spandit

I've fired them off an e-mail...

Certainly looks like it, thanks

Seems so obvious now... any particular species?

My fledgling woodland is doing well but mostly deciduous so looks pretty sparse and sad in the winter. I have a few Scots pine and holly planted, none of which are doing that well but wondered what evergreen species I could plant to give it some structure/cover at this time of year?

I have some really fast growing willow, common sallow, I think (osier viminalis) that I have used for making living structures etc. as it's so easy to propagate. My next door neighbour has a shed and greenhouse which aren't especially pretty and I planted some cuttings along the fence line to create a hedge. Went to trim it today and found that one of the stems has failed to separate and instead has fused into a flat piece, like a fallow antler. It was completely unobstructed, growing freely and the other ones around it have grown normally. Anyone seen something like this before? Not easy to tell from my pictures but it's about 5mm thick front to back (in the one where I'm holding it)

Yes, think so. I contacted them to enquire and they got back to me - they surveyed the land and came up with a package (that was 3 times what I ended up ordering). It's a 12 year maintenance contract but unless you are just flogging the seedlings on, I don't see how they can check. That being said, when they were looking to relaunch the scheme a couple of years ago, one of the directors came round here for a tour and then came back the following week with a team from Defra as he was impressed with what I've created.

Not really. I went through the Woodland Trust MOREWoods scheme that gave a substantial discount on the trees and tubes. I've now finished my home grown logs but have more other stuff than I know what to do with thanks to the tip directory on here 🙂

Yes. I think so. I can't claim to be self sufficient yet as what I harvested will be gone by tomorrow but it's a good start

I planted the bulk of my trees in early 2014. The alder in particular grew especially fast and I coppiced a few on 16th of December 2019. They've seasoned nicely and I had my first fire burning them today. Was planning on burning them on Christmas Day but had the remnants of a log stack to get rid of first. One of the stumps was recovering really well but I managed to mow over it with my brush mower and it died, which is a shame. I can't find most of the other stumps.

I have an almond willow plantation for that very purpose...

Having seen a video on Facebook of someone selling such a device, my interested was piqued and after a couple of weeks of prevaricating, I eventually bought 3 for half the price on eBay (just under £9 delivered). As you can see, they delivered 2 with a hex shank, which is great (although I gave one to a mate) and one with a square shank which is useless, frankly. It looks like SDS but isn't. Anyway, with my Dewalt drill trying to split a reasonable sized log with it just ended up with it stuck as there wasn't enough torque. Difficult to extract as trying to reverse it just unscrews the shank and leaves the cone embedded in the wood. Once I'd split the bigger log down a bit with an axe, the cone splitter could do its thing and I was pleasantly surprised at its efficacy. It's easy to place where you want it, which isn't always the case for a hatchet, and I made a decent little pile of kindling in short order. It's not going to make commercial amounts but it's not entirely rubbish. Well worth the money, I'd say.

I use Corsican pine - some of it is so fatty that you only need one stick to get a fire going. Had a few tonnes dropped off some time ago. Willow splits easily and dries quickly - plenty of that around, I find

Me too - not much we can (legally) do about that

Due to the very generous tree surgeons who have tipped logs here, I've had a surplus and have dumped quite a few in various piles around the place. Was out with the dog last night near one of the piles when she started barking - it's a consistent bark that I recognise so I ran up to see what she'd found... saw these: First time I've seen more than one (and it's only been this year that I've seen any hedgehogs since about 1985). Hoping the slug population will be somewhat curbed later in the year!

I have two. Both been in the ground for about 5 years. One is about 6' high, the other is barely out of the tube. Not expecting any fruit for some years...

I made my own. Bought a cheap Bluetooth headband and put the bits into some existing Peltor ear defenders. Works pretty well although I'd have to take them off to answer calls

Pigs

He'd whittle a lovely spoon as you starved to death.

Alice Levine is from the North... I'm hardly Sean Bean myself...

According to Lofty Wiseman, "That fat fuck couldn't survive in the pie aisle at Tesco"

What a charming notion. Yes, I do have a type

1. Professor Alice Roberts 2. Alice Levine 3. Hattie Morahan

Can't find the link now. I think they mentioned it on the news

...this dry, breezy weather has done wonders for my log stacks. Nice to have a proper supply of decent dry wood now it's colder - thought they'd never dry out after the winter rains

WDC - it was a retrospective application. Took about 2 years and a lot of reports. Waste of time and money frankly.