Been having some work done in the garden today. Trimming back masses of unruly and overgrown ivy amongst other things.
Late afternoon I was using a little LPG powered spot weeder to tidy up the odds and sods popping up around the edge of the patio at the bottom of the garden. Bit of snap crackle pop and a load of dry leaves that were under the overgrowth in the ivy took fire. Flames to the top of the fence and above my head. Dry wood within the ivy caught as well as leaves.
Garden hose out and it was extinguished in pretty quick order.
But it makes you think....
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LPG powered spot weeder
Basically useless. will leave ther roots to regenerate. Only two ways to weed:
1 By hand - the environmentally sound way. Dig out roots and hole regularly when its hot and sunny. Apply a mulch
2 With glyphosate. Effective if you dont care about any side effects.
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>> Basically useless. will leave ther roots to regenerate. Only two ways to weed:
>>
>>
>> 1 By hand - the environmentally sound way. Dig out roots and hole regularly when
>> its hot and sunny. Apply a mulch
>>
>> 2 With glyphosate. Effective if you dont care about any side effects.
It keeps the patio neat and Mrs B quiet; which is not the case if glyphosate is mentioned..
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My local council use Round Up Pro Vantage weedkiller.
Thought of getting some myself but it’s awfy dear and quantities that would take me years to get through!
Though having said that, my FIL In his wisdom, paid some local guys to pile stones on top of his front garden to reduce the maintenance due to his old age. I suspect that this weedkiller could come in handy here!
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Yeah but you might get caught and done for murder :-)
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>> My local council use Round Up Pro Vantage weedkiller.
>
= Glyphosate
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Our local council have cut back (haha) on tending the roadside foliage and all hell has broken loose on social media as a result - those pro, who want wilding everywhere, and those anti, who consider it makes the area look scruffy.
In fact people argue about pretty much anything these days, and often with fairly extreme views (on minor matters) and also often in a quite offensive style. I suppose it's what social media has turned us into.
And they are still blaming the Tories for just about everything - when it's been more of a LibDem council for quite some time now.
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We went through that last year in our Council. All these weedkillers were banned due to being cancer linked.
Uproar between the political parties and as you say, residents on both sides of the argument.
Thankfully sense prevailed and the Council went back to Weedkilling.
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Nice colourful wild flower verges look good.
Sadly overgrown green verges that come onto paths /roads and are full of litter aren’t so nice.
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>> We went through that last year in our Council. All these weedkillers were banned due
>> to being cancer linked.
Not cancer but we had an incident when my kids were young where they sprayed the playing fields with selective weed killer; kills broad leaved weeds but not grass. Brought my son out in bad hives and/or aggravated eczema.
We got an apology.
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Must admit I would go for minimum amount of verge trimming. Increases bio diversity and saves money. What’s not to like?
Rather than get worked up about wild flowers in the verges I would like to see more concern over the rubbish thrown onto the verges from passing vehicles. I do a lot of walking Even down the quietest lanes you will find rubbish every few yards. I think we are possibly the most littering nation in Europe
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Councils of all persuasions are basically going bust. They depend on government for 2/3 of their funding to meet the cost of services they must provide. There might be exceptions, but it essentially goes back to government which determines what they must do and how much funding they get.
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>> Councils of all persuasions are basically going bust. They depend on government for 2/3 of
>> their funding to meet the cost of services they must provide. There might be exceptions,
>> but it essentially goes back to government which determines what they must do and how
>> much funding they get.
Which is why it's right to blame the Tories....
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Apparently last year when our Council wasn’t using these weedkillers, they were using other ones that cost several times the price and that was another part of “The problem”.
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Nearish neighbour spotted some weeds near the front of the house. He got the gas spot weeder out and gave the weeds a bit of heat. Popped the gas lance back into the garage and went into the house.
Within 5 minutes the wooden garage and the Polo were well alight.
The next day I passed and there were steel spars on the sides and roof and a charred Polo.
The hot gas lance had set fire to something near the front of the garage - Fire Brigade came and put out flames.
Within 3 weeks - new garage erected and a brand new Polo on the driveway.
Alas he did not get much use of the car. He was early 80s, took ill and died a few months later.
Lesson - Leave gas burner outside for 5 minutes to cool down.
Not my neighbour but serious fire
www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/lincoln-news/blow-torch-used-burn-weeds-287478
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Yep' letting them cool is essential.
Was putting mine away after using it a few years ago and inadvertently touched the hot end on a pair of 'zip off' trousers. Fabric melted leaving a hole the size of a 2p piece.
Miss B patched them with some cut off fabric from a pair of Rohan Bags.
