Its been a lovely sunny day here in North Yorkshire which
coincided with me using up one remaining day of annual holiday.
Home alone, well me and the dog, I decided to have a good tidy up
which then led to one of my favourite garden activities a great
big bonfire. I have accumulated masses of prunings etc. over the
last few months but just have not had the free time with the wind
in the right direction to burn it all. What better way of
spending a couple of hours on a cold day that tending a bonfire.

The yews next to the drive I heavily pruned (cut about 15 feet
off one) 3 years back are now nice and bushy and just right for
some festive lighting. So last job of the day, trail lights on 3
yews along the drive, run power cables to garage, and set up old
immersion timer to switch them on and off.

Can't wait for it to get dark so I can see the effect.

Mike
(Getting into Christmas mood)

"Muddymike" wrote...
Its been a lovely sunny day here in North Yorkshire which coincided with
me using up one remaining day of annual holiday. Home alone, well me and
the dog, I decided to have a good tidy up which then led to one of my
favourite garden activities a great big bonfire. I have accumulated masses
of prunings etc. over the last few months but just have not had the free
time with the wind in the right direction to burn it all. What better way
of spending a couple of hours on a cold day that tending a bonfire.

The yews next to the drive I heavily pruned (cut about 15 feet off one) 3
years back are now nice and bushy and just right for some festive
lighting. So last job of the day, trail lights on 3 yews along the drive,
run power cables to garage, and set up old immersion timer to switch them
on and off.

Can't wait for it to get dark so I can see the effect.

Put the lights at the front of our house, over the wisteria, today. Now the
neighbours will all know it's Christmas. Some have already commented that
I'm late this year. Also put the tree up indoors and decorated it so we
really are ready now. Haven't trees gone up in price this year.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:02:12 -0000, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:



"Muddymike" wrote...
Its been a lovely sunny day here in North Yorkshire which coincided with
me using up one remaining day of annual holiday. Home alone, well me and
the dog, I decided to have a good tidy up which then led to one of my
favourite garden activities a great big bonfire. I have accumulated masses
of prunings etc. over the last few months but just have not had the free
time with the wind in the right direction to burn it all. What better way
of spending a couple of hours on a cold day that tending a bonfire.

The yews next to the drive I heavily pruned (cut about 15 feet off one) 3
years back are now nice and bushy and just right for some festive
lighting. So last job of the day, trail lights on 3 yews along the drive,
run power cables to garage, and set up old immersion timer to switch them
on and off.

Can't wait for it to get dark so I can see the effect.

Put the lights at the front of our house, over the wisteria, today. Now the
neighbours will all know it's Christmas. Some have already commented that
I'm late this year. Also put the tree up indoors and decorated it so we
really are ready now. Haven't trees gone up in price this year.

Dunno, I've used the same 10' artificial tree in my conservatory for
the last 7 years, it looks good and moults hardly at all.


--
®óñ© © ²°¹°-°¹

Muddymike writes
Its been a lovely sunny day here in North Yorkshire which
coincided with me using up one remaining day of annual holiday.

Lovely afternoon yesterday. But I was in my posh clothes having been out
in the morning, and I was going out again in the evening, and I can't be
doing with forever changing clothes. So I decided cleaning the ponds was
a suitable activity - standing with a fishing net scooping off the
duckweed and a few stray leaves - what could possibly go wrong? And then
the resident oligochaetologist said 'since you're out here ... that
drain was overflowing a bit yesterday ...'
--
Kay

"K" wrote
Muddymike writes
Its been a lovely sunny day here in North Yorkshire which
coincided with me using up one remaining day of annual holiday.

Lovely afternoon yesterday. But I was in my posh clothes having been out
in the morning, and I was going out again in the evening, and I can't be
doing with forever changing clothes. So I decided cleaning the ponds was a
suitable activity - standing with a fishing net scooping off the duckweed
and a few stray leaves - what could possibly go wrong? And then the
resident oligochaetologist said 'since you're out here ... that drain was
overflowing a bit yesterday ...'

I would have thought that would have been a job for him, it being certain
that there would be worms involved somewhere.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

"K" wrote in message
...
Muddymike writes
Its been a lovely sunny day here in North Yorkshire which
coincided with me using up one remaining day of annual holiday.

Lovely afternoon yesterday. But I was in my posh clothes having been out
in the morning, and I was going out again in the evening, and I can't be
doing with forever changing clothes. So I decided cleaning the ponds was a
suitable activity - standing with a fishing net scooping off the duckweed
and a few stray leaves - what could possibly go wrong? And then the
resident oligochaetologist said 'since you're out here ... that drain was
overflowing a bit yesterday ...'

g

On 2009-12-11 16:02:12 +0000, "Bob Hobden" said:



"Muddymike" wrote...
Its been a lovely sunny day here in North Yorkshire which coincided
with me using up one remaining day of annual holiday. Home alone, well
me and the dog, I decided to have a good tidy up which then led to one
of my favourite garden activities a great big bonfire. I have
accumulated masses of prunings etc. over the last few months but just
have not had the free time with the wind in the right direction to burn
it all. What better way of spending a couple of hours on a cold day
that tending a bonfire.

