The idyl of living by the sea.

[Ricard with an H]

Today for the third time i've changed from shorts and teeshirt with flip-flops to heavy gardening pants, wooly socks, boots and fleece jacket then back again.

Sea mist rolling over the hills block the sun and it's cold, then the the sun burns it off and i'm glad I remembered factor 30 on my slap-head.

[Diane]

Wow - it must be good for the immune system. What doesn't kill you etc.

We just have dank muggy murk here in Dorset today.

[Ricard with an H]

I just changed for the fourth and final time, i'm back in shorts, tee shirt and flip-flops. When the last sea mist came over I had to wear a rain top.

Cold beer time but I haven't tidied up yet.

[Diane]

Have a beer first - you can always tidy up tomorrow.

[richard p]

if you dont bother with the shorts and tee shirt it halves the number of clothes to put on and off .... might need the factor 30 on more than just yer head though.

[Ricard with an H]

Seriously though, I often find it difficult to know what to wear. It's not a fashion-thing.

If i'm cutting long-growth or even just trimming edges you won't catch me in shorts and t-shirt and if i'm chainsawing winter wood I always wear those protective pants that would see you warm in minus 30 degrees.

When we first came here I didn't know about ragwort poisoning, nor did the farmer-type who initially helped me cut the long growth. If you get liquidised ragwort on your skin it get's nasty. Put me in bed for two days with mystery flue-like symptoms.

A neighbours gardener had warned them to re-position their car but they ignored him, a small stone thrown by his strimmer/brushcutter went straight through the side glazing.That particular gardener doesn't use a guard on his machine because it's inconvenient, nor does he use face protection.

He's been doing this for 25 years and never had a problem.

Sea mist again this morning with the sun fighting to get through, it's damp and muggy. Oh-my, what to wear.

[Motherwoman]

Jeans and a T-Shirt does most days for me. Never wear shorts in long grass because of Tics and the risk of Lymes disease. And I hate getting mucky legs!

MW

[Geoff]

There is the other part of the problem. As fellow slap head, once ginger, have to decide woolly hat, sun hat or (rarely) no hat at all! I haven't got a sou'wester for today.

[Motherwoman]

Generally no hat for me as lot of hair But on really hot days I have a floppy sort of woven strawy hat which I can jam on, do weeding bent from the waist, so head upside down, and the hat doesn't fall off! Do have a bit of trouble with the varifocals when working like that though

MW

[Ricard with an H]

The sun has popped out, i've changed from long work-pants and long sleeved sweat to t-shirt and shorts but boots and socks rather than flip-flops.

It's to do with what i'm doing, right now I have three different jobs on the go, i'm washing the exterior walls down then having a break and de-weeding the rockery where grasses have grown up through alpine planting and other plants that are happy in gravelly-soil. Mostly i'm having to lift the whole plant and split it to get to the grasses roots.

A new trick that I learned from this forum and i'm now burning the soil in the planting holes with a propane torch before re-planting.

Factor 30 going on after a cup of tea and did I mention the third job ? Cutting grass when it dries.

[Motherwoman]

What do the neighbours make of you trying to weld the soil Richard? Or don't they dare ask?

[Ricard with an H]

I only have one retired couple as permanent neighbours and they decided I was odd very quickly after they moved here. The other neighbours who are occasional visitors regard anyone different to them as being in need of change.

They thought I was odd because I cut my own winter fuel, don't have a gardener, clean my own windows and regularly wash two cars and a van.

Odd ?

Back to welding the soil though, it was someone on this forum who advised the use of a large blow torch for preparing soil for a compost mix. Then I read in my RHS manual about the process and it was illustrated in one of the magazine so I am going to buy myself one of those massive blow torches so I can cook the ground before sowing seed and planting.

What do you think ?

[Motherwoman]

They used to use heat treatment to make old fashioned potting compost that involved soil to kill the weed seeds. If I remember rightly it was like a metal turning tube with a big lifting screw inside and a very large blow torch!

I also remember steam sterilising of soil beds in the tomato houses. Big sheets of plastic were laid over the soil and weighted at the edges and a bloke with a steam machine came and put a pipe under the plastic. It was supposed to kill off diseases etc in ground that had been used for years for tomotoes.(Or even tomatoes..he he) Course it's all grow bags now.

Carry on being odd for your neighbours... it worries the hell out of them and is hugely entertaining! Especially if you smile....

And brace yourself like Garfield to avoid being shoved into a pigeon hole. I think we must have got to 'a certain age'.

MW

[peter]

Heat can also break the dormancy of seeds in the top layer and thus encourage a new weed crop.
A repeat torching sees off the tender shallow rooted seedlings.