Weather

[Hen-Gen]

I know it’s an English obsession but it’s a white over. Always feels like the real start of winter once that happens. Should all be gone tomorrow but it was great crunching through it when I took the dog out first thing. Don’t know whether it’s all the reflected light but the cockerels have discovered their voices.

 

[Marigold]

Down here in Hampshire, it's a balmy 6C, and after a long run of dry weather I'm working on clearing some waste ground to plant a shelter belt area of native flowering and fruiting trees - rowan, wild pear, and cherry plum, plus native juniper, oak and birch. The earth is warm and shakes easily off the fork - in summer, it gets too hard to push a fork in, so it's great to be able to work on it in January, when normally it should be too cold and frozen or else very wet.
We had the first proper snow for nearly 20 years last Spring - it blocked our road and people living down a nearby narrow lane weren't dug out for 2 weeks. It totally filled the chicken run, blew in through the willow screening from the East, and it was a real pain to dig it out, so this year I have plastic tarp ready to put up if any snow is forecast.
Is it getting any lighter up there yet, HenGen? When I look out of the bathroom window at 7.00, I see a torch bobbing its way up the field behind the garden, presumably someone taking the dog out early. I need to do the hens before 3.00 p.m, in December, to make sure they have time to eat a good hot mash before bedtime, but that's slipping to 4.00 by now.

 

[Hen-Gen]

It’s still pretty dark though it is improving. I look forward to March 21st when we overtake you in daylight hours reaching our max in late June with no real night at all.
The older hens are coming back into lay now and the snowdrops should be flowering soon. Though the worst of the winter is probably yet to come these little indicators of Spring lift ones spirits.
Unusually I have pre bookings for pullets this year so my oldies, well 3 years, must perform well in the fertility stakes. And though his crossbred daughters are popular I can’t wait to get that Araucana cockerel in the stock pot. Not keen on lavender chickens. Must try to get some Black Araucana hatching eggs this year.
Unsurprisingly after such a good summer the hay that the supplier imports from southern Scotland is of superlative quality this year. The sheep eat up every strand so no wastage. But because all the grass has gone they nearly have me off my feet. And the ram, which I borrowed from a neighbour has a nasty glint in his eyes. I wouldn’t trust him further than I could spit. One neighbour this year had his leg in strapping after a ram attack. Another had his hand in plaster. Don’t let anyone tell you that sheep are harmless. Some years back an elderly woman was killed by her ram on the next island.

 

[Margaid]

I was butted on the side of my knee by a friend's ram. He was in the filed housing the chicken enclosure and was fine when I went n on my own - let me scratch his head and the wandered off. When the two of us went back 10 minutes later, he let me scratch his head then took two paces back and WHAM! I was on the floor. No real damage fortunately!

 

[LadyA]

Weather here has been really mild so far, although it's forecast to get much colder from tomorrow night, with "warnings" of heavy frost - it's mid January, so heavy frost is really to be expected! But the tabloids are going on as if it's the coming of the apocolypse! "Sub-zero temps!" "Widespread frost!" :roll: :roll:

 

[Margaid]

It's gong to get colder here too and the long range forecast is for possible snow at then of January beginning of February. Well it won't be the first time!

 

[chrismahon]

They are forecasting snow in Dordogneshire on Saturday- we're well South and won't get any. It's 12C air temperature here and much warmer in the sun. 'T' shirt weather it is, but has to be covered with a quilted shirt!

Seen on the news, in-between the Brexit farce, there are going to be restrictions on open fires and wood burners. Now that's long overdue as air pollution in the UK has been terrible for years- it stinks when I go over, so the figure of 60,000/year premature deaths didn't surprise me. But no mention where and how- I'm guessing burning ordinary coal and wet unseasoned wood will be top of the list. What about bonfires?

Apparently domestic wood burning here in France is responsible for 10% of the air pollution and that's with well seasoned dry wood and high efficiency burners- the government has also announced that within 10 years oil heating will be phased out because that's another 25% of the pollution. But they will then use wood pellet burners and wood is running out (forests have been quietly/ discretely decimated), so how is that going to work?

 

[bigyetiman]

They are forecasting snow in our part of the world for Tues, no doubt it will be a light dusting which will send everyone into panic mode. It is getting colder though.
I always have a sneaky peek at the headlines on the Express as they are obsessed with the weather, always good for a laugh. For weeks they have been saying London will have 30 cm of snow on the 22nd, and it will be colder than the Arctic circle in Scotland along with 50mph winds, this is all going to last until April. When no doubt they will be forecasting temps of 100 + for the summer.
I don't think they know where Shetland is Hen-Gen otherwise you would be getting tons of white stuff and the four horseman of the Apocalypse for good measure
Being fed up with the persistent grey days, a few frosts and sunshine will be welcome

 

[rick]

The worst place I go to for air pollution (not like I go there for it!) is Birmingham center. That's traffic, of course. London too. Its a great place but getting off the train when I get back its amazing how fresh the air is here in comparison.
Flat, grey with a bit of wind and slight dampness here too.

