Idle chat
Last post 22-11-2009 7:57 AM by Roundelder. 4420 replies.
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20/06/2009 04:18 PM
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- Susiq
- Northumberland
- 16 Feb 2008
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1,104
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Looking at the forecast Sue1002, I think you will have ample opportunity to do your lawn next week! I try and time my trips into the garden when Percy sleeps - my mam is here to keep an eye on him if he's awake - BUT I can't really trust her to stop him doing naughty things like eating the zappers for the tv etc., - she uses one of those walking frames with wheels to get around, so its not fair to expect her to catch him when he's up to no good! He got into my handbag last week which I'd stupidly left on the settee - result = CARNAGE to the contents and my mam was sitting there watching him do it!!!
Digger - re Percy vs Baldrick!!! It was so funny - we have an area fenced off by the backdoor that we have lovingly called 'Poo city'!! Its where we let Portia out last thing at night to do her duty, without worrying that she will escape onto the A1 - anyway this area backs onto the chicken run - Percy managed to dig under the wire last Thursday and was happily romping around with the chickens - I spotted him (heart in mouth) just as he was approaching Baldrick, Percy was happily wagging his tail - Baldrick however, did not seem impressed to say the least! He made some strange clucking noises, ruffled his feathers up, that was when I snatched up Percy - I think he would have come worse off between them! Anyway, he (Percy) now goes out there regularly with the wire between them and is very happy to poke his nose thru the chicken wire and seems as tho' he really does want to play with them - rather than kill 'em thank goodness. Do you think I should let him into that area while he is still a youngster?
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20/06/2009 05:12 PM
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- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
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4,743
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As long as you can watch him he will be okay, but if he gets too close Baldrick might step in and thats when it will go pear shaped, ideally you want the dog to be able to walk thru the chicken run area maybe sniff at the hutch etc.. but pay no attention to any of the birds, when this happens the hens may peck at the dog as he goes past but the dog will learn to turn his head away. Our dogs were easy to break to poultry when Piper was young and she got too interested in the hens we would remove her, we got her interested in looking for rat runs whilst she was in the run, so when she was working she ignored the birds, if Percy isn't going to be looking for rats, there is no reason for him to regularly visit the hens but you need to make him aware that he musn't get too close to them, Baldrick will fight visciously if he thinks his girls are being threatened, it's good for Percy to see and even meet the birds but he musn'treally pay them much attention. That way if he does encounter the poultry and you're not watching he should walk right past them.
digger 
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21/06/2009 12:19 PM
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- Roundelder
- NW Cumbria
- 15 Apr 2009
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175
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Hi folks, Now then, when I built my greenhouse earlier in the year I didn't intend it to be a nursery for Triffids! Now I know the packet said Courgettes, but I get the feeling these dudes are planning to take over the GH in the near future. Never grown them successfully previously so I am hoping these won't just fizzle out as it were.
Right, problem, (I have posted this elsewhere) I wondered if anyone could suggest a way of killing off a Cotoneaster
"stump"? I have cut it back as far as I can, but it has grown under a
sandstone feature in the garden and I don't want to damage that in
trying to remove it further and I want rid of it.
Roundelder
Wide awake Roundelder 
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22/06/2009 08:27 AM
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- Anemone
- County Down, Northern Ireland
- 08 Feb 2008
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575
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Hi folks, hope your weekends went ok. We had rotten weather again and I was at the funeral of a school friend's 9 year old little boy on Saturday so it has been utterly miserable. He was a special needs child, had some sort of chromosome disorder, and just didn't wake up last Wednesday morning.
Anyway, I didn't get much done in the garden except for watering in the greenhouse. The grass badly needs cutting but was way too wet and I need to earth up the maincrop potatoes that are in bags. The forecast is for things to pick up with a scorchio end of the week so I might try to get a couple of days leave then.
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22/06/2009 09:48 AM
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- sue1002
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- 06 Sep 2005
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5,200
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I hope Percy soon grows out of his chewing habit Susiq, I would have done my nut if it was my handbag that had been emptied and the contents eaten. Sorry to hear about your friend's little boy Anemone, it's so sad at such a young age too  I'm waiting for the grass to dry out after yesterday's rain before I can get it cut but at least it looks like the rest of the week should be dry. It also looks like the hot weather we have been forecasted is coming later in the week than had originally been forecasted.
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22/06/2009 10:21 AM
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- miranda
- Oxfordshire
- 17 Nov 2004
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2,976
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Sorry to hear about your friend's son, Anemone. That's really sad. We had rain on and off over the weekend. I'd just finished helping in my friend's garden when the heavens opened, so that was good timing. It was obviously meant to be  Annoyingly, my friend's lawn is full of ants and I got bitten several times. He said they're going to use a nematode to try and get rid of them as the lawn has more ants in it every year. I read in one of the papers today that the RHS has apparently done a study which shows that tomato plants resond to the human voice. How do they respond, though? Anyone else heard of this?
