Wednesday night and Fereday is packed off to Morris Dancing practice, leaving the rabbits and I to watch Sir Alan rip some git a new one together before I go up for a bath... so there's a short spot for blogging. Seeing as I don't have a particular Fereday foible to relate and thereby have nothing to add to the cannon of Fereday lore which is slowly building to biblical proportions on LJN, I thought I'd just give a short round up of what's going on in the garden and round the house....The Mini-ment... (Small raised bed in a neighbour's garden)An experiment with hanging little tidy bags of mothballs all around the edge of the bed has proved fruitless as the neighbourhood moggies continued to use the carrot mound as a litter tray... I gave in and bought a roll of meshing today to lay over the top, only to trot round and find that my neighbour has already taken action and put mesh over the bed.... the mesh is working, by the way. On one hand this is good, on the other, it means I can't try another crazy idea which was suggested to me by the very nice security chap in the office who had kindly helped me through the door to the office with my roll of mesh from Wilko's... he highly recommended rubber snakes... apparently cats are afraid of snakes (and, if it actually works as a deterrent, cats are clearly quite stupid). If someone does try this, I'm really keen to know if it works... I might still buy some snakes anyway... just for fun....The back garden (and holding pen)The back garden is really coming along.... the geraniums have been flowering away, including the slightly bonkers one which we bought from Dove Cottage a couple of years ago and has a wild self-seeding habit... it looks really lovely having laced itself through the wild fern which comes up around a flagstone that sits in the middle of the bed.There's a fair crop of 'Waiting room' plants, i.e., those which have been grown on from seed or which have been divided from 'residents', which are slowly being distributed to client gardens, friends and relatives.Roses have small buds on them.Salad crops are going a bomb, and we've already had a couple of small bowls. Fereday and I are now completely converted to Franchi seeds - I planted six courgette seeds and up came six courgette plants.... that's a 100% germination rate.... fantastic.... true, I decapitated one, but three of them are going strong (despite the cat poo) in the mini-ment. Two were presented to a friend.There's a slight smell of piri-piri and chilli by the back gate - Fereday boiled up a sock of the stuff to create some fire water to spread around to scare off the Beast of Bodmin... the ginger tom cat who had the temerity to sit by our back gate on Monday night howling for a date at 4am.... B*st*rd!!!! Still, it meant that Fereday became a fully paid-up member of the "Make gloves, not kittens" brigade.... so, overall, it brought us closer together! (And no, I didn't ask if the sock was clean, so I don't know if it's the piri-piri or vintage Fereday post-Morris practice foot odour that is doing the trick... but something is.... for the cats, at least, there's no let up from the neighbourhood kids.....)The greenhouse and nursery yard (or dining room)Lucky to have a large window in the dining room, you might think? Not when access to it is blocked by four mini propagators, a few 'makeshift' propagators (seed tray or pot with a clear salad carton as a lid), a large house rabbit pen converted into a HUGE propagator, and a dining table pulled up as close to the window as feasible to allow the several seed trays on it to get the full benefit of the sun.... For my part, I haven't taken the Christmas decorations off the mantle yet.... it contributes to atmosphere of garden-centre bargain bin....Fereday is also in the process of sanding down four dining chairs in there - bought to replace the ones I sold on eBay earlier this year .... on a Wednesday.... while he was at Morris dancing practice.... Hey, I know.... anyone want to buy a black Volvo estate???? It has leather seats which heat up in the winter... and a radio... and a boot full of tools... and it's already dusty... and I think there's a small tree growing in the footwell....
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  • Can I just make it clear that it was a clean sock, and I'm not cultivating biological weapons in my footwear.... Not any more, anyway. I've not been a student for many years now....
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Tim Bucknall posted a discussion
What do people find is the best lawn turf?  I use Rolawn Medallion.  Sometimes it's excellent, sometimes less so (in particular it can contain AMG).  What have people found consistently good?Cheers
1 hour ago
Andrew Coates replied to Andrew Coates's discussion Hadn’t prepared for this
"Morning Peter.thankyou for your reply. The op delay was out of my hands unfortunately,admin in the hospitals had got lost,that's from last June unfortunately.so,moving forward, I'm not ,I'm still on a waiting list to see the surgeon,so in the…"
