Idle chat
Last post 22-11-2009 4:52 PM by richardpeeej. 4428 replies.
-
23/01/2009 03:02 PM
|
|
- miranda
- Oxfordshire
- 17 Nov 2004
-
2,977
|
Thanks for the journal comments, it's really very encouraging. I didn't intend that one to be sad, it came out that way. I found out when we were on the smallholding that I'm not as squeamish as I thought - we ate several fox-killed hens and part of a cow that had been given a name. It felt odd the first couple of times but we got used to it and, I guess, at least we knew what sort of life the animals had lived.
I'd like to find a happy medium too, Susiq! Not sure where it is, though. Glad I'm not the only one who breaks things, Anemone. Those trug things are great, so bendy and almost indestructible. You can trip over them and fall on them as often as you like and they stay in one piece. Hope your new bird shows up today, Susiq! You must take his picture and post it up so we can all admire him.
|
-
|
23/01/2009 04:56 PM
|
|
- Hosta
- UK
- 21 Sep 2008
-
39
|
I love tub trugs too, so much so Santa brought me a load specially to grow my potatoes in - must have heard me going on about them so much LOL
Miranda you are such a lovely writer
|
-
|
23/01/2009 07:07 PM
|
|
|
Has anyone got links (the web sort as well as cntacts) to the shelved biosphere scheme in St Helens. Recession or not they`re still in job creation mode.
|
-
|
23/01/2009 07:40 PM
|
|
- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
-
4,743
|
You might be better trying to contact the local council in st.helens, see if they are getting Pilky's to do the glass? apparently the heat was going to be generated by using all the green waste collected from the area.
digger 
|
-
|
24/01/2009 03:20 PM
|
|
- Susiq
- Northumberland
- 16 Feb 2008
-
1,104
|
Hi all,
I did a really long response to everyone yesterday and was gutted that as I pressed post - it came up that the either the site was 'off-line' or there was a fault!
Anyway, briefly, (ish) Miranda, that fact that I was moved to tears, shows what a good writer you are, in encapsulating the story!
Digger - did you get a free packet of seeds with the NVS bulletin? I got some rainbow carrot seeds - unexpected but very welcome!
I had wrote Sue1002, that the cockerel didn't arrive yesterday (gutted) - but hey - he's here now He's absolutely beautiful, and is now locked up with Maud for the next two days - so's they can 'bond'! We will be giving them plenty of food and water of course, but were advised to keep him in his new home for a couple of days so he knows that that is his new roost/place of residence!!! I know this sounds woosey - but I think Maud was SO pleased to have some company after being on her own for a few weeks, I'm really pleased for her!
|
-
|
24/01/2009 04:41 PM
|
|
- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
-
4,743
|
Hi all, I've been in the greenhouses today for quite a while, most clems are into good new growth, and I'm now getting things ready for seed sowing in the next few weeks. Susiq I got two packets of swede seeds I've just been reading the article on peas and beans, Tomorrow i will nip out to the allotment shop for some jeyes fluid and some seaweed meal.
digger
|
-
|
24/01/2009 07:05 PM
|
|
- Phot's-Moll
- The sunny South coast.
- 06 Jan 2007
-
3,347
|
Wasn't it lovely and springlike today? (I hope it was for everyone else?) We got well wrapped up to walk round delivering the horticultural newsletter and actuaally got warm!!!)
Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.
|
-
|
24/01/2009 10:19 PM
|
|
- Anemone
- County Down, Northern Ireland
- 08 Feb 2008
-
575
|
Hi everyone. Yes Phot's, it was a glorious day here - cold, sunny and calm and I did loads of outside jobs just for the joy of being out in the sunshine. I'm contemplating making a couple more cold frames from the broken greenhouse panels. I think If I scored them I could then snap the broken bits off leaving me with rectangular sheets to put onto a wooden frame. I need something to keep me busy while I wait for spring.
Great that the cockerel has arrived at last Susiq. I hope you scattered rose petals in the hen house to ensure a bit of romance then? 
Glad you had a good day in the greenhouse too digger. I'm itching to get started with seed sowing too but as I stil haven't got heat into the greenhouse I'm biding my time for a bit yet.
Hosta, Santa was very good to you, you must have been really good all year to deserve that.
