Re: Gardening Thread.

**Lamplighter** Wed Jul 10, 2013 10:33 am

Yesterday was Day One of the barn demolition, the men were here for 12 hours. It is a very big structure so it has to be done in stages. Yesterday the roof and upper floors were pulled down, plus one side. Today they are starting to make neat piles of wood, bricks etc as tomorrow the bulldozer will pull down the rest. Then they will send in the trucks to haul away everything - really good value as if it had been done by the person who wanted to do it first, I would have had to fork out much cash just for the lorries. This arrangement means that everything gets removed and then they will straighten the place up and, the main man tells me, make it look really nice. So far the weather is hot, well over 30C and we are hoping for no rain until after this is finished. Then I will have a view over my large piece of land across the valley to the wooded hills. LL

**lily** Wed Jul 10, 2013 10:42 am

Oh how wonderful LL. A win-win for everyone. smile

**bb1** Fri Jul 12, 2013 11:20 am

**lily** Fri Jul 12, 2013 11:28 am

Awwww Bonny. What is the temp there? I am sooooo glad you have some well deserved warm weather. hug

**bb1** Fri Jul 12, 2013 11:37 am

It's well into the 70s already, Lily, so will be even hotter this afternoon....I know that's a winter's day by the standards of your current location, though. rofl

I kept checking the central heating controls last night, it was so warm at 10pm I was convinced it was switched on. rofl

**lily** Fri Jul 12, 2013 11:47 am

Hey, but that is lovely weather over there. I remember those days. smile

I er.....hate to inform you but my cooling system is set to 28 C which is doing a really good job. I sometimes have to put a thin sweater on....... Hide

**bb1** Fri Jul 12, 2013 10:36 pm

Scorchio from space:

Gardening Thread. - Page 36 UKWx-201307130000

**Sabot** Fri Jul 12, 2013 11:34 pm

Okay, I wuz doin a bit of groudnin yesterday, walkin around bare foot, and stepped on a Wasp, which wuz doing what Wasps do. And it didn't half smart. So I ran into the house and quickly mashed up a paste of bicarbonate of soda and plastered it all over my foot. It worked. What a hoot. One minute i wuz in agony, and the next minute it might never have happened.
Meanwhile the Wasp went on doing what Wasps do, which is all a bit beyond me.
But I do like Wasps.

**lily** Sat Jul 13, 2013 8:56 am

Ouch but glad it worked. That's a good one to know, Sabot. thumbsup

**Lamplighter** Mon Jul 15, 2013 11:05 am

Week 2 of the demolition derby. I must admit it is going a little slowly but they are now working with very heavy wood beams, which they are laboriously piling up neatly across my side door so I can't get out that way(!!) and millions of bricks. 2/3rds of the barn is now rubble. It looks rather sad, no roof, great holes in the walls and the windows blank. I just watch and take pics as they progress. I can now see right across the valley to the hills, a view that was totally obscured by the barn. The villagers here are very 'into' bonfires and I can see a growing mountain of burnable material where the old chicken house stood. Isn't country life fun? LL rofl

**lily** Mon Jul 15, 2013 12:45 pm

A resounding YES to that, LL.

**bb1** Mon Jul 15, 2013 12:55 pm

It'll all be reborn as something 'authentic;, LL, it's harder to get things down in one piece than just wreck them.

It's still scorchio here, but thankfully, everyone - me included - is recovering from the excitement of seeing that big orange thing in the sky and NOT spending every spare moment frizzling ourselves. rofl

**Lamplighter** Mon Jul 15, 2013 1:57 pm

I now have two very large bonfires going full belt on my spare piece of land. Barn now on last legs, boss hoping to be all done by Friday if the weather continues as now, nice and warm and DRY!! LL

**lily** Mon Jul 15, 2013 2:00 pm

Sending my very wishes for you all to continue on with good weather.

**Sabot** Tue Jul 16, 2013 3:41 pm

42 degrees in my garden. Utter bliss. Still watering the Hydrangeas in the morning, which seems to be the best advice.
And thank Christ the grass has slowed down, although not the weeds. But it is quite a pleasure to be out mowing short, dry grass for a change.

