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The compost heap - off topic thread

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    #122
    Bawnmore
    Registered Users Posts: 1,732 ✭✭✭Bawnmore


    Possibly a stupid question - are grass trimmer spools generic? I have a Black and Decker grass trimmer which has just run of line for the 1st time and I didn't have the foresight to buy more before it. Do I need to buy a black and decker replacement spool or can I buy a generic replacement?


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    #123
    GinSoaked
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,049 ✭✭✭GinSoaked


    Bawnmore wrote: »
    Possibly a stupid question - are grass trimmer spools generic? I have a Black and Decker grass trimmer which has just run of line for the 1st time and I didn't have the foresight to buy more before it. Do I need to buy a black and decker replacement spool or can I buy a generic replacement?

    The common denominator is the thickness. More powerful strimmers will have a thicker line. Provided you know the model you can look up and find what diameter to buy.

    You can buy a prefilled cassette for some strimmer heads, just buying the line and winding it yourself should be cheaper.


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    #124
    Bawnmore
    Registered Users Posts: 1,732 ✭✭✭Bawnmore


    GinSoaked wrote: »
    The common denominator is the thickness. More powerful strimmers will have a thicker line. Provided you know the model you can look up and find what diameter to buy.

    You can buy a prefilled cassette for some strimmer heads, just buying the line and winding it yourself should be cheaper.

    Thanks - that's very helpful. Bought some there.


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    #125
    Bawnmore
    Registered Users Posts: 1,732 ✭✭✭Bawnmore


    Another question that didn't really feel like it deserved it's own thread. We've an area of our front garden (our whole garden really, but that's for another day) that was overgrown with nettles and weeds. I trimmed it back with said strimmers last week and then trimmed it shorter again this evening. What's the best approach to try turn this into a little lawn? Are we best off getting it dug up completely and topsoil over or would it ever regrow as lawn with frequent cutting and some weed killing products?

    Here it is for reference. Shorter bit was trimmed back again today until line ran out on strimmers.

    IMG-20200526-185451.jpg


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    #126
    GinSoaked
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,049 ✭✭✭GinSoaked


    Just keep cutting with a lawn mower. Don't cut too close on most mowers the middle setting (of 5) is about right. I'm looking out over a yard that was just quarry rubble (the quarry is across the road) and it took about two seasons for that to become mostly grass now another 10 years on it looks like a lawn.

    If its level and not full of stones it shouldn't take too long to go reasonably green. You can always rotovate and reseed later if it doesn't work out.


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    #127
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,309 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    be careful with strimmers. apparently hedgehog rescue dublin are having their busiest summer ever because of people having too much time to strim their garden, they've had some horrifically badly injured hogs, many too far gone to save.


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    #128
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    I'd spend the summer mowing it, it's one of the best ways to improve a lawn. Set about three inches and don't cut too often, leave the cuttings on the lawn. It's good nitrogen. The act of chopping the blades creates better stronger grass which will start to crowd out weeds and the like. Come the autumn see what shape it's in.


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    #129
    Bawnmore
    Registered Users Posts: 1,732 ✭✭✭Bawnmore


    Thanks folks - over to the lawnmower thread with me so then :)


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    #130
    SouthWesterly
    Registered Users Posts: 6,456 ✭✭✭SouthWesterly


    I was out in the garden last night showing friends the progress.
    I am moving to the back give Eden method with wood chips
    The soil with no chips was bone dry after the rain we had last week.
    When I moved some wood chips the soil underneath was soaked. The wood chips are retaining moisture.


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    #131
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    Rain! :D Looks like the south and east which so needs it will finally get a decent splash.


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    #132
    GinSoaked
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,049 ✭✭✭GinSoaked


    Harry Palmr wrote: »
    Rain! :D Looks like the south and east which so needs it will finally get a decent splash.

    What forecast are you looking at? All I can see for our area of West Waterford is a few millimetres.


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    #133
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,309 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    6mm forecast for dublin over the next 12 hours or so. looks like a bunch of interspersed heavy showers coming in from the northwest.


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    #134
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    GinSoaked wrote: »
    What forecast are you looking at? All I can see for our area of West Waterford is a few millimetres.

    Looks like Friday evening and Saturday morning will be pretty wet with a band to the south pushing up


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    #135
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,309 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    https://twitter.com/donna9p/status/1271455781007884288


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    #136
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    Harry Palmr wrote: »
    Looks like Friday evening and Saturday morning will be pretty wet with a band to the south pushing up

    Did this happen last night? I can't tell!