Very wet and windy again tonight and a horrible day forecast tomorrow. Glad I made the best of today so.
|
-
|
25/01/2009 10:45 AM
|
|
- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
-
4,743
|
Hi all, Anemone it sounds like you are v. busy in the garden, we must be sharing the same weather because it's it's blowin a hoolie here at the moment, OH is at the stables sorting out the horses, how's the new cockrel settling in susiq?
digger
|
-
|
25/01/2009 05:59 PM
|
|
- miranda
- Oxfordshire
- 17 Nov 2004
-
2,977
|
Glad that your cockerel arrived, Susiq. Let's hope that they get on okay! You never know, it could be true love. A friend of mine, who takes in ex-battery hens, has been busy knitting wool jumpers for them as they're all moulting. Thank you for the lovely comments about the journal - best get on and write some more! We had a good day yesterday - it was cold and sunny so three of us went for a six mile walk around and about Charlbury and the Cornbury Park estate. It's about 600 acres and they have some lovely and absolutely huge old oak trees there, you don't often see them as big and knarled as that. Elsewhere someone would probably cut them down as health and safety hazards. I think about four of the six miles we walked were along the muddiest lanes in England; we ended up covered and what with all the slipping and slithering it felt like we'd walked three times the distance. We all felt quite virtuous by the end.
|
-
|
25/01/2009 07:47 PM
|
|
- sue1002
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- 06 Sep 2005
-
5,200
|
Yes Susiq, it's good to hear the cockerel finally made it to his new home Your walk yesterday sounds good Miranda, I bet the washing machine was doing overtime It was dry for a few hours here yesterday and I got the fig tree put into it's pot. The rest of the weekend has been wet and quite windy, I was surprised to see all the starlings in the garden today that actually came to feed in the rain - they must have known it wasn't going to stop.
|
-
|
26/01/2009 04:15 AM
|
|
|
Hello, everyone! The weather has been freezing here and that has put the brakes on the tulips, good thing. The pond has been frozen and Hutch has been walking on it and licking it everyday for the past couple of weeks. My OH has koi in there and I bet they are cold!! It froze last year too and they did fine. They are tough fish.
Your walk on the estate sounded wonderful Miranda!! It is awesome to see large, old trees. I was just reading about pecan trees, how they get to be 75 to 90 feet with an 80 ft spread. Beeches are probably bigger. I didn't read your journal yet but will. I know you are a telented writer by the way you relate in your posts!!
Digger, Mr. Obama rode in to Washington on a horse called "Change." That's how he got the votes. Well, if you remember Bill Clinton, he also rode that same horse...and you know the rest of the story. We ended up with 8 years with Mr. Bush, because we needed change. So, what comes first? The chicken or the egg? The only thing to do is keep trying to get what we want, and we need all the support we can get. I bet Cecil is asserting himself now among his step dog-brothers and sisters. I am looking forward to new episodes as he discovers the joy of owning a gardener.
|
-
|
26/01/2009 08:55 AM
|
|
- Anemone
- County Down, Northern Ireland
- 08 Feb 2008
-
575
|
Hi everyone. Back to work today and will have to make do with looking out the window. 
Funny day yesterday. I woke to a storm but it blew itself out by lunchtime and I got another couple of hours in the garden but the it poured down all evening and all last night. I covered the bed I'll be using for early potatoes with polythene as I read somewhere it helps warm the soil up. Just used old compost sacks opened up down the sides and tucked the edges in with a spade and then put some stones on top to hold it all down in the wind. I figured if it doesn't make much difference I won't bother again but I don't imagine it can do any harm.
Foxnfirefly, do you have to float something in the pond when it's freezing so the fish get oxygen? Who else can remember seeing this done on Blue Peter every winter?
|
-
|
26/01/2009 10:13 AM
|
|
- sue1002
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- 06 Sep 2005
-
5,200
|
The ice on your pond must be pretty thick for Hutch to walk on it Foxnfirefly, is it a large pond and do you have a pump on it? We have a pond (8 x 6ft and 3 ft deep) and we keep the pump running all year round and no matter how cold things get, it never freezes over. You can float balls in the pond and when it freezes, the balls can be removed to leave a gap in the ice for any gasses in the pond to escape. Another way is to place a pan of hot water on the ice and remove it as soon as a hole appears, it's probably a good idea to hold onto the pan in case it disappears Yes Anemone, the compost sacks put down the way you have should help warm the soil up nicely ready for planting.
|
-
|
26/01/2009 11:28 AM
|
|
- Susiq
- Northumberland
- 16 Feb 2008
-
1,104
|
Ha ha ha Anenome, you really made me laugh re the rose petals - the thing is - now he's out, he can see the other three fine girls in their run, and I think he thinks, he's got a bad deal with Maud (a lot of her feathers missing!) He's been trying desperately to find a way in to their domain!!! Please make sure you've got very, very thick protective gloves on if you are going to attempt cutting those glass panels yourself!
Glad you got your plant potted up Sue1002 - where have you put it?
Digger - was that favouritism or wot? TWO packets of free seeds! I haven't read the peas and beans article yet, I've got so much catch-up reading to do on all fronts!
Foxnfirefly, Portia fell through the ice on our pond last winter - she has never been near water since!
|