Michael Cox

Super hot here in the UK.

I've been making use of my son's large (pump and filter) paddling pool before bed. Lowering your core temperature a few degrees before going to bed really helps fall asleep faster and easier.

You might like to find the "Back to Eden" video on youtube. It's a long one of a guy who uses woodchips and has good results.

In my climate it was problematic - it ended up being a slug paradise. In a drier climate it would likely be less problematic. Avoid turning them into the soil.

In the "Back to Eden" video he says repeatedly that "it's all just wood chips"... but at the same time he actually pre-composts a large amount of chips in his extensive chicken run. The chickens scratch them up and add nutrients before he uses them.

I've recently learned how to do this. I don't know why I put off learning how.

It cooks really fast, but ALSO ends up better. My son is fussy about meat - really can't stand anything slightly dry or tough. He demolishes it when I prepare it this way, and often refuses to touch it otherwise.

Use a meat thermometer, rather than time. Aim for 65 degrees C at the thickest point, and let it rest for 15 minutes before carving.  Tonight a whole chicken was being dished up 60 minutes after going in the oven.

https://youtube.com/shorts/qs3IPpOBxPM?si=rEiSn5ThZJAXFzXJ

I've built a couple of these and they work well. They do need regular watering through the summer, and good soil. I initially didn't use good enough soil and the plants struggled. This year I'm getting a few good strawberries each day from 2 barrels.

I want to move them to a better spot for more sun and easier care, but am limited by garden layout.

They are made by cutting a horizontal slice in the the barrel (I used a circular saw) and then heating the plastic with a hot air gun to soften it, before ramming a wine bottle in to make the opening.

For next time; I would keep the top 12 inches of plastic free from openings and fill with soil to leave 6" of space at the top. Then I can water by quickly tipping a whole watering can on each one. With the openings near the top, water runs down the side and washes out through the planting holes.

If you have hens... isn't mixing a hand full of chicken bedding into the soil when you plant a better bet for fertilising? Or top dressing in advance so it has some time to mellow and not burn plants?

The primary reasons I have hens are fertiliser (deep litter bedding), food scraps disposal, and eggs... in that order.

We've been on our patch of land for about 20 years now as a family. It's mostly garden, but with some silvopasture adjacent, and a veggie patch. Personally I wouldn't be saving any self-seeded trees in our land, because we have lots of large established trees already and I'm continually working to cut back and clear boundaries where the woodland is trying to encroach and shade out stuff.

If I did want a new tree it would be deliberately chosen for the spot, serving a specific purpose that the hundreds of other trees don't.

I kill a few thousand tree seedlings each year in the lawn and garden beds.

My experience is that comfrey LOVES damp roots. I planted root cuttings from the same mother plant in my own garden on fast draining chalk soil, and at my in laws which is low lying flood plain with a very high water table. Their one needs to be cut multiple times per year and perfectly supresses the weeds around their apple tree. My ones limp along and get one cut. I think they would need irrigation grow vigorously.

I've had multiple trees do this. The lesson I have learned is that it is generally better to prune a tree to get a strong wood scaffold, over trying to maximise fruit harvest - especially in the early years. Also, I found that a careful summer prune before the weight of the apples became a problem was also an opportunity to thin the fruits that set to get larger individual fruit rather than huge numbers of small fruit.

Around here commercially grown apple trees which are commonly sold to homeowners are on dwarfing or very dwarfing root stocks. They seem particularly prone to this.

I've bought myself a M25 rootstock for future grafting projects. I'll be propagating new root stocks from it and then grafting different varieties. On our chalk soil less vigorous rootstocks struggle to grow strength just as you describe.

Eucalyptus brash would also be excellent material for making biochar with - you would need suitable equipment to do it safely in fire prone country