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Re: Early Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 2:03 pm
by oldherbaceous
Your neighbour should realise your time is precious, Robo, and instead of holding you up, he could have lent a helping hand... that's how me and Old Codger carry on and it works really well.

Re: Early Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 2:17 pm
by Primrose
Agree. I think in such cases one just has to plough on with one's work and say nicely "You don,t mind if I work while we talk do you, because i,ve got a lot to do in a short time ? One would have to be pretty gormless not to take the hint.

Re: Early Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 3:07 pm
by Clive.
Here's a further photo of cultivating progress, as of today. Still loads to do...look in the foreground..that patch of buttercup is still there.!!

C.

Re: Early Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 4:56 pm
by oldherbaceous
There may be buttercups in the foreground, Clive but, what an achievemet...looking good.

Re: Early Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 7:12 pm
by robo
Unfortunately my neighbour is one of life’s lazy people when he needs his plot working he pays a mate of his to do it but he is a very friendly guy

Re: Early Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 9:53 am
by Elmigo
Does anyone cultivate their land by hand, without any expensive electric tools? First I have to remove a lot of grass, but after that I'm using a cultivating hand tool (I have one on a stick) to loosen up the soil. With us moving to a house with garden, I am gonna have to buy all the necessary garden tools.

What are some garden tools that are absolutely necessary and you can't miss out on? What do you use them for?

Re: Early Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 10:54 am
by Shallot Man
Elmigo wrote:Does anyone cultivate their land by hand, without any expensive electric tools? First I have to remove a lot of grass, but after that I'm using a cultivating hand tool (I have one on a stick) to loosen up the soil. With us moving to a house with garden, I am gonna have to buy all the necessary garden tools.

What are some garden tools that are absolutely necessary and you can't miss out on? What do you use them for?


As regards tools, as my late Father used to say," Never buy cheap." I collected mine over the years from boot sales, used to look out for Blacksmith forged. Last a couple of lifetimes. :wink:

Re: Early Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 11:28 am
by Primrose
My basic minimum essentials would be:

- a sharp spade (straight ended rather than pointed). FOR DIGGING NEW AREAS
- a long handled digging fork. (Ladies size for me!j. FOR DIGGING NEW AND EXISTING AREAS
- a minimum of two short handled trowels ( because you always put them down and never remember where you left them!,). FOR REGULAR WEEDING AND PLANTING OUT NEW SEEDLINGS
- a short handled fork. FOR WEEDING AND PLANTING OUT SEEDLINGS
- a pair of good secateurs FOR PRUNING FRUIT BUSHES AND OTHER SHRUBS

ALSO
- some strong gardening gloves
- a pair of wellington boots or heavy duty gardening boots
- (a box of Elastoplast plasters and antiseptic for inevitable gardening accidents,)

And if you're removing grass to create a growing area:
- a rake (for spreading/levelling earth)

Some containers with handles for collecting unwanted stones, weeds and other rubbish to be removed are also essential.

Re: Early Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 11:59 am
by Elmigo
Thank you Primrose, this is very helpful!

Luckily I already have most of those tools and yesterday I bought myself a good garden rake too. Plowing the soil at our new plot is quite a challenge as it's a sticky mess with here and there a thick piece of clay.

Today is grass removal day here

Re: Early Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 12:07 pm
by robo
A small stove complete with kettle ,a decent fork I find more use than a spade a hoe,a rake ,I agree with the quality comment no room for cheap tools

Re: Early Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 12:21 pm
by Primrose
And not a tool, but a willing voluntary helper with a good sense of humour is always a welcome addition, especially if the weather isn,t very nice!

Re: Early Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 12:33 pm
by Primrose
I don,t know how old your house is Elmigo but always be prepared for surprises when digging in a new garden, especially if the previous owners were not keen gardeners and didn,t do much excavating when they moved in.

The original builders can leave all sorts of rubbish just below the surface when they finish building and often just cover the debris over with a thin layer of soil to make it look respectable. Some gardeners will just simply sow grass seed or lay grass turn of this without investigating too much.

When we moved into this house (which was one of four built in somebody's enormous back garden, we didn,t investigate too much and couldn,t understand why an area of grass always flooded when it rained. We had to dig up that part of the lawn eventually and found the solid concrete remains of an old raid shelter buried down there, left over from World War 2 !!

Re: Early Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 1:43 pm
by Elmigo
Primrose wrote:I don,t know ... from World War 2 !!


This area didn't exist over 75 years ago, it was still part of the sea (you know, the so called Dutch "polder" landscapes). I did find a couple of old plastic pots that were digged into the soil, probably to prevent the roots from spreading. The previous owners were kitchen gardeners too as they had a greenhouse in their garden, you can still see it on the sattelite view of Google Maps! It got removed when they left, don't know why.

So far made good progress removing the grass today:

20200105_165236.jpg
20200105_165236.jpg (2.09 MiB) Viewed 2125 times

Re: Early Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 4:43 pm
by oldherbaceous
Had another 5 hours digging today, so forging on pretty good... just as well, as my hip is giving me what for now... :)

Re: Early Winter Bits and Bobs.

Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 6:26 pm
by Primrose
well done Elmigo and OH, Sound like a nice hot bath should ease those aching joints !

Elmigo what are you doing with all that removed grass?
Leaving it upside down in a corner or a bin to rot dowN to make compost?