**Lamplighter** Tue Jul 16, 2013 3:48 pm

90% of the barn now down; my rubble has rubble! I can now see right up to the top of the hill opposite the back of my house. The boss man says the barn was one of the best built ones hr had ever had to demolish. I am impressed by how hard he and his men work, so have decided to ask them to tender for some work I want done next year. No stopping for tea every ten minutes, this lot have set times for breaks and lunch.

**Sabot** Tue Jul 16, 2013 3:56 pm

If you find a good one, LL, always best to hang on to them.

**Lamplighter** Tue Jul 16, 2013 4:09 pm

Sabot wrote:If you find a good one, LL, always best to hang on to them.

I agree. The one who renovated this house before I bought it from my friend went out of business and now run a fish farm! He was very good and very reasonable. From now on I will use him; I have new windows to be installed and a large crack in the outer wall to be mended. He is not a house builder, he mends and renovates the outside of houses.

**Sabot** Tue Jul 16, 2013 4:12 pm

I'm glad I'm not the only one trying to keep up with an old house, LL. Windows are my next project, if I can find windows to match the old ones.

**Lamplighter** Tue Jul 16, 2013 4:25 pm

Sabot wrote:I'm glad I'm not the only one trying to keep up with an old house, LL. Windows are my next project, if I can find windows to match the old ones.

The front windows, they look onto the road, are new double glazed wooden ones, carefully chosen to match the house. The ones at the back are the ones that have to be done, they are Crittal style, ie metal frames á la the 1930s. I have been advised that, because the back part is subject to very severe winter conditions, heavy duty plastic double glazed ones would be advisable. The summer heat here means any wood turns black very fast however much varnish you apply. The front windows are never subject to such variation in the weather so they are okay as wood. As no-one can see round the back unless they actually walk round to there I will probably accept the advice.

**Sabot** Tue Jul 16, 2013 4:51 pm

I don't know if you know, LL, but you can get coloured heavy duty plastic windows. I have seen them here in green and blue, apart from the ever popular white ones.

**Lamplighter** Tue Jul 16, 2013 4:59 pm

Sabot wrote:I don't know if you know, LL, but you can get coloured heavy duty plastic windows. I have seen them here in green and blue, apart from the ever popular white ones.

Yes, there are brown ones here which are pretty close to the color of the wooden ones. And, of course, they are far cheaper than the wooden ones. LL

**Sabot** Tue Jul 16, 2013 5:06 pm

Yes, pity about that, I like wooden windows, but I cannot afford new ones, so just hoping to find second hand ones in relatively good condition.

The one thing I cannot abide is fake pane dividers that always look fake.

**Sabot** Wed Jul 17, 2013 5:29 pm

Just spent the afternoon having an Interim hack at The Wisterias, as suggested by any decent Gardening Forum. And oh my, what a pile of rubbish to dispose of. But this does not prove that the fecking plant isn't a weed. And there will be twice as much to hack off in Autumn.
But I have now seen them bloom in absolute glory, from seed to full bloom, which has taken around nine years. So my job is done, really. They now know what they are supposed to be.
This Autumn I am going to seriously hack them back. And if they don't flower for a while, then it doesn't really matter. They and I know what they can do.

I am a seed and cutting grower. I don't buy plants if I can grow them myself. And I don't buy seeds if I can harvest those. This could be a minor case of megalomania.

I have now grown two Grape Vines from Grape Pips, small at the moment, and probably won't produce anything for at least five years. But I now have that to look forward to. This is just me.

45 degrees in my garden today. Please God let it last.

**Sabot** Sat Jul 20, 2013 6:50 pm

OMG. What a thunder storm we are having, and it is scaring me out of my wits. It has been going round and round right over my head for more than two hours now. And rain in rivers.
I nearly disconnected my computers. That's how scared I am.

F**king Hell. that one nearly took the roof off. This is seriously not funny.

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