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Morning It's dark and cool. No rain - fingers crossed Have a safe one.

I think you can make a coffee substitute from dandelion roots and they are supposed to have many health benefits from root to flower. They are a really good source of food for insects at this time of year. Only stuff ive read a long time ago. We always used to call them wee the beds as kids as apparently they make you 'wee the bed' if you eat them. Probably just some propaganda from big pharma like.

Well yeah, those big long tap roots suck all sorts of things from deeper in the soil than many other plants their size, so they are great to have around even if just used for chop and drop to feed other plants nearby. Especially on soil in poor health, broken ground, that sort of thing. A surplus of pissenlit roots can also be turned into root beer as long as another favourite "weed", burdock, is available in roughly the same quantity. In fact roots, leaves, stems, buds, flowers, and seeds are all edible and, prepared appropriately, delicious. They are also, predictably, more chock-full of nutrients than other leaves you'd be eating a similar amount of. Can replace frisee, endive, radicchio, and other substantial leaves in salads. Use with a similar volume of green herbs to make pesto or salsa verde. Cook with peas and bacon or wild mushrooms for an exciting side dish. Well worth having around.

On the BBC website, I read with interest that some scientists in Australia have discovered the smallest fish known to exist. They've obviously never been to the Britannia Chippy on the Gloucester Road. Why is it that pubs wont serve me if Im drunk, but McDonalds continue serving them fat f***ers? its hardly fair. Christina Martin These do-gooders are now telling us we shouldn't hunt elephants. Perhaps they'd like to explain where precisely we're going to get our ivory from? I HAVE recently started to m@sturb@te whilst fantasising about Jeanette Krankie. My problem is that I cannot work out whether I am gay, straight or a p@edophile What do your readers think? A Wood

Wordle 1,041 5/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Random desperate guesses there produced a couple of words that I've never seen before. They should do a UK English version.

Well @Joedels, to assume makes what ?. In all seriousness tho, four years of advice has resulted in pretty much sweet fa, regardless of how you wish me to phrase, paraphrase, discuss or skirt around the subject in airy fairy ballet terms. As unless there are any other factors contributing to the damage, those are you two options, a third option would be to live with it as all you'll be doing is delaying the inevitable as the roots will keep growing and the cracks will keep needing filler. A root barrier will probably kill the tree or more likely encourage it to regrow and or ruin the barrier and the house either falling on it or growing under it again.

I'm not a fan of dandelions, they're towards the far end on the good plant to annoying weed scale. What's so good about them? Got to admire their tenacity and prowess at reproduction though. They'll be one of the survivors in the barren wasteland that's left in a few years I'm sure. So children love them, (blowing the "clocks" and stuff), and you can make wine out of the flowers. I have fond memories of picking them with my grandad as a child, running around in a sea of bright yellow. Plus eating the leaves has a diuretic effect, (if that was what one wanted), hence the French name for them. What else is in their favour? Anything to do with the long tap root drawing stuff up from the depths?

Re: GarethM - I certainly wasn’t expecting a dismissive reply. The arboricultual advice I have had from every source, both professional and informal over the last 4+ years has been constructive. That experience had set up expectations of polite and useful dialogue. I was hoping to get some shared experience or some interested advice Sarcasm isn’t helpful.

Rumour has it: Interviewer to Hendrix 'What's it like to be the best guitar in the world' Hendrix 'i don't know, ask Rory Gallagher.

Was that an act of horticultural sabotage by "someone"?

Yes it is an ever increasing seasonal pattern on all but Point 1 which is nearest the 2 oak trees. Point 1 has been moving only upwards for over 2 years. It shows upward movement for the duration of the Claim of 17.9 mm (nearly 2 cms) so that Point nearest the trees is showing by far the most movement. Thank you for replying - hooe you might be able to say more now you have data.

Some nice examples there. Interesting to see the steel bars in that hollow trunked Plane. Are they meant to be structural aids?

I adore beef jerky. However, never made them myself.

It might not taste that nice now though, its 4 years old! Ive always fancied a go at doing some beef jerky, Ive tried in the past but it didnt work out too great IIRC. I have a big lump of brisket as the youngest wants to make a beef stew so I might sneak a few slices and give this a go.

wow, looks yummy

I own some Douglas fir woodland and have burnt plenty of it !! I tend to leave it laid around for a year or 2 until the bark falls off , or is easily removed ...i think it burns better without the bark ( as most woods seem to ) , can be a pain for splinters ,makes great kindling , it burns pretty quick but gives out decent heat ...great to mix with other wood that can be a bit lazy ..esp oak

Thanks for the info guys. I thought this might be the case. I can’t say what the exact species was as it was stone dead when I saw it originally about 2 years ago. The client assured me it had been dead since 2010. We felled the tree and the reason for the awful felling cut was because I had to cut in both sides with a 66 from about 10ft up (above the completely rotten base) of a set of tripod ladders to avoid a power line. I’ve popped some photos of the base of the tree below. I’ll let them know. They seemed adamant that because it was oak it was worth a fortune and I said it was not my area of expertise but I would ask. Thanks again for the input. Always very helpful. Cheers Eric

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that some of my fruit trees were looking a bit stressed, and I couldn’t figure out why. I didn’t see any signs of disease, but then I found some chewed branches and tiny teeth marks on the bark. Rats! I have a small orchard with apple and pear trees, and the last thing I want is rats damaging them. I thought about using traps or poison, but I have pets and was worried about safety. Plus, I didn't want to harm any of the other wildlife that wanders through. I needed something that would keep the rodents away without causing harm. That’s when I remembered seeing a mouse repellent spray on Amazon. I figured I’d give it a try since it's made from natural ingredients and wouldn’t harm my trees. It’s got peppermint oil as the main ingredient, which is supposed to repel rodents. I sprayed it around the base of the trees, focusing on the areas where I saw signs of chewing. The scent is pretty strong at first, but it fades pretty quickly. The best part is that it worked. I haven't seen any more signs of rats, and the trees are looking healthier already. It's been a couple of weeks, and the damage seems to have stopped. The trees are starting to recover, and there's no more chewing.

Burns well, a bit like larch, but doesn't tar up the chimney as much. Easy to split

On the two plates, No31 is by far the most common and if held on by a single screw, it is the one you should use. With the oiler, on any setting, it should always fling oil from the tip off the bar when pointed at a clean piece of wood and revved. Were the replacement parts OEM? Have the crank seals been replaced? sometimes people don't push them in far enough and sometimes they can lock the pump up as it bends the pump when clamped. Is the bar oil hole clear of debris? I have seen seasoned pros wonder why the oiler isn't working and this little hole is blocked. It sounds like the oil isn't flowing in to the bar but is flowing behind the mount plate, just check the surfaces of the bar mount are clean and flat, hopefully the new plate will sort it as it is a pretty simple mechanism and shouldn't give any serious issues.

Wordle 1,041 2/6 ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Lucky today. Last few days have found it really tricky.

Not sure there’s as much thought put into it over here as you think.

That’s just it Mick, they don’t wait till they’re 100 footers like we do.