Beardie

I think that a lot of these lifestyle shows have people doing things in a deliberately spectacular way just for the camera. I recall an episode of Amazing Spaces where a log was split using explosives. I could have done the same thing with axe and wedges, but it made a nice BOOM sound, magnificent sight of the two halves falling apert, et cetera. I gave up watching the Alaskan homesteaders thing after they spent a whole hour's programme fretting about two people who had gone out on skiddoos and not returned. Turned out they had taken diesel not petrol to refuel, so had to be rescued, but were never in real peril.

I think the bloke at Kew has a good reason for felling as he does, as he wants the stump out of the ground to plant a replacement, and it doesn't matter if he damages the timber.

Calcium carbonate is soluble, otherwise we wouldn't have hard water, or stalactites in caves.

However, I think what is going on with the tree is that the owner is using incorect terminology, which doesn't tell you what is actually there. Things are 'calcified' if they are saturated with calcium carbonate, which cannot be the case here. More likely, someone found a hollow in the tree and filled it with concrete. Add a bit of fuzzy thinking typical of those who ask you to work on their garden trees, and you have your 'calcified tree'!

We're going to be planting about 300 Sweet Chestnut transplants & whips as a coppice.

What kind of spacing should we be planting them at?

 

Other top tips also appreciated....

cheers, steve

If you didn't know how many to plant per unit of area, how did you arrive at 300 for your site?

Ben Law's chestnut coppice in West Sussex is very closely spaced, about 2m between stools. After a few year's growth, you can barely squeeze between them.

Thanks I will look into both

Nice double meaning there.

I try to catch Countryfile every week, as it's very keen on showing us the latest high-tech agribusiness scheme and I like to keep an eye on stuff like that. I particularly remember one dairy farmer with a mobile milking parlour to be towed out to the fields, and he intended to export raw milk to China. There's all sorts of ridiculous stuff like that.

Then you've got Matt showing off the farm he supports with the money he gets as a TV presenter and something about someone's rural diversification . Because it's surely a good thing that you can't make money just by growing crops and must do chainsaw carving or run a hang-glider school to keep hold of the place.

So for me it's part lifestyle aspiration and part cringe-making car-crash TV.

At least it's February and they've stopped doing the calenders.

:laugh1:All those years I spent scouring second-hand bookshops for them was wasted, then.

It makes me wonder how it is economic to transport firewood from Eastern Europe to Britain anyway. Most of the journey is overland, by lorry.

It seems to be a common theme that the value of any land bears no relation to what you could make from growing anything on it. Farmers have to diversify into non-farming businesses to make enough to pay for their land. Grant-surfing dominates decisions as to what to grow. With woodland especially, prices are pushed up by people who buy it just because they can, and have no idea what to do with it.

Not that anyone on here doesn't already know this, just ranting.

I have a lot of sympathy with the Tony Martins of this world. If the government wants to avoid people taking the law into their own hands they need to give the police the resources they need.

As things stand, the police aren't able to provide adequate cover for urban areas, as recent debates on voluntary Street Wardens have shown. If you're in the sticks, look to your own defences.

Tax disc holder makers

Don't you believe it; I was in 99p Stores the other day and they still sell them! God knows what anyone uses them for, though.

Turning cloth different colours; that's a dyeing trade!

I'm intrigued by the notion of spraying for leaf miner. Since they are living within the leaf, wouldn't spraying be totally ineffective?

the peadophile pension fund, aka, children in need , is a little short on cash this year, the sheeple are start

ing to catch on to the scam

I think Room 101 beckons, the rate we're going... (also, it's "paedophile").

Regarding the price of 9.50., it does include postal and packing and the printer does them at little more than cost price. They've got to live too, so working for free isn't an option. I wonder how many people on here would be happy to take on a job knowing they'd make nothing on the deal.

Failed to load on my computer.

Yeah it's a intestine one,

tree

That has to be the best malapropism on here. Just waiting for someone with the guts to point it out.

On a serious note, the leaf in the last photo looks like Sorbus x thuringiaca, a hybrid of rowan, with pinnate leaves, and whitebeam, with simple ones. Consequently, this tree has leaves which get progressively more deeply lobed away from the tip, with a couple of separate leaflets near the base.

I reckon Gumtree are out of order. They are trying to fob you off by getting you to run after Husqvarna, when it is they who are pulling the ad and threatening you with a ban. This distances themselves from their own decision.

The line they say Husqvarna is taking (and you only have Gumtree's word for it so far) is clearly unenforceable, since it would effectively end the advertising of secondhand goods. I can't believe this is in Gumtree's interests.

Personally, I suspect this is more cockup than conspiracy. Possibly the combination of a young and inexperienced office drone at Husqvarna not thinking things through, and someone at Gumtree putting things through on autopilot. Ask Gumtree how you are supposed to advertise anything without a picture or saying who made it.

Im assuming the OP is referring to leaving big fibres standing out the hinge?

I think you'll find that's an mbira, or thumb piano.

And no, I haven't.

Go to the local press. They might be interested, particularly as you seem to be being singled out.

Headache tree

 

 

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Yes, it could be Umbellularia californica, and there is a test you can do. Crush a leaf and take a good sniff. If you get an instant blinding headache, that's what it'll be. It's strong stuff, apparently.

Or wait for the flowers to come out and do the ID by them, if you want the boring safe option.

It reminds me more of a willow than anything, particularly the bark and overall form. Not sure about the leaves though, but the Salicaceae is also a large family.

 

I would fell and stump grind, around pipes etc, then plant Beech.

According to the OP, he wants to maintain a continuity of windbreak, hence planting the beech before felling the leylandii.

I suspect the watering and fertilizing would be to counteract the competition from the established leylandii. Not convinced it'll work, in fact good luck digging the planting holes in all that root.

Anyway, what makes you think the beech will be any easier to manage once established? Remember the world's tallest hedge is a beech.

There are good objective reasons as to why the woman's letter was unreasonable. It's not just a matter of opinion as to whether ash dieback is good or bad, it has the potential to alter our natural ecosystem. She is clearly seeing things from a very narrow perspective and ignorance of basic ecology. Everyone has the right to an opinion; it doesn't mean that any opinion should be treated as valid.

Regarding the editor's lack of immediate response: it is unusual for them to do so unless the publication's policy on something is being challenged, or until a debate has gained some momentum. I suspect the letter was printed with the latter idea in mind.

Privet.

Link: Woodland Crafts Events Management Woodlands Country Show - the old South Downs show

I did one several years ago. Burned all the top growth, demolished it with a mattock, dug out all the roots Icould find to a depth of half a metre or so.

18 months later, you'd never know I'd bothered.