Jay Angler

The experience I've had with mini hugels  and raised beds with punky wood in the bottom is that covering the hugel or filling the bed with just compost+/-manures doesn't seem to grow things that well. However, when I made a point of tossing in even relatively small layers of our clay soil, the garden did much better.

That may have something to do with my ecosystem, but I think a big part of the, "put the wood on the ground, then dig a trench beside it, tossing the dirt onto the wood" actually makes the system work better. I don't have an explanation for this, but the next time I build such a thing, that is what I will try.

I also recall Sepp Holzer saying at