peds

Fair point, there's absolutely no rush at all, and it does make sense to follow the established timetable. But I'll be going through each tree (around forty in total) to remove deadwood and damaged branches anyway, as some of them look a bit shabby, and this specific tree was flagged as giving a decent crop of annoyingly-small fruit. I figured if there was anything I could do without being too invasive to change that to a medium crop of good-sized fruit whilst I was doing that tree then I might as well. But as you say it might be simpler just to leave it until next February. Cheers for your thoughts.

Ha, no, nothing like that, there are dozens of people working here in peak season and a skeleton staff year round. There's a few other bods already in the garden doing the bare bones work, a general caretaker doing lawns and things, and an auld fella overseeing it all. They had to close for a few years unfortunately, which is why the trees were ignored for a while. I understand your comment about overpruning and trying to prevent further shoots. I'll go slow and steady with the old girl. The owners would definitely appreciate that approach, they don't expect anything drastic. Cheers.

What up dudes, So, full disclosure, I'm not working for the guy who took me on back in January any more. To cut a long story short, after he bought a MEWP I found myself climbing less and less (I didn't get my harness on for a period of a month), I wasn't learning anything new, and my boss was generally just being an arsehole, so we decided we should part company. As I've said on here before, I'm happy to do any job whatever the weather, but if I don't get on with the people I work with then you simply couldn't pay me enough to stick around. Life is too short to spend literally every hour of daylight with people who you don't like, and who don't like you in return. No biggie, I've been taken on year-round as a groundskeeper, gardener, cook, and general help for a local stately home with a short visiting season in the summer for tourists. It's a fluid role with lots of scope for projects... they want to start keeping pigs and bees and ducks, create forest garden areas on the grounds, develop the neglected Victorian kitchen gardens into something much more, bring the derelict greenhouse setup back with a piped water heating system (nine greenhouses? Oh my!), and loads more. The owners seem like friendly, open, positive people, and I'm absolutely thrilled to be working in such a beautiful environment. Now, if you guys don't mind, I'd like to ask you all for some help with bringing their fruit trees in the kitchen garden up to scratch. I'm going to be removing as much deadwood and damaged branches as I can and removing all the suckers from their bases next week, but some of them could do with a little bit more work than that. It's probably a bit late in the season already for a really agressive pruning, and over the summer I'll be getting a three-year-plan together for any of the trees that need it, but there's one tree in particular that I want to get working on as soon as possible. It's waking up a lot slower than the other trees in the garden, so I think I'll get away with it. Here are some pictures: We are looking at the poor thing on the right. Photo taken whilst I was pulling ivy from the whole length of the wall, so I got to have a good look at all the trees in the place. This is the biggest, and definitely needs the most help compared to the others. I was going to thin out as many of the vertical sprouts as I can in the upper canopy, get rid of any dead, damaged, or rubbing branches, and take let a bit more light and air throughout, but just how hard can I be, given how late it is in the season already? Apart from two dead trees on the opposite side of the garden which I'm going to replace at some point, this one is visibly further behind than everyone else, which is why I think I could still get something done on it. Thanks for any advice, as always, dudes.

Well, what a pisser. Might just not bother and grow my tomatoes somewhere else!

Oh, but I like a challenge. Maybe I'll try homoeopathic remedies, invocative chanting and yoga instead of the tried-and-tested chemicals. Kinder to the bees. Fire could be a good idea though, I'll definitely look into that.

Cheers for posting these videos dude, they are great to watch. You clearly put (almost) as much thought into your camera angles and editing as the tree work. Very informative. You lost me at the breakfast nonsense though. Don't you know it's one of the three most important meals of the day?

True, but not everyone has the time, the tools, the inclination, or the ability. I suggested to the guy I've been working for that he should have two young lads to recommend to clients who want the timber leaving for firewood, who could come along a couple of days afterwards to chop and stack it for them. I've driven past three previous clients' houses in just the last few days where there are fat piles of timber just sat there exposed to the elements, where I expect they'll be in a year's time too. I would have loved that as a Saturday job when I was in school.

Fuck it then, I'll go for road salt, that comes in ton bags. Bloody knotweed won't know what hit it.

Logically this does seem like it would be the least damaging to an area that I'd like to be planting vegetables in as soon as possible, but what if - and please, don't laugh here - what if I'm morally-opposed to glyphosate? And, more specifically, sticking to an organic growing system?

Ahh right, being kind of subtle with it and specifically targeting the knotweed, instead of scattering it about by the bucketful? I guess that would be a bit more ecologically friendly. Any idea why dishwasher salt, instead of regular kitchen salt? By my understanding, dishwasher salt is just designed to dissolve at a more regular, slower rate...

I'm sure that would work, but is there not something rather destructive about salting the earth? The Old Testament and history in general is littered with examples where whole civilisations were eradicated, their temples destroyed, their cities razed, and their farmland sown with salt so that nothing would ever grow again... ...which, you know, from a horticultural perspective, seems kind of counter-productive...

