Peasgood

I moved farms away from a public footpath. They are a nightmare and I wasn't even near to a town or anything, I pity the farmers near houses other than you have the prospect of a crop of houses maybe. I wouldn't consider buying any land that had a footpath on it.

Just checked my meter and I have been overcharged as the actual reading is below their estimate for the last two bills. Having said that the meter is obviously wonky as it says I only used 7 cube since May, I know for a fact I have filled my 1200litre sprayer 28 times since then never mind any of the other stuff.

It also says the trees will return so either they have all been made into boomerangs or they were homing trees all along.

I paid just under half your bill for same property description but mine is a farm and I'd expect to use a lot more water than purely domestic. My meter did stop working for a while though, unfortunately it started again. £57 for one quarter was my max. Just looked and I haven't paid my last bill never mind the latest one, also it is estimated so could be miles out.

Apart from the colour then, I reckon Sealskinz would be ideal.

In my experience definitely waterproof and also very warm, everything else on your list definitely not. In the winter I spend most of my time pruning apple trees with secateurs, when it is very wet or very cold I will wear Sealskinz but prefer not to because they are too bulky. Have to say I do find them incredibly waterproof much to my surprise. I accidentally cut a pair once, brand new ones of course, and they have what looks like a polythene bag layer in there. That must be how they are waterproof.

It sounds a bit cliche these days to say oh yeah, I watched a Youtube video and just did it myself. My son did just that by watching a few vids and the bought a tig welder and made a whole new aluminium tray and canopy for his truck to a high standard (and I am critical), next door neighbour watched a few vids and then put a slate roof on his new build also to a high standard.

Takes ages to clean the knapsack afterwards.

SAme as mine but they are £200 on ebay :eek

This video shows you how to make one.

Well that is a fallacy for starters.

By way of apologies to the OP. sorry for derailing.

Cloths I like to replace every other year. I have a twin bed press so replace half each year, they are ridiculously expensive for what they are otherwise I might buy new every year. Each bed has 9 cloths and Vigo ask something like £40 each! I use fine cloths also known as "ripe fruit" cloths because the standard mesh is too open for my liking and you get too much pulp squeezing through like a puree. The cloth I bought last year was a different material and tbh I may as well have just cut up a tablecloth and used that. They couldn't/wouldn't tell me if this years material was the same or not so I didn't buy any. I will have to find something before next year and if anybody does know a good source I'd be grateful. I tried some dacron sailcloth which is really good as far as it is heavy duty but the weave was too fine I felt. What I find happens to the cloths is that as they age it gets harder to shake the pressed pulp off, they don't wear out as such but the high pressure messes them up if they are not quite fitted right when pressing. I had to look up what pollinator group 4 was (see I said I was always learning :)) and can't claim to know all of the varieties listed but two stood out. Chivers Delight was one that I do know and that will fit the bill, a good apple that does indeed make good juice. I'd say it was slightly tart and quite crisp, they crop very heavy and can be quite small as a result but they can also be very big if you thin or they get a bit frosted. They have always set very heavy here. The other was Laxtons Superb, in 35 acres of orchards we somehow only ended up with one branch of Laxtons on one tree, I have taken scion wood and I do have one tree from it which I intend to increase. A chap an awful lot more experienced and knowledgeable than me recommended them as a good juicing variety so I will be following that advice.

For a start you are trying to find anecdotal evidence that the big increase of ivy within the countryside is due to invasive species and climate change without any evidence whatsoever that there even is an increase of ivy in the first place. The only evidence is a single spinney with ivy growing in it and you have no idea if there was more or less ivy there at any time in the past. You have ignored the people who work in/with/around trees all day and every day that have said there hasn't been a change but I bet if I told you that I thought there had been an increase you would thank me for being so factual. Typical scientist picking out the evidence that points to the answer they want to find and I have known enough scientists to know this is very often the case.

Jimmy Carr recently explained why that not be the case.

I don't truss any of them

Who is it? (not Maggie)

The current winner was Jonagold but have won with Cox and also with Belle de Boskoop before now, Discovery is often a winner. Any apple with a good flavour will do and the more distinct the better. Having said that, I would never consider Golden Delicious as having a strong flavour yet have made very nice juice with them. Each year I have a favourite juice I have made and it is usually a different variety than last year, this Year it is Red Pippin. I think it doesn't matter too much which variety it is as long as the apples are picked when fully ripe so they have maximum flavour and then pressed while still in good condition. I don't think you would win much with Bramley as it is too acidic but I may well be wrong on that. People have always asked for the sweetest juice but post covid they are now asking for the sharpest. Don't know how to explain that one, Bramley do make a good addition to a sweet juice, about 30% Bramley in the mix is about right but depends on taste of course. As for which press, I think the pack presses are a bit more efficient as in how much yield you get. I did several years with a press as per the above pic. My current press is a bigger hydraulic version but basically does exactly the same thing, I'd say the bigger the press the more advantage in pack over basket.

Who to? The police have very little interest in such things and seem very reluctant in pursuing these people.

Not at all, I am always interested to hear how others do it and I am convinced hardly anyone enters the competitions so they are not hard to win. It all sounds very grand but if there were only 3 entrants you stand a good chance. If you are making a beam press as above it will make life easier if the beam can be swung out of the way. Hopefully the pic explains it. That is a pack press but same principle as a basket press. The pic is taken off www.vigopresses.co.uk who are a good source of equipment and sundries, they are nothing to do with me hopefully just a useful link.

Did someone say apple juice? Now there is something I do know about:) Best in show 3 years running at Royal Bath and West, Best in show at National Fruit Show and current Holder of Best Single Variety apple juice at National Fruit Show. Marden Fruit Society cup is sat in my kitchen. If that sounds like blowing my own trumpet it’s because I never figured out what else to do with it. As for mashing apples, wood and stainless are the materials to use as it is easy to taint the juice with iron. A spinning wooden drum with loads of stainless screws in it is a homemade method I often see. When I first started I used half a stainless beer barrel and a length of 3x2 to pound the apples. Very simple and you can get a fair bit done that way. If I can be of any help just ask, I can spend all day chopsing about apples and making juice. My first press was a little hand operated basket press similar to pictured above and slowly progressed over the years to doing 30 tons of apples. I think I am going to progress back the other way from now on.

I will give it a go if you can explain why he is sitting on the front wheel of his motorbike. Or is that the bit that went wrong.

Bee stings do relieve the pain for up to a week but only because you get a weeks worth all at once!

Ahh come on guys, it's the same plant.

I just looked back to the beginning of the thread for some reason ( didn't realise it was an old one) and was surprised to read so many not realising the same plant can have different foliage on mature and juvenile growth. Ivy (H.helix) has the classic ivy leaf appearance when on young juvenile growth, this is usually the climbing bit that is searching out new space, either vertically or horizontally. Once it has occupied and established itself in that space any new foliage is longer, round edged and pointed only at one end, this is the mature growth foliage. Other plants also have different foliage as they mature, eucalyptus is a good example where the foliage on young growth has a pronounced round shape and is often sessile (without stalk). This is the stuff favoured by florists and eucs are often treated as pollards in order to produce this foliage for the floristry business. Then the leaves on the mature growth is elongated and usually does have some sort of stalk. Beech (and oak) have a different foliage in as much as the young growth will hold onto its leaves over winter. You will all have seen a beech hedge in winter with its typically brown leaves still on it. Beech trees don't hold their leaves though do they. That is what the difference is and why beech are chosen as hedging in the first place. The annual clipping ensures they always have leaf retaining juvenile growth. No I do not have a reference to any of that, I learnt it age 11 and my teacher long since passed away.