 

[bigyetiman]

Thurrock must run Birmingham close on the pollution front especially near the Dartford crossing, on warm days the smell of fumes and the grey cloud of pollution is something else

 

[rick]

I think Pom and Bonnie are showing a slight glimmer of red in their combs. No-one has checked out the nest boxes yet though.

 

[LadyA]

They are forecasting snow in Dordogneshire on Saturday- we're well South and won't get any. It's 12C air temperature here and much warmer in the sun. 'T' shirt weather it is, but has to be covered with a quilted shirt!

Seen on the news, in-between the Brexit farce, there are going to be restrictions on open fires and wood burners. Now that's long overdue as air pollution in the UK has been terrible for years- it stinks when I go over, so the figure of 60,000/year premature deaths didn't surprise me. But no mention where and how- I'm guessing burning ordinary coal and wet unseasoned wood will be top of the list. What about bonfires?

Apparently domestic wood burning here in France is responsible for 10% of the air pollution and that's with well seasoned dry wood and high efficiency burners- the government has also announced that within 10 years oil heating will be phased out because that's another 25% of the pollution. But they will then use wood pellet burners and wood is running out (forests have been quietly/ discretely decimated), so how is that going to work?

Well that's what I've been wondering! We don't live in a climate where people can live with no heat at all. I have a multifuel stove that heats the water and the house. Over the course of a full day, it would use maybe a bucket of logs and almost a bucket of "ecobright" stove coal, so it's very economical to run. I also have an oil boiler for back up and (don't even ask), I have radiant panel heaters on the ceilings. They are quite efficient too, and each one is independent.

We haven't been allowed to do "outside burning" here for years. So, no bonfires. Which tbh, is a right nuisance when you have as much hedges and tree pruning/cutting as I do. It all has to be hauled off to the landfill. Which is ridiculous.

 

[Margaid]

It's snowing! Very lightly and with small flakes so may not come to much.

I have a wood-burner which is so efficient it can be used if you live in a smokeless zone (which I don't) It might be a different story if one burnt green wood but I don't and in any case it is not recommended because it really coats the inside if the chimney.
My main heating is oil fired - well it's either that or LPG and oil is more efficient. I get fed up with people (politicians) who live in cities with all the services - gas, drainage (the 5 houses in the cul-de-sac share a private sewerage system) and regular public transport telling me I should use public transport or do other things which are impossible living here.

Ooh, the flakes are getting bigger!

 

[Marigold]

I used to burn all our garden rubbish and prunings, in the uncultivated field behind our house, but apart from adding to air pollution I was finding the smoke affected my asthma, so I gave up three years ago when I started a dry hedge along the back boundary. I used long metal stakes at the front, and the chainlink fence at the back, to hold the prunings and non-compostable rubbish into shape, helped by weaving longer prunings in and out of the stakes like making hurdles. It's been a brilliant idea, as the bottom of it is a dry safe haven for wildlife, hedgehogs and field voles etc, and the greener weed rubbish and coarse grass clippings gradually rot down and hold it all together. I also upgraded our garden processor to a much more powerful Bosch, and now process nearly all the prunings and just return them as weedproofing mulch on top of the beds and let the worms take them down over the winter. The machine is quiet, unlike many models, and gently gets on with the job of steadily munching stuff with Germanic efficiency, leaving a much smaller bag of chips than you would have expected from the size of the original pile. I reckon that processing takes less time than cutting it up, loading it all into the car, and using fuel driving to and from the dump, and you finish up with useful clippings and no mess in the car.
People often make the mistake of getting a small processor as they have a small garden. The result is a lot of frustration as the little ones still have to deal with the same sort of stuff as a bigger model, but are much noisier, slower, and inclined to jam, in my experience

 

[chrismahon]

What machine have you got Marigold? I think we need one here, although the brambles have to be burned as they dry into very sharp pieces and take years to rot down. Our burning system is basically a wall of material cut to 50cm, facing South to catch the drying wind. When it is dry it is covered in a tarp and then moved to a very controllable small pile for burning. This avoids smoke (big fine), minimises the risk of the fire getting out of control (big fine) and doesn't risk the wildlife, like snakes, toads and hedgehogs. But a big pile of chippings would be good for the wildlife, as well as the hay we put down.

 

[Margaid]

Sounds a brilliant idea Marigold! Not sure how I could incorporate it into my garden, but there is a "buffer strip" of trees which runs along my boundary so I could set up something there. How wide is the dry hedge? And please tell us the model of chipper. Mine is more or less OK but very noisy ...

