My Garden

What's my garden for

Last post 19-07-2009 5:37 PM by patiopal. 46 replies.

• 10/04/2008 02:16 PM	In reply to
  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743	Reply | Contact Some things like erosion of cliffs and beaches are nowt to do with us, and it's just nature and evolution, but i did read in the garden magazine that someone has said composting was creating greenhouse gas,? digger

• 10/04/2008 03:59 PM

  In reply to

  schol49 Location: Oban Argyll Joined on: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 81

  Reply | Contact  You did Mon Ami My Query then is If a Peatfield aka a bog is a settled organism only periodically disturbed by someone like My Friend on Lewis cutting it say once or twice a yearAnd Me with Two Plastic Barrels of Rotating  Compost Making How can this Achieve The Equivalence of  The Carbon Footprint of Commercial Peat Extraction No matter how you look at it It does not Add Up.  Running Wild in The Wilds of Argyll

• 10/04/2008 04:17 PM	In reply to
  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743	Reply | Contact If you and your friend are extracting peat faster than it takes it to form, then you are using up the resource in a way that isn't sustainable either, albeit on a very long timescale. How long does it take to naturally form two barrels of peat? digger

• 10/04/2008 05:08 PM

  In reply to

  schol49 Location: Oban Argyll Joined on: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 81

  Reply | Contact I do not burn peat I burn coal and wood coal of which Scotland has a at Least Three Hundred Years Supply which nevertheless comes from I believe Poland  To return to the opening part of your answer which states Coastal Erosion has owt to do with us is erroneous. By commercial extraction of Beaches a finite resource The Human Condition does indeed have responsibility. In that said beaches break up the power of the coastal tides by acting as a buffer remove the buffer it is not replaced except by depleting other beaches sand banks are not static they are in a constant state of flux and movement by interfering on such a massive scale as Commercial Extraction we trigger a chain reaction which leads to Houses Collapsing and dunes disappearing. Then we get People with more Money than Sense who want to build Golfcourses on Fragile Habitats on The East Coast of Scotland!! One of The Most Hostile Enviroments on the planet  The Words Boil Spitting Blood seem appropriate  Running Wild in The Wilds of Argyll

• 10/04/2008 08:23 PM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743

  Reply | Contact i though sand came from underground/ so where is the beach where all the sand comes from then? if you are burning coal be it from whereever you have got a big carbon footprint even bigger than normal if it's being shipped from Poland,and you are extracting peat from the bog so you are having a negative effect on the bog if you are extracting it faster than it can be produced, admittedly it is only on a small scale but you are still digging the bog up digger

• 10/04/2008 10:39 PM	In reply to
  schol49 Location: Oban Argyll Joined on: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 81	Reply | Contact  I`ll ask My Friend on Lewis how Long this Peat has been Cut. The Wood I Burn comes from exfences or Loft Conversion or Windfall Storm damage  Never of Heard Sand being Mined Extracted or Dredged http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/62/2/145 http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1980.       Running Wild in The Wilds of Argyll

• 10/04/2008 10:41 PM	In reply to
  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743	Reply | Contact Those links don't work for me, so tell me where does the sand come from then? if we need sand we have to get it from somewhere don't we? and the peat can't possibly recover and re new as fast as you dig it out of the bog can it? digger

• 11/04/2008 07:11 AM

  In reply to

  schol49 Location: Oban Argyll Joined on: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 81

  Reply | Contact  Well Digger I believe the peat harvesting has been going on for centuries if not Millennia  Now as People seem to have got uptight about My Coal Burning. Well I  did a rough analysis of My Carbon Footprint and even with My Coal Burning I reckon myself to have a smaller Footprint than most. Now Why do I say that a) I do not drive a car b) Even though I burn coal I have two Large Firebricks  which reduce the amount of coal I burn. Which is further reduced as I load up with Logs, now before you say why do I not just burn logs then. According to Our Chimmey Sweep burning only wood produces more soot and it is more corrosive of The Chimmey.  c) My Electricity is carbon neutral as it is Hydro Power we actually export More Electricity  than we use. Which is why I feel no guilt in burning coal and wood upon My Open Fire d) The Amount of Trees and Shrubbery we have in what in comparision to most on the forum  is a reasonably small Garden. That and the Fact We compost most vegetable waste e) I Shred most mailshots etc Yes I feel comfortable with my carbon footprint. Running Wild in The Wilds of Argyll