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    #137
    GinSoaked
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,049 ✭✭✭GinSoaked


    Harry Palmr wrote: »
    Did this happen last night? I can't tell!

    Not enough to make the dog wet (silly bugger stays outside unless its pouring down - he does have a dry kennel).


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    #138
    Turbulent Bill
    Registered Users Posts: 1,621 ✭✭✭Turbulent Bill


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    https://twitter.com/donna9p/status/1271455781007884288

    David Attenborough had a great line, about animal life living near an inhospitable deep ocean volcanic vent, that is basically 'life just wants to be'. I'm reminded of it every time a spud sprouts in my compost bin, and when I see stuff like this.


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    #139
    fryup
    Registered Users Posts: 18,069 ✭✭✭✭fryup


    where's the sun?? none of my fruit is ripening


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    #140
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    My tomatoes have stalled.


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    #141
    fryup
    Registered Users Posts: 18,069 ✭✭✭✭fryup


    seriously though, it's like we've been under a blanket of cloud for the past fortnight


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    #142
    GinSoaked
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,049 ✭✭✭GinSoaked


    fryup wrote: »
    seriously though, it's like we've been under a blanket of cloud for the past fortnight

    Muggy here on the south coast today but we have had some good sun in the last couple of weeks but not enough rain. There are stories from people around the area of massive downpours in random locations but that still leaves massive areas with little or no rain. Hoping today might end that forecast is giving 10 mm over the next twelve hours but I believe it when I see it.


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    #143
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    This weather! Potatoes taken another battering in the wind and rain on the longest day! Still not flowering either.


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    #144
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    Obviously no one here would be so stupid as to sow something of unknown/unexpected origin but plenty would.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/01/mystery-seed-parcels-world-biosecurity-china-uk-us
    “I haven’t got a clue what they are, so there’s no way,” says Goward firmly. “I wouldn’t ever plant something that I didn’t know the origins of.”

    Goward’s mystery seeds are among potentially thousands of shipments reported this week in the US, Canada, New Zealand and Europe, including about 100 cases in the UK. The packages have sparked biosecurity concerns and international investigations into their origins.

    On Tuesday, US agriculture officials issued warnings about the spate of “suspicious, unsolicited” seeds, reported in more than a dozen states, apparently sent from China.

    Florida has recorded more than 630 instances, with one man claiming to have received three shipments in a week. A woman in Texas said she had received seeds in April and planted them, mistaking them for a gift – but with no results.

    The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has asked recipients not to plant the seeds as it works with Customs and Border Protection and federal agencies to uncover their source. In the UK, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha) of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is investigating reports of similar shipments across the country


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    #145
    New Home
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 76,347 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    Unsettling.

    This, however, is the best bit:
    Gerard Clover, head of plant health at the Royal Horticultural Society


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    #146
    kylith
    Registered Users Posts: 17,736 ✭✭✭✭kylith


    I saw someone in my area selling crocosmia bulbs. Is that not some kind of war crime?


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    #147
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    Absolutely 5hite weather for the weekend might be a good idea to check your structural integrity and move things inside for a few days if they are wind sensitive.


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    #148
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    Bump for the new season :)

    I just bought my nth pair of secateurs, this time I've gone for an all steel traditional style bypass pair as I'm sick of bits failing on plastic bodied jobbies.


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    #149
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,309 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    these are the ones we have, have had them maybe 7 years for the larger pair, and 5 years for the other, and they're still going strong. i thought they were true temper, but i can't see them on the true temper site.

    546182.jpg


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    #150
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,309 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    aha - darby range, true temper. gave them a quick service earlier and they're pretty much as good as new.


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    #151
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    Woodies delivery notes
    Express Courier Delivery With Fastway (1-2 Working Days)
    Cost is €7.50     extra for express delivery]

    This service guarantees that any order placed before 4pm will ship from our depot the same day on the next day delivery service *
    Rep. of Ireland & Northern Ireland Only

    Express Delivery With DPD (1-2 Working Days)
    Cost is €14.50 for orders below €75
    Cost is €9.55 for orders above €75
    This service guarantees that any order placed before 4pm will ship from our depot the same day on the next day delivery service *
    Rep. of Ireland & Northern Ireland Only
    This services comes with text alerts and timed delivery slots which the customer can change to suit themselves

    Pay the extra! :) DPD are so much better than Fastway in my experience.


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