 

[Marigold]

This Bosch is the one I have https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-Shredder-collection-cardboard-throughput/dp/B00D43EF06/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1547823862&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=garden+shredder&psc=1
which as you see is on offer on Amazon ATM. It's a truly amazing machine, a pleasure to use - I always try to save up a heap of prunings for my teenage granddaughter when she comes to stay, she enjoys powering them through.
This one has TC in its model number, which stands for Turbine Cut. A cylindrical turbine grabs the branches and munches them up into small crushed pieces. There is a similar model, which you'll se on amazon is cheaper, which has blades, which I haven't tried but judging from past experience is not likely to be so effective as the turbine cut model. See https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-Quiet-Shredder-Cutting-Capacity-x/dp/B001P3NV7A/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?s=outdoors&ie=UTF8&qid=1547824319&sr=1-2-spons&keywords=garden+shredder&psc=1

This is a copy of the review I posted on Amazon.

"This is a very hardworking and effective shredder, which steadily munches up large amounts of mixed prunings with Germanic efficiency.
It works fast, and pulls in the handful you've just fed it, so you can get on with selecting the next stems.
Larger stems are cut and crushed into pieces about 2cm. long, and smaller bits finish up reasonably well chopped and crushed, so they're compacted and will break down when composted.
It is indeed very quiet - it can hardly be heard from the length of our garden - and makes quite a companionable, low-pitched chugging noise as it works, unlike our previous shredder, which made high-pitched screaming noises hard on the ears.
When in action, I couldn't ask for a better performance, and although it's not cheap, I feel sure it will go on working for me for many years. It does have a 3-year guarantee as well.

So why only 4 stars?

It's been designed to go under a worktop when not in use. The top comes off and is stored in the collection box, which sits under the mechanism. this is fine for those who want to store it like that, but doesn't save any floor space and it's more difficult to manoeuvre in and out with the top off, as the handle which swings the weight over the wheels is part of the top section. I don't need this modification, the top stays on in my shed.
It's very heavy indeed, and difficult to move around, especially when going down even small steps. If you ease the machine down on the wheels, there comes a point where its weight takes over and it drops hard on to the lower level.
The collection box has to be replaced correctly under the machine, as a safety feature, or else it won't start. Unfortunately the box doesn't hold very much, and it's hard to see how much has gone in. The machine deposits shreddings in just one area of the box, so when you see you need to pull it out, you find the box is only about half full. Take care also when pulling it out - it needs a firm jerk, and can give your shins a painful knock. Lastly, it';s not easy to transfer the shreddings from the box into a bag for temporary storage or transport. The box is rectangular and you need a very large bag or container to shake the contents into. It's difficult to fit a rubble-sack-sized bag over there end of the box, and not too easy to shake the last pieces in to it. On both our previous shredders, I greatly preferred the option of placing a storage bag or container directly over the exit chute, and then just removing it when full.
The instructions are poor, and really I do feel that, when customers are spending this sort of money, Bosch could afford to produce a more attractive and informative booklet, rather than a few pages on very cheap paper, mainly concerned with all the normal common sense precautions for using electrical equipment. My machine started up OK but stopped running after about 10 minutes. Fortunately my mechanically- minded husband worked out for himself, (no help from the handbook) how to re-set the cutting mechanism so that slivers of metal were shaved off, which needs to be done ready for the initial run. Why this could not have been set up in the factory as part of its quality checks, I do not know.

Am I glad I bought it? Definitely. Its a very good machine and I enjoy using it (apart from emptying the box.) I really like its quietness, its speed and power. With a 1/4acre garden with large hedges and many shrubs, it gives me a sustainable way of managing the pruning without too much strain.
I think its probably the best available on the domestic non-professional market at the moment, and would certainly recommend it to anyone with a large garden and limited time to look after it."

 

[chrismahon]

Thanks Marigold- a lot of useful info there. Checked the prices over here and they vary wildly, from €399 to €599 so even the cheapest is way out of our price range- we need a self propelled mower first, as our ancient €50 second-hand buy (our one in England was stolen) won't last much longer and is difficult to start.

So we'll be sticking with our bonfire system for a while. Most of it is spikey stuff anyway and not very nice for the wildlife. Which reminds me- had a red squirrel sitting on the window cill this morning. We hadn't seen it for a while and have been hearing noises in the roof, so putting 2+2 together and perhaps that's where it is Wintering? We know we have had a snake in there- quite a big one judging by the shed skin in the guttering. Think we may have had a barn owl as well, but as we have now dealt with the mouse problem it should have left.

 

[Marigold]

O.K, then, how are we all doing? Minus 4.5 here last night, and now crawling back to -2.5. Wild birds on the lawn are on their second extra scoop of seed, in addition to their feeders - we'd have got a better count for the Birdwatch if the cold had happened last weekend. The cold closes down my lungs and makes me feel quite giddy, but I can manage the one local country dogwalk which has no hills to speak of. Can't walk into town because of the level of air pollution resulting from the temperature inversion. No snow here.

 

[chrismahon]

Haven't seen the sun for a week and have had very strong winds an plenty of rain. Temperatures well above zero and forecasting 14C this afternoon, which is pretty unseasonal even for here. Unfortunately our Eucalyptus blew over- a combination of the new leaves and flowers forming at the top and sodden slushy topsoil. We have cut it off the driveway, will trim the rotten stuff off the roots, stand what's left back upright and hope it survives?