant in terra firma!


 I'll have a look, Phil...since PB started messing everyone's pics about, I've lost a lot of mine. It's taken me ages ( 2 days) to go through this thread, remove lost pics and replace them with new ones, and get rid of all the irrellevant posts.


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## Roger the Dodger

Caller. said:


> Do you have any pics of what you grew? I love this plant over here and initially grew some in pots, which was okay initially but then failed. I plan to get some more to plant in terra firma!


 Here you go, Phil...just found these 4 pics...they are the only ones I have left, now. This is a plant that survived for about 6 years before dying off.

This was an eagerly awaited bud...as an aside, in the background are some Schlumbergera or Christmas cactus, which I also grew loads of. Another easy one to propagate, just break a leaf section off and plant it in some sandy soil.










The flower when first opened...it has 3 orange petals and the blue stigma (sexual part) between. After the first set, a second set usually emerges, pushing the original flower to the back.




























The same flower a couple of days later..a second set of petals has emerged from beneath the first set.










I don't know if they have them in Thailand where you are, but in Spain, Portugal and I've also seen them in Antigua, there is a much larger white version called Strelitzia nicolai. This can grow into a huge plant 10-15 feet high. These pics are one I saw in Benalmadena, Spain.




























Some good tips on care and cultivation here from the RHS.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=847

More info here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strelitzia


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## Roger the Dodger

I've got a few more topics planned for this thread, so keep watching! :thumbsup:


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## Biker

Don't think they'll succeed in sunny Scotland,,,, Sadly


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## Roger the Dodger

Biker said:


> Don't think they'll succeed in sunny Scotland,,,, Sadly


 As long as they don't drop below 10oC during winter they should be ok. They will need it hot during summer to flower. 20oC +.


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## Biker

Roger the Dodger said:


> As long as they don't drop below 10oC during winter they should be ok. They will need it hot during summer to flower. 20oC +.


 Don't even top 20oC in the house..even with the fire on.


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## Caller.

Roger the Dodger said:


> I don't know if they have them in Thailand where you are, but in Spain, Portugal and I've also seen them in Antigua, there is a much larger white version called Strelitzia nicolai. This can grow into a huge plant 10-15 feet high. These pics are one I saw in Benalmadena, Spain.


 Hi Roger, thanks for these - amazing to see in the UK. It's late here now. Tomorrow I will dig out some pics of mine. I don't think pots are ideal here as it stunts their growth. My neighbour opposite has some a similar height to the bush in your pic, but mostly I would say they are smaller than that. A mate of mine loves to fish over here and stayed a coupe of times at a fishing resort about 30km away (after some time in Hua Hin) so I pooped up to see them at their resort, where they they had the most amazing display of this plant, which pretty much surrounded the entire lake.


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## champ

Strelitzia certainly have "jungly" looking foliage.Exotics were gaining in popularity in the Uk until the hard winter of 2010.Gardeners lost some of their favourites even with protection.It has picked up again in the last few years.Musa basjoo is very popular.Its root is reasonably hardy and although the pseudostem will die back if its not protected.New shoots will sprout again from the roots most years and can get to 6 feet or more in a season.I have grown a few species of banana from seed over the years.One of the most promising is Musa sikkimensis (Hookeri) which grows at altitude naturally.It seems to be almost as tough as M basjoo though its early days.A bonus with raising this spp from seed is that some 30% or more will have attractive reddish "stripes" on the leaves.


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## Roger the Dodger

Looking through a holiday album, I came across these pics of a large Strelitzia we had outside the front door of a villa in Portugal (2014). I remember taking the pics because one of the flowers seemed unusual. If you look closely, you can see that on this flower, there was a bud within a bud...so the one stem had two flower heads on it. Perhaps that's normal for a well established plant...this one was growing directly in the ground, but I've never seen that before.



















A couple of days later, the second bud opened...


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## Caller.

Okay, here are mine (RIP):

Developing -





































And here are the ones from the fishing park, called Jurassic (in Cha am) - that's them either side of the pitch and opposite. It was a very impressive display.





































One gratuitous shot to end with, with more BOP in front of the rock and yes, I will be buying some more and they will be going in the ground.


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## Roger the Dodger

Been sitting out in the garden again and being this time of year reminded me of the some of the trees we had at work before I retired. Hazels are fairly familiar, from the common hazelnut (Corylus avellana) to the filbert (Corylus maxima),which has a long nut) and the Kentish cob (another filbert, but larger). There is also a variety that has unusual twisted limbs, Corylus avellana 'Contorta'. We had all these trees on the estate, and obviously, one of the most recognisable features in late winter/early spring are the pendulous catkins seen hanging in the bare branches. These are actually the male flowers and contain the pollen, but where are the female flowers? Hazels have both male and female flowers on the same plant, (known as monoecious) but you have to look hard to spot the female flower. It looks like a tiny tuft of ruby red feathers, and emerges from the tip of a bud that will eventually become a cluster of nuts. They are wind pollinated.