1 hour ago
John F replied to Peter sellers's discussion Stihl hsa40 review
"Seems good value Peter having Two batteries .
Suffering from bouts of tennis elbow it would have being ideal at the time , The lightest I could find was the Gtech weighing around 2.14 kg with battery in which enabled me to carry on working .
It's…"
3 hours ago
Peter sellers posted a discussion
Thought others may find this of use - suffering from health issues so bought Stihl HSA 40 battery hedge trimmer came as a kit with two AS2 batteries and charger for £174 inc vat ,weighs  just over 2kg which was the main factor.Being used to Echo…
4 hours ago
Peter sellers replied to Peter sellers's discussion Cordless hedge cutter
"Update - well took myself off to dealers to try the aforementioned Stihl HLA 40 and found it to be totally unbalanced front end heavy with the rubber sleeve for your supporting arm too far away from the trigger basically a design disaster. We know…"
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Andrew Coates and Max alam are now friends
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Fusion Media posted a blog post
KAR UK has announced the launch of its brand-new K-Series Hose Reel Trolley – a robust, British-built solution designed to meet the demands of modern turf care and industrial washdown applications.Handmade in the UK by a local manufacturing partner…
yesterday
Billybop replied to Peter sellers's discussion Cordless hedge cutter
"quite fancy that Stihl 150B looks good but £700 would only use it very occasionally on the jobs I have already (due to lack of time had to cut down on existing work and not really taking on new jobs) Had the HLA135 for a few seasons now which is a…"
yesterday
Sam Bainbridge replied to Peter sellers's discussion Cordless hedge cutter
"I use a tripod ladder with a stihl hs87t 40inch bar. Makes a far superior job than long reach I hate those bloody things horrible to use"
Sunday
Graham Taylor replied to Andrew Coates's discussion Hadn’t prepared for this
"That really is very sad to have to stop the work you must enjoy.  I'd be really upset and I'm 72!   Don't like to sound pessimistic but would it be an  idea to just pack up the gardening work for something less physically draining?  Might be wrong…"
Saturday
simon caine replied to Peter sellers's discussion Cordless hedge cutter
"I use the Sthil combi unit with the henchmen harness it's a excellent combination you can hedge cut all day with no fatigue "
Saturday
John F replied to Andrew Coates's discussion Hadn’t prepared for this
"Hi Andrew 
A simple approach would be to find the right domestic properties where you can job share and invoice the customer separately .
You are probably looking at the larger gated properties where you can multi task but allocate your individual…"
Saturday
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At Centurion Club in St Albans, course manager Andy Garland knows every inch of the golf course because he helped build it from the ground up. Today, as the club continues to host some of the biggest events in professional golf, Andy relies on…
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You’re invited to the biggest one-day “Live-and-Running” Ground Care and Turf Machinery show in the country on Wednesday 24th June in Buckinghamshire.See and compare machinery from over 40 manufacturers of mowers, turf care equipment, hand-held kit,…
Friday
Peter sellers replied to Peter sellers's discussion Cordless hedge cutter
"Telescopic, cordless Tim its only for light work. Probably end up with Stihl HLA 40 it does not have the motor at the handle end but only weighs 3.5kg with battery so may be ok. Apart from the Stihl 150  that Billybop suggested I can't see anything,…"
Thursday
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Turf

What do people find is the best lawn turf?  I use Rolawn Medallion.  Sometimes it's excellent, sometimes less so (in particular it can contain AMG).  What have people found consistently good?Cheers

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0 Replies
Views: 3

Stihl hsa40 review

Thought others may find this of use - suffering from health issues so bought Stihl HSA 40 battery hedge trimmer came as a kit with two AS2 batteries and charger for £174 inc vat ,weighs  just over 2kg which was the main factor.Being used to Echo…

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1 Reply · Reply by John F 3 hours ago
Views: 13

Cordless hedge cutter

Looking for cordless hedge cutter with the motor at the battery/handle end and telescopic . Find the ones with the motor at the blade end unbalanced, and before anyone says it - no the battery does not counter balance it well.  Not bothered on brand.

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8 Replies · Reply by Peter sellers 6 hours ago
Views: 314