[rustyme]

still digging and carrying stones.....over halfway now on the plot , so I should have it ready for seed sowing at about the right time. I will have to do a seed viability test on some of the seeds I have as they are a couple of years old now, easy to do though ....just place a few on some damp kitchen tissue and see how long they take, or if  they germinate ?   Blimey getting hungry just thinking about all that home grown veg. New potatoes , baby carrots , radishes , spring onions , lettuce , baby beet , rocket .....the plate will be overflowing ....I would have said peas too ...but the first ones never make it to the plate, I eat the lot as I pick them ....MMMMMmmm I can taste them now.I have got to start poo picking again now too. All the compost has been used up now, so out with the wheel barrow and get as much as I can . Funny really, my life seems to be just moving one pile of crap from one place and another back the other way ...Oh well ... more digging again tomorrow....It feels like groundhog day .....

[Guy]

we too are now sorting through our seeds of last year and organising this years ready for planting - good news though , my "mantis" cultivator arrived today - have just finished putting it together and am itching to give ita go - alas i have to get into work at 7 tomorrow morning so cant try it till sunday - the good thing is  the manufacturer seems  to sing its praises so much on versitility i am also expecting it to make the tea - hurrah!! - will update you on how good  or bad it is - if anyone is thinking of adding a cultivator to their armoury 

[rustyme]

great news about the Mantis...(I hope they didn't call it that, because everyone who has one is PRAYING that it starts ok ?)... lol ..just my sick mind mate take no notice....I will be thinking about you on sunday ...as I am digging by hand , in the wind and rain and cold ,as I bend over with my poor aching back !!!! I hope it goes really well Guy.... oh and tell it I take 2 sugars please....

[Guy]

hell - i never thought of that!!! it must have got its name somewhere - dont worry , i shall prob. end up in casualty after "cultivating" my toes or being dragged off down the a30 behind the beast lol - i shall tell it about the sugars - but have just realised it doesnt have opposable thumbs , so the darn thing cant pick up a spoon!!

[rustyme]

 cultivating toes in rows....different. You could then at least grow your own body part replacements ? Who needs stem cell technology ? Joking apart for a mo though ...take care with it mate ... if any weeds get caught in it, make sure you turn it off before untangling . I have heard some really horrible stories about people getting caught in them .....Just look at what it does to the ground and then imagine what it would do to you !!! Oh and there must be a little hopper thing somewhere for the sugar....

[Fluffywelshsheep]

hehe hubby just saw the one in aldi and is thinking of buying if for m,
It's he nice lol

[Guy]

wowee!! what a piece of kit! have just spent the day with my new toy (still have all my extremities ) for a small rotavator it has sooo much power and agile enough to get into raised beds etc.( now i sound like an advert) managed to turn the fruit garden over , two raised beds , half the veggie plot AND dig the holes for my new fruit trees - and my back still is in one piece!! it broke down some really compacted ground to a really fine tilth without thinking - grand!!

[Fluffywelshsheep]

Ok that sound good then i might even be-able to uses it why dodge stomach at the moment lol

been out too day as it was lovely have have taken some photos now am just 'playing with them' you'll be able to see them on my flickr account
Linz

[rustyme]

great stuff Guy,
                   I am really pleased for you mate....sounds like it is just what you wanted/needed ? I will expect you here tomorrow morning prompt ... (to do the rest of my plot...lol )....   Once you have done all you need to do ,try to make sure that you start and run it for 10-15 mins every few weeks just to make sure it stays in good running order. If you leave it till the next year you hit that age old problem of spending days trying to start the bl**dy thing. 
   

[Guy]

look forward to those linz

Funny you should say that Russ , but i did have a problem starting the damn thing today - until i realised that to start it , the "on" button should be set to "on" not "off!" lol - well mechanics were never my strong suit!! seriously though , it "did everything it said on the tin" the only slight thing , as it is so light- weight , when it does hit a stone it cant half put some distance between itself and the ground!! the OH had a few concerned expressions on her face lol. hope youve got on well moving your gravel / rocks / boulders etc?

[rustyme]

lol...that sounds just like the sort of thing I do ...I have a chainsaw that I use very rarely,( I mainly use a bow saw ), but every few months I start the chainsaw up well I spend about half an hour pulling the starter chord endlessly ...till I remember about the ON switch......First time start then .....    The rotavator I had used to buck violently when it hit big stones, it still kept going though , just at a different angle lol.....
             Just dug the one row today , about 18" x 20' , plus some weeding and a few buckets of stone up to the track . I swear that I have a black hole at the end of the track, just keep tipping stuff in it and get nowhere...

[Guy]

well done you! - you dont think  the gravel falls into the black hole only to materialise back into the river??lol- at least i get a day off tomorrow (that is i go back to paid work - but that always seems like a day off after the weekend here , only not so fullfilling!! )

[rustyme]

lol ... funny you should say that . I did fall arm over ear'ole ,or something like that? ,the other day while carrying buckets of stone . Well sods law would have it that both buckets rolled all the way down the hill , leaving stones every few feet .....yet another half hour wasted picking them all up and carrying them back to the top again....talk about Jack and Jill !!! Tomorrow will be just the same for me ....I wish that black hole was full of filling ....

[rustyme]

Thought I would put on a pic of the top field , the veggie plot is in the far corner of it !

 The picture was taken from the gate at the end of the track , thats where I carry the stone upto. The river field is through the gate , and the river runs through it left to right as you look at the pic , it is about halfway up the right hand side of the pic. I know there are lots of weeds in the field ...well most are now gone , just another of those endless jobs.   Here is a pic of the hay field:


 
Just did  one row of digging today , about 18"x20' again .It was very windy and started to rain , so  left it at that for today ....phew an easy day ...I can't wait for the fields to look like they do in the pics again .....

[Fluffywelshsheep]

hehe,
Keep up the good work am gona cheap with my patch as we are getting a culivator in the next couple of week so am gona  wait a while for that to come in to lidl/adli

Linz