Familiar Hazel catkins.










This is the female flower.










Catkins and female flowers together.



















Another strange tree we had on site, I'd learnt about at college, and it took me a while to finally find one at a local nursery. This was Adam's Laburnum, (+Laburnocytisus 'Adamii') a peculiar plant known as a 'graft chimera', and the + sign at the start of the botanical name denotes this. The tree is a combination of Laburnum and Broom. These used to be known as 'graft hybrids', but this term is not really correct, as the tree isn't a true hybrid. Back in the early 19th century, plant breeders would often experiment by grafting one species onto another to see what would happen. In this case, breeder M Adam grafted low growing Broom (Cytisus purpurea) onto the taller Laburnum (Laburnum anagyroides) probably in the hope of producing a standard style tree. What actually happened was that the one species continued to grow surrounded by the other. These trees have Laburnum at their core and Broom on the outside. Consequently, they produce three different types of flower all on one plant. There are the familiar yellow flowers of Laburnum, the purple flowers of Broom, and then (usually the most dominant on the tree) orangy-pink flowers which are a mix of the other two. They all resemble pea flowers, as they all belong to the Legume family.

Adam's Laburnum, growing at work. This tree was originally bought as a whip about 5 feet high. You can see the different coloured flower tresses.

















These are flowers from the tree above...yellow Laburnum,










Purple Broom,










...and the mixture of the two...










And a branch showing all three together.










This was once thought to be that unheard of situation, an intergeneric cross, where individuals from two completely different families combine to produce a new species. While interspecific crosses occur in the animal kingdom (for instance a lion x tiger = a liger or a tigon) intergeneric crosses never do. It would be like a monkey mating with a horse...it doesn't work. Even in the plant kingdom, intergeneric crosses are few and far between...there is the cross between Mahonia x Berberis to produce Mahoberberis, and also the London Plane (Planatus x acerifolia).The most common intergeneric hybrid we see today is the Leyland Cypress ( x Cupressocyparis leylandii, where x denotes an intergeneric hybrid ) which was a natural cross between the Nootka Cypress (Chamaecyparis nootkantensis) and the Monterey Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa). These intergeneric hybrids are usually sterile, and have to be propagated by cuttings (called clones) but Leylandii is unusual in that it does sometimes produce viable seed. Most that you will buy are from cuttings, though.

Strange the thoughts that run through your head while sitting out in the sun! :laughing2dw:


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## Roger the Dodger

Out in the garden again today and a random selection of the latest pics...

Annual seeds sown a month ago just beginning to show through...










The plant between the rows is a Cyclamen.










This row has California poppies, some cornflowers and a Marigold coming up amongst others.










Nasturtium seedling.










Tagetes (Marigold) seedling.










The ferns round the waterfall are starting to unfurl...Shuttlecock fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris)










Hart's tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium)










Male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas)










The American Skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus) is just pushing through...










Later, it will have a huge yellow spathe...










And finally, very pleased to see a self seeded Common Spotted Orchid. Good to see that they are propagating themselves.


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## WRENCH




----------



## tick-tock-tittle-tattle

WRENCH said:


>


 I WANT ONE!!!


----------



## Biker

bloody belt snapped on the ride-on, bloody grass is growing wild!

Flag up for VE day


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## Roger the Dodger

Just wanted to talk today about a serious problem that TWF members with Box (Buxus sp.) bushes/hedges might have encountered this year...especially with the warm weather we've had. This is a specimen of Box topiary in my garden, and at first, I thought it was the dreaded 'Box Blight' a fungal disease which can be fatal if left untreated.









On closer inspection, however, I found the leaves had been chewed by something, and delving deeper into the bush, I found numerous yellow and black caterpillars hidden amongst dense webbing that they had spun. 









The damage...


















There were so many caterpillars, that the trees were surrounded by copious amounts of frass (caterpillar poo)









These are caterpillars of the Box Tree moth.









Keep a sharp lookout for the adult moths in late April/May and destroy any you see, also keep an eye on your Box plants, and the minute you see any of the symptoms mentioned, obtain and use the product above. Hopefully, I caught mine in time, though there a couple of 25 year old topiary specimens which may have been defoliated too far. Will keep updated.


