Paul in the woods

Why do you say that? There's been plenty of reports over the years of uncontrolled packs of hounds attacking pets and nothing has been done. It seems rather bizarre to me that I could get into trouble for walking my single dog without a collar in public but someone else can drive a pack of dogs over my land without my permission and there's nothing I can do about it.

Thanks. I mentioned him in my first post and yes I've seen many of his videos and posts on other forums. For the price he seems to like his and I don't think I'll work mine as hard.

Anything from 2m to 6+m. The further down the slope they go the more they've got to grow to form a wind break. I can get 6' cuttings so will probably plant 6m away.

That's probably the last good series that I think's been on. I also liked Black Books.

Thanks for the other replies, the powerfabs and the Mantis aren't sold new any more are they?

I was puzzled as to why the video showed the backhoe digging in sand but I've seen plenty of owner videos where they seem to cope with what I have in mind. Which one have you personally used?

If I put in a barrier wouldn't I still need to know how much the roots could grow up to know how deep to put a barrier? By the sounds of it I'll have to go for planting the trees further away.

A bit of a long shot but has anyone used one of these towable / walking backhoes? I've watched some of Metsaman's videos and others on youtube and done some, erm, digging and they seem suitable for my needs. Basically I'm after something to do all the landscaping jobs around the smallholding that 20 odd years ago I'd have done with a spade. Nothing too big, but lots of little jobs. (Small ditching, dig a few smallish ponds, did out some small stumps, level a few areas etc). I know a 2nd hand mini-digger would be better but they are more expensive and it would take me ages to track one down and get hold of it. I also don't have a tractor to add a backhoe to. I've looked at renting but don't want to do all the jobs at once and I frequently have to alter plans at the last minute so my own digger would be ideal. I'm aware they will not lift much as they don't have the weight to counterbalance and also manoeuvrability is an issue but I can cope with that. I've looked at the Kellfri but I prefer this one from Jansen: Mini excavator Jansen MB-300, 9 HP, petrol engine | Excavators | Agriculture & Forestry | Jansen Mailorder Anyone have any constructive comments or know of anything similar?

I've been growing fruit amongst alder trees for several years now. I'm not keen on planting root crops through the roots though (too much work) and for the veg patch I'll have plenty of compost for the nitrogen. I could put in some sort of barrier but don't know if it's required - hence the question.

I've not decided on the trees, I'm contemplating hybrid poplar as they would be quick to establish but know pop roots can sucker. The garden will be a fruit and veg garden, so I'm more concerned with the roots out competing the fruit and veg or becoming a pain when digging.

I'm trying to work out how close I can plant a wind break to a garden. The garden faces south and the trees will be on the southern edge on a fairly steep slope. My main concern is the roots robbing the garden of too many nutrients and moisture but I don't know how much of a problem this will be. If the garden is about 3 foot higher than the tree will the roots grow up the slope? I assume they will but if I raised the garden so in effect it was about 6 foot above the base of trees will the roots grow that high? I can plant the trees further away but due to the slope they will need to grow much higher to be an effective wind break.

I know there are people selecting and breeding honey bees to cope with the varroa themselves but I don't think it's a simple as just leave any old colony to it. I know someone who didn't treat for several years and in the end the bees became noticeably deformed and they were forced to treat. I would like to treat less though, hence being curious to know what sort of varroa load and general bee health people who've not treated their bees have. With the logs you're not get 'wild' bees unless you live somewhere very remote, you'll get a swarm from a colony that's likely to be used to being treated. The logs also don't seem to have much ventilation which is one of the things that is proven to help bees cope with varroa. Then there's AFB/EFB etc and possibly small hive beetle in a year or two.

We've just treated our hives with oxalic acid. One that was a young colony from a late swam this year had rather a large amount of varroa. I'd like to move to less intervention but I'm not convinced it is the right thing to do. Agree with feeding no sugar if you can but as humans introduced varroa to UK bees should we just leave them to it?

Do you know what sort of varroa load the hives have then and have you examined any of the bees to see if they're being affected by the mites?