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22/06/2009 11:09 AM
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- Susiq
- Northumberland
- 16 Feb 2008
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1,104
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Very sad news Anenome - so heartbreaking when its a child.
Thank you very much for the advice Digger re Baldrick and clan! I've seen him kick one of his girls and was amazed at just how forceful he can be - don't fancy Percy getting the brunt end of that!
Yes Sue1002 I was fuming, re Percy in the handbag - unfortunately it was my mam I was more mad at, for not calling me in!
Where they red or black ants Miranda? - either way, I guess it must have been quite painful - I always think red ants are more spiteful. Haven't heard of tomatoes specifically responding, but I think Prince Charles will probably agree!
Hope you manage to get some time off Anenome at the end of the week - it seems even we will get some of the good stuff. I'm really pleased as it means I can spend some quality time in the garden and my daughter can play with Percy whilst I'm working out there! She will probably need another holiday by the end of the week!!!
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22/06/2009 02:23 PM
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I think that I heard something about this on the radio yesterday. They had recorded people speaking - male and female and different readings. Apparently the plants all had a different voice piped to them and were all treated exactly the same otherwise.
The voice which led to the biggest growth in a plant was Sarah Darwin (Darwin's great great grandaughter) reading a passage from 'The Voyage of the Beagle'. However they did say that there wasn't really enough data to make it completely sound as it may just have been a slightly stronger plant and they would need to give groups of plants a voice so you could really tell.
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22/06/2009 05:37 PM
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- sue1002
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- 06 Sep 2005
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5,200
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I get bitten by ants too, the red ants seem to have a stronger bite but the bites from the black ants tend to itch for longer (with me anyway), hope you're not scratching too much Miranda. I hadn't heard of the tomato thing either, I wonder if "Grow and quickly ripen" will work One of the tigerellas here has tiny toms on it and all the others are in flower. Bet you're looking forward to your daughter's visit Susiq, she can play with Percy and tire him out, and when he's asleep, she can give you a hand in the garden
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22/06/2009 06:26 PM
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- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
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4,743
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Hi all, Anemone that is tragic news about your friends little child, life is unfair. Today is quite nice and I've been to the lottie, we had some ants at the lottie the other day i left them alone but OH said "they are bad and will bite you more often than a spider will, and they will defend the greenflies so they can drink their poo, and they attack and kill other insects," anyway I still left them alone, then I had a bumblebee in the water tub so I fished her out and put her on the grass to dry out, as it was on the grass an ant sneaked up and grabbed the bees leg!!!!!!!!!!!!! what an evil thing to do, so I squished the ant and watched the bee until it was dry enough to fly off, Then I told OH what had happemed and she came up to the lottie and put antpowder in the ants nest. Ants are bad creatures and I'll bet they will steal bees honey.
digger
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22/06/2009 06:52 PM
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- miranda
- Oxfordshire
- 17 Nov 2004
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2,976
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I think they've got red and black ants, actually. It doesn't really itch too much, unless I get hot but it's a bit irritating. I did a search and found an article about speaking to plants. It seems the RHS have done a study, but not sure how serious it was: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5602419/Womens-voices-make-plants-grow-faster-finds-Royal-Horticultural-Society.html There is a big lime tree at the back of the courtyard and it's in full flower. The scent is lovely and the whole tree is absolutely buzzing with bees of all sorts. It sounds like a hive and it's very good to see so many lively looking bees.
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22/06/2009 10:05 PM
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- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
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4,743
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I didn't notice what colour theses ant where, probably not red ants these were tiny things but they were bad ones because they got the bees leg, anyway they should all be dead now after getting the powder and the bees can go about digging their bee holes without fear of the ants attacking them.
digger
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23/06/2009 08:30 AM
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- sue1002
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- 06 Sep 2005
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5,200
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Let's hope the ant powder doesn't kill off the bees too digger. Looks like it's going to be a hot one today, it's very warm already with nice blue skies and no wind so I will definitely get the lawn done today.
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23/06/2009 10:00 AM
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- miranda
- Oxfordshire
- 17 Nov 2004
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2,976
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Good weather here this morning as well. We had heavy rain in the night but now it's all lovely and fresh. I watched a family of blackbirds sunbathing earlier. They were all sitting with their wings spread out and their heads at odd angles, which made them look rather like they'd been poorly stuffed.
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23/06/2009 05:42 PM
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- sue1002
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- 06 Sep 2005
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5,200
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That sounds nice with the blackbirds Miranda, while I was out in the garden today, the sparrows were singing away which was nice to hear. There was also a family of magpies in next door's Eucalyptus tree making a right old racket.
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