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I use a weedburner on the 'permeable' drive blocks. The blocks have gaps between, filled with grit, where little weeds inevitably sprout. It's impossible to dig them out, and 20 minutes of wanding every 2 or 3 weeks keeps them down.
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Preferred solution is household salt. Cheap, effectively sterilises soil, will kill existing weeds and stop regrowth for a few years.
Unless you use tons (literally) it will never get close to the water table and cause any general pollution.
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>> I use a weedburner on the 'permeable' drive blocks. The blocks have gaps between, filled
>> with grit, where little weeds inevitably sprout. It's impossible to dig them out, and 20
>> minutes of wanding every 2 or 3 weeks keeps them down.
Driveways and terrace paving slabs are where the burner is good.
Won't kill off weeds in flower beds etc where the dig/hoe solution is better than messing with glyphosate.
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Near neighbour was using a burner during last year's hot spell. A dog walker saw them rushing into the house for jugs of water to put out the fire he started and called the fire brigade. A big red truck with half-a-dozen burly types turned up and put him right. His wife called the children out to have their photo taken in front of it, had no shame!
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To make your own weedkiller -
One gallon of white vinegar
One cup of table salt
One tablespoon of washing up liquid
Mix together in a bucket and decant into a spray bottle for ease of use. Guaranteed more effective than Roundup or any other commercial weedkiller, and safe, cheap and environmentally friendly.
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Iwouldn’t put salt on the garden. It persists in the soil for ever as the Carthaginians found out!
It never breaks down and will be washed into planted areas. Surprisingly glyphosate does break down rapidly when in contact with soil bacteria so allows replanting soon after application.
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>> Iwouldn’t put salt on the garden. It persists in the soil for ever as the
>> Carthaginians found out!
>>
>> It never breaks down and will be washed into planted areas. Surprisingly glyphosate does break
>> down rapidly when in contact with soil bacteria so allows replanting soon after application.
I've been using a concentrated salt solution in a trigger spray for years (particularly effective on nettles). Never noticed a long term effect on other planted areas and anyway, I don't want weeds growing back on my drive, not that it stops them for long.
I've never noticed particularly barren areas next to roads (rock salt).
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>> I've never noticed particularly barren areas next to roads (rock salt).
>>
But it does affect the environment. One interesting effect is that you are quite likely to see salt tolerant plants normally found on the coast many miles inland. It seems to be having an effect on our amphibila population too.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-50586868
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To make your own weedkiller -
One cold beer
One clean glass
One wife with phone
Decant beer into clean glass and lie on sofa. Ask wife to get a man in (to kill the weeds, obvs).
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I have a lot of flagged areas. I have used the vinegar recipe for some years since Sodium Chloride was banned. I have 20 litres of white vinegar in stock now, Amazon...about £15. I use a 5 litre pump spray with a wand, I do it sitting down and just move the chair around to reach.
Due to a foot injury, I'm not allowed to do the garden atm so I gave the grandkids some holiday spends to clear quite a large area with scrapers...they did very well. I keep a trigger bottle filled with glysiphate for any rogue weeds that spring up. A quick squirt in passing sorts them out. In the flower beds I pull or trowel them up and I've planted all perennials to keep them down. The gardener came last week to do this for me and she's coming next week to do another stretch, some pruning ....and drink more tea !
Be glad when I'm mobile again, the Jowett has stood in the drive since 10/6 'cos it's my clutch foot that's crank and Mrs T won't be able
to prime the carbs and charge the battery to start it up and put it away, lots of other stuff to do but confined to armchair and telly for the duration...grrrr !
Ted
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Get well soon Ted…I know it’s frustrating being incapacitated. I had a problem 5 months after my hip replacement which ruined a holiday ( flew home at 12 hours notice to see the surgeon) and that curtailed my activities for several weeks.
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>> Guaranteed more effective than Roundup or any other commercial weedkiller, and safe, cheap and environmentally friendly.
I just buy the cheapest weed killer Home Bargains or B & M have on their shelves. Does the job well enough. Sod the planet. I don't do environmentally friendly.
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>> I just buy the cheapest weed killer Home Bargains or B & M have on
>> their shelves. Does the job well enough. Sod the planet. I don't do environmentally friendly.
Keep trigger sprays of glyphosate, pathclear and selective stuff for the lawn in the garage.
Use them when Mrs B's back is turned...
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Wow ! You have a lawn in the garage ! There's posh.
Ted
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>>
>> Wow ! You have a lawn in the garage ! There's posh.
>>
>> Ted
For the want of a comma....
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Just How Easy it is to Start A Fire - CGNorwich