I meant use Chrome in safemode (I think you use Incognito mode which disables extensions by default), where you can disable all the plugins. Is the browser and flash player fully up to date? It's worth pointing out virus checkers will never get 100% of viruses, malware etc. Have you tried clearing all your cookies etc? Another suggestion was to block all the adverts.

Possibly, or possibly not. It doesn't happen to me and by the sounds of it many others. Perhaps it's linked to something previously visited or installed on the PC. If you google the issue there's some very long threads on the MS web sites so it happens to other people on other sites. I'd guess it's linked to something previously installed, intentionally or otherwise. Does it happen when browsing in safe mode or a different PC?

Now found in Wales: Bird flu alert as duck in Llanelli found to be infected - BBC News

Using their phones or PCs that are mostly made in China.

Poultry gatherings suspended following avian flu case https://www.gov.uk/government/news/poultry-gatherings-suspended-following-avian-flu-case

Well, if you have any specific questions you can always PM me and I'll look them up in his books. Without wishing to sound arrogant I tend to find it a fair bit of it is common sense. One problem with books is they tend to make you want to buy all sorts of expensive plants when there's more suitable and tastier ones already about. I did try and buy quite a few seeds from ART with variable success. Now I'm concentrating on common plants, blackberries, raspberries, blackcurrants (one thing deer don't nibble), blueberries etc. Perennial veg you would expect to find like ramsons and sorrel and then other useful plants such as hops. Currently growing on other things like bamboo. Finding reasonable suppliers has been hard, but more places are starting to stock some of the more unusual stuff. Even my local garden center is now stocking oca and yacon for example.

One book I would recommend is Plants for a Future, I think all the details are available online: PFAF with some useful searches here: Explore PFAF.ORG I've just seen they have a woodland gardening book out as well although I've not seen it. Have you seen Permaculture magazine? We've subscribed for several years and occasionally it has some useful ideas. I wouldn't suggest it's worth subscribing but it is worth having a look at its web site, especially the articles: https://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles I had a quick look to see if there were any other new books about and this one caught my eye. It would seem ideal if only it was written for the UK: https://farmingthewoods.com/ (Some of the reviews also say it's a bit wordy). Is your woodland fenced off? I've planted most of my perennials in a deer fenced area and as soon as they grow through the fence they're munched by the roe. I also assume you have read some of Martin's books? Many of the edible plants need light so are more suited to woodland edges or clearings. Worth remembering as even something like comfrey that's regarded as invasive has struggled because of low light where I've planted it.

Are you mainly looking for food crops or are you also looking for other ideas such as the various coppice products (for example, withies for weaving?) I have a couple of Martin's books, and they are good for what they are. Having tried adding some basic food plants into my woodland I've hit a big problem and that's the wildlife! Simple things like apples are stripped way before they're ripe by a huge range of critters. I think there's a big difference btween starting a forest garden from scratch and adding a garden to a forest.

I almost suggested hazel as it makes a good firewood but agree, in a small coppice it'll be too slow to produce decent sized wood and will get shaded out by other trees.

Interesting as I had wondered in the past if the trees are grey willow but they look closer to goat willow to me. A quick google does show some people don't think goat willow will root but the RHS says it does. To complicate matters more grey and goat willow will hybridise. Anyway, worth a go if you have some free material that seems to be spreading.

I've got some young (25 year old) mixed woodland, in NW Devon so similarish climate. I agree with the above re the oaks, most of mine are small compared to other trees. The ones that have done well are more open. Alder has done very well, I think mines common alder and regrows well when coppiced. It has the benefit of deer not liking it. Firewood is ok but fast burning. Ash has done very well but I wouldn't buy in plants now due to disease. If you can get hold of local seed it might be worth sowing a patch and not thinning, if Chalara does strike you may be able to select resistant ones. A bit of a gamble on a small plot. I don't have sycamore although it does well around here, but is loved by grey squirrels, even when young. I've added limes and they have established well. Goat willow is everywhere and the wood seems to burn ok when seasoned, easy to take cuttings and plant rows for instant cover. Again loved by deer which fray it and eat it.