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## Alpha550t

Roger the Dodger said:


> Just wanted to talk today about a serious problem that TWF members with Box (Buxus sp.) bushes/hedges might have encountered this year...especially with the warm weather we've had. This is a specimen of Box topiary in my garden, and at first, I thought it was the dreaded 'Box Blight' a fungal disease which can be fatal if left untreated.
> 
> 
> On closer inspection, however, I found the leaves had been chewed by something, and delving deeper into the bush, I found numerous yellow and black caterpillars hidden amongst dense webbing that they had spun.
> 
> 
> The damage...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There were so many caterpillars, that the trees were surrounded by copious amounts of frass (caterpillar poo)
> 
> 
> These are caterpillars of the Box Tree moth.
> 
> 
> Keep a sharp lookout for the adult moths in late April/May and destroy any you see, also keep an eye on your Box plants, and the minute you see any of the symptoms mentioned, obtain and use the product above. Hopefully, I caught mine in time, though there a couple of 25 year old topiary specimens which may have been defoliated too far. Will keep updated.


 You take care delving delving deeper into that bush!!


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## Hayballs

Looking at the weather this weekend, we'll be finishing off the back hedge. Managed half last weekend. Hedge gets cut once a year. Back to the wood for the cut and 3ft growth over the year. Always enjoy a few pints afterwards. :thumbsup:


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## rhaythorne

Over much of the Summer and continuing into Autumn my bird baths have become overrun by bees. Whilst I don't mind the bees using the facilities, so to speak, they are very protective and selfish and chase the birds away when they try to have a drink or take a bath. They even swarm around me when I'm replenishing the water; the ungrateful beestards!

Obviously they'll retreat to their hive as the weather gets cooler but, for next year, do any of you have any ideas about how I might deter bees without affecting birds?

Short of having some childish fun with a flammable aerosol and a cigarette lighter I mean :laugh:


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## Biker

Just remind them that they are endangered and should be more grateful and courteous...


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## Roger the Dodger

Are they honey bees or bumble bees? If the latter, it might just bee a one off for this year. As winter approaches, the nest of the current years bees should die out and not bee a problem next year. I had a bumble bees nest under my garden waterfall a couple of years ago, but after winter was over, they never returned.


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## rhaythorne

Roger the Dodger said:


> Are they honey bees or bumble bees?


 They're honey bees. The lady a few doors down from me is a beekeeper. I can watch vast streams of them approaching down wind before coming in to land, having a drink and then taking off into the wind and heading off back to their hive. It's like Heathrow Beeport sometimes.


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## spinynorman

rhaythorne said:


> They're honey bees. The lady a few doors down from me is a beekeeper. I can watch vast streams of them approaching down wind before coming in to land, having a drink and then taking off into the wind and heading off back to their hive. It's like Heathrow Beeport sometimes.


 You could try planting lavender to distract them.


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## rhaythorne

Already plenty of Lavender and Bluebells around which is probably what attracted them in the first place. It's like after a hard days pollinating and nectar-gathering they just want to hang around "the pool" drinking with their mates!


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## Roger the Dodger

Roger the Dodger said:


> Just wanted to talk today about a serious problem that TWF members with Box (Buxus sp.) bushes/hedges might have encountered this year...especially with the warm weather we've had. This is a specimen of Box topiary in my garden, and at first, I thought it was the dreaded 'Box Blight' a fungal disease which can be fatal if left untreated.
> 
> 
> On closer inspection, however, I found the leaves had been chewed by something, and delving deeper into the bush, I found numerous yellow and black caterpillars hidden amongst dense webbing that they had spun.
> 
> 
> The damage...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There were so many caterpillars, that the trees were surrounded by copious amounts of frass (caterpillar poo)
> 
> 
> These are caterpillars of the Box Tree moth.
> 
> 
> Keep a sharp lookout for the adult moths in late April/May and destroy any you see, also keep an eye on your Box plants, and the minute you see any of the symptoms mentioned, obtain and use the product above. Hopefully, I caught mine in time, though there a couple of 25 year old topiary specimens which may have been defoliated too far. Will keep updated.


 An update on the Box Tree caterpillar situation. Approx 6 weeks on and the badly defoliated Box topiary in my garden seem to be recovering, thank goodness! New leaves are starting to show, and it looks as if the moth infestation has died out for this year, as I've not seen any adult moths for a couple of weeks now. My two mantises loved them, and would both eat up to 10 a day, there were so many around!

All I have to watch out for now are early frosts, which will damage the tender new growth. I have plenty of fleece in store in case frost is forecast.

6 weeks ago...









...and now.


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## Biker

Already had a wee morning of frost up here...


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