Yeah I know, knot exactly a tree, but you guys are just so bloody clever I know you can help with this. I've just inherited the use of a polytunnel which has lain dormant for a couple of years, and a nearby clump of Japanese Knotweed has started to poke through the ground in places. It's not too bad, but the problem will only get worse, obviously. I'll try and get a couple of photos tomorrow. I've got plans to move the tunnel in the future, maybe next season, maybe the year after... but for this year, what can I do to minimise the problem? I'm wary of cutting the stems out, but I'd much rather keep the ground that I have available instead of putting in raised beds or benches after putting down sheets or slabs or something, as I hope to move the tunnel in the future. How much of an extra problem am I creating by just cutting the stems now and pretending they don't exist for the rest of the season? Thanks for any advice dudes.

Man, I love this thread. Such beautiful boards on display. It really is stuff I'd love to get into in the future.

In the mountains, carrying the weight of twice as much rope has the possibility of slowing you down so much that you don't achieve your objective, keeps you out longer than you intended, and exposes you to all sorts of risks. It seems counter-intuitive, but leaving behind all of the usual safety gear can actually make your outing quite a lot safer, if the ethos of "fast-and-light" is used appropriately. The fact is, the longer you spend up a mountain, the greater your chances of dying... it's simple maths. Anything you can do to shorten the length of time spent in the mountains, whilst still keeping the same goal, will increase your chances of coming home alive. Reducing the weight you carry, and thus reducing fatigue, can help with this. That said, fast-and-light is not a substitute for good old-fashioned experience, which can only be gained by spending lots of (dangerous) time in the mountains.

Like all gadgets for ropework and climbing and everything, if used improperly then you might die. But use them correctly, as the designer intended, and you'll probably live.

No, but I have mange tout and broad beans in one of my raised beds, bordered by a handful of onion seeds and cos lettuce seeds. I have kale seedlings and leek seedlings waiting to go out into another bed once the cold frame is available for it (currently giving the beans a boost), and a variety of courgettes waiting to sprout before going out into a third bed. I have a handful of potatoes ready to go into a tub, not the ground. I also took advantage of that Lidl three fruit trees for twenty quid and have a cherry, a peach, and a plum in big pots now.

^^ Yep, that kind of thing, but I've only ever used skinny little mountaineering slings that really bite into your buttocks. Wildly uncomfortable. A decent quick fix for abseiling over rocky ground, but I wouldn't want to be hanging around in a tree all day in one. You'd probably want some nice fat webbing as above. Or, you know... don't forget to pack your harness. edit I've also used an ultra-basic sit harness of just a 60cm sling crossed over, a leg through each loop, and a belay 'biner clipped to where they cross in the middle, above your crotch. Can't recommend.

I've used a sling as a harness quite a bit. Around the arse and each end back over your hips, grab a bight between your legs, tie the three bights together with your knot of choice... simple, lightweight, sturdy, and accentuates your package nicely if you are wearing tight trousers.

Yo, If you plan on sticking with knots for a while before upgrading to any hardware (like I am doing, a fellow new climber), I'd recommend switching to a prusik instead of a klemheist. Coming from a rock climbing and mountaineering background I'd always favoured klemheists and started using them in trees just because I could tie them quicker. But after trying a prusik for a few times instead I found them loads better. You might find different. I still prefer klemheists for mountaineering purposes, though.

At a guess, she is talking about the Mer de Glace in Chamonix, where I spent over a decade of my life, and the difference that I personally have observed in the health of the glaciers, not just during the span of a decade but between each and every winter, is astounding, and absolutely terrifying. Human-accelerated climate change is not only affecting, but destroying people's way of life all across the Alps as ski resorts close, mountains disintegrate, and lives are lost, and it is all happening at an increasing rate year by year. I have to say, I'm really glad that I'm mostly here on the forum to look for advice on arb work, and not to help inform my opinion on important matters like climate change, because a whole bunch of you are absolute fruit loops. Some of the things I've read in this thread have left me stunned, my mouth hanging open like a goldfish on a patio.

Sure it's a nice toy, makes for unbelievably quick work, and why climb a tree if you don't have to? But as it adds something to the job, it also takes something away. Anyway, I'm happy doing it all, whatever the weather... dragging brash, trimming hedges, splitting timber, playing woodpile Jenga... because it's all better than some days I've had in the past. As long as I'm not dying on a mountain in a blizzard, I'm having a pretty great day.

The boss got a new toy. At six weeks, I guess my climbing career was a pretty short one... I've been doing nothing but dragging rapidly-growing brash piles into the chipper all week. Ah well, I'm sure there'll be more glamorous work to be done again in the future.

Those fellas should be lifting with their legs, not their backs. Groovy looking chipper, mobile and mean.

I don't see why I should have to chop it all when there's a shedful of Lithuanian schoolchildren willing to do it for pennies.

Fairly productive day.