The yews next to the drive I heavily pruned (cut about 15 feet off one)
3 years back are now nice and bushy and just right for some festive
lighting. So last job of the day, trail lights on 3 yews along the
drive, run power cables to garage, and set up old immersion timer to
switch them on and off.

Can't wait for it to get dark so I can see the effect.

Put the lights at the front of our house, over the wisteria, today. Now
the neighbours will all know it's Christmas. Some have already
commented that I'm late this year. Also put the tree up indoors and
decorated it so we really are ready now. Haven't trees gone up in price
this year.

8' Norwegian thingy was £14.80 from a local farm. I don't know what
others charge.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon

On 2009-12-11 21:27:28 +0000, Aries said:

On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:24:26 +0000, Sacha wrote:

8' Norwegian thingy was £14.80 from a local farm. I don't know what
others charge.

Wow! I think that was a very reasonable price for a tree of that size

I think the 'ordinary' trees, like ours, were £1.80 per foot. I saw
someone closer to Torquay sellling Nordman's 'from' £30, however!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon

"Sacha" wrote ...
Aries said:
Sacha wrote:

8' Norwegian thingy was £14.80 from a local farm. I don't know what
others charge.

Wow! I think that was a very reasonable price for a tree of that size

I think the 'ordinary' trees, like ours, were £1.80 per foot. I saw
someone closer to Torquay sellling Nordman's 'from' £30, however!

Round here a Nordman of 7ft costs £35.00 and that is the Farm Shop not the
expensive places. I understand the Scandinavians have sent their trees
somewhere else in Europe this year so there is a shortage and that coupled
with the rise of the Euro against the £ has made them expensive this year.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

On 2009-12-11 22:53:47 +0000, "Bob Hobden" said:



"Sacha" wrote ...
Aries said:
Sacha wrote:

8' Norwegian thingy was £14.80 from a local farm. I don't know what
others charge.

Wow! I think that was a very reasonable price for a tree of that size

I think the 'ordinary' trees, like ours, were £1.80 per foot. I saw
someone closer to Torquay sellling Nordman's 'from' £30, however!

Round here a Nordman of 7ft costs £35.00 and that is the Farm Shop not
the expensive places. I understand the Scandinavians have sent their
trees somewhere else in Europe this year so there is a shortage and
that coupled with the rise of the Euro against the £ has made them
expensive this year.

We've had Nordmans in the past but have decided to just do more
hoovering in the new year, for the last couple of years. ;-) We have
a tree holder that contains water and is regularly topped up and that
does seem to help needle retention a lot.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon

"Sacha" wrote
"Bob Hobden" said:
"Sacha" wrote ...
Aries said:
Sacha wrote:

8' Norwegian thingy was £14.80 from a local farm. I don't know what
others charge.

Wow! I think that was a very reasonable price for a tree of that size


I think the 'ordinary' trees, like ours, were £1.80 per foot. I saw
someone closer to Torquay sellling Nordman's 'from' £30, however!

Round here a Nordman of 7ft costs £35.00 and that is the Farm Shop not
the expensive places. I understand the Scandinavians have sent their
trees somewhere else in Europe this year so there is a shortage and that
coupled with the rise of the Euro against the £ has made them expensive
this year.

We've had Nordmans in the past but have decided to just do more hoovering
in the new year, for the last couple of years. ;-) We have a tree holder
that contains water and is regularly topped up and that does seem to help
needle retention a lot.

Yes, we have had a plastic holder that holds water for decades, works well.
Got 5 strong plastic legs that detach for storage and I have to drill a
large hole in the centre of the base of the trunk to screw a locating
plastic plug in so the tree is held upright. 5 sliding holders then slide
against the trunk to hold it firm. Not sure you can still buy them.
The best tree we ever had was a Noble Fir, beautiful perfume and very few
spines although perhaps not as retentive as a Nordman. Unfortunately the GC
that sold them had a few complaints about spine retention and stopped
stocking them.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

"K" wrote in message
...
Muddymike writes
Its been a lovely sunny day here in North Yorkshire which
coincided with me using up one remaining day of annual holiday.

Lovely afternoon yesterday. But I was in my posh clothes having been out
in the morning, and I was going out again in the evening, and I can't be
doing with forever changing clothes. So I decided cleaning the ponds was a
suitable activity - standing with a fishing net scooping off the duckweed
and a few stray leaves - what could possibly go wrong? And then the
resident oligochaetologist said 'since you're out here ... that drain was
overflowing a bit yesterday ...'
--
Kay


That is just *so* like a chap! :~)

Spider