• 11/04/2008 07:19 AM	In reply to
  schol49 Location: Oban Argyll Joined on: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 81	Reply | Contact The first one will work if you copy and paste digger The Second You need to join Blackwell Synergy to get Access I `m already a member thats why it probably opened for me sorry about that  Running Wild in The Wilds of Argyll

• 11/04/2008 09:51 AM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743

  Reply | Contact I did the carbon footprint calculation last year i think and it came out as I had to plant two trees per year, our electricity is to be from a gas power station, we have loads of windmills up here in the hills but I was told they are a false economy based on the amount of carbon they are responsible for during their manufacture and installation. We have two wind farms within a couple of miles of us they are very unsightly and if we are not careful the place will end up looking like Belgium, I think that nuclear power is the way to go for producing electricity. digger

• 11/04/2008 01:24 PM

  In reply to

  annycat Location: Hereford Joined on: 01 Aug 2004 Posts: 10

  Reply | Contact Agree on wind farms and nuclear. wind farms are not efficient and exceptionally ugly; they shred birds ... until the birds realise and no longer try to go to theri old habitat, so then they deny habitat. When there's not enough wind they draw on the grid to keep the colossal blades moving because the kinetic start them again if they stop is huge. they don't last very long, say 20 yrs. You need to cover the coutyr in them to make any appreciable difference at all. When did the French have a nuclear accident? anny wyse

• 11/04/2008 01:30 PM	In reply to
  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743	Reply | Contact Yes the windmills are a con i didn't know that the French had ever had a nuclear accident, but i do think that nuclear pwer is the way forward if it is done properly. digger

• 11/04/2008 03:04 PM

  In reply to

  schol49 Location: Oban Argyll Joined on: 28 Aug 2005 Posts: 81

  Reply | Contact What I found out is Nuclear`s Dirty Little Secret which is the finite resource of Uranium is reckoned as being according to an article I read about two years ago was quantified as approx 30yrs worldwide This may explain China`s preponderance of Coalfired Power Station. Not only this I do not want My Lasting Heritage to Future Generations to Be Guarding The Planetary Nuclear Waste. from The Maniacs who Want to Use it to Cause Mayhem.  Question how many People will Worn Out Blades of Windmills be creating a Thousand Year Hazard for???   Running Wild in The Wilds of Argyll

• 11/04/2008 03:42 PM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743

  Reply | Contact Somewhere in the Atlantic ocean is a big crack on the sea bed it is really deep we should chuck the nuclear waste down the crack. Windmills are un economic cause more carbon to construct than they can save,they have a limited lifespan and they take electricity out of the system to keep them turning when the wind is nil, and they are ugly monstrosities that blight the landscape, it's easy to argue for them but then you don't have to look at the ugly monsters each time you look out of the front bedroom window do you? the bottom line is that we need energy from somewhere and it isn't fair to say that we are all leaving a legacy of trouble, we don't make the decisions big corporations with lots of bucks call the shots and politicians with their snouts in the trough are just as bad. This isn't a new problem the previous generations had similar troubles and we've known for years about carbon emissions and cfc's etc. it is only now that some politicians have realised environmental issues win votes and that millions in stealth tax can be raised by them pretending to care about the environment digger

• 23/04/2008 04:16 PM

  In reply to

  pink_roses Location: Somerset Joined on: 17 Apr 2008 Posts: 18

  Reply | Contact Hi!  I'm new to this site too.  My garden used to be a space where the dog could do what a dog needs to do, and where my children could ride their tricycles and kick balls around (after one had cleared up whatever it was the dog needed to do!).  Now the dog's no longer with us and my children have grown up and moved out - or at least grown out of kicking balls around in the garden.  My garden's a place for me to potter about with things that give off that lovely, comforting smell of damp earth and greenery and listen to the birds sing, while I daydream about having a picturesque cottage garden like the ones pictured in Christopher Wood's books.  On the odd occasion when I actually grow something successfully, it's an occasion for triumphant cheering. I'm also becoming increasingly entranced by the alchemy of compost!  I can't be bothered to fuss about doing all the things you're supposed to do to get good compost, but it seems little short of miraculous that I can dump all the grass cuttings, potato peelings, and dead weeds into a bin and then grow rather splendid geraniums in the result. What's my garden for?  As my mum used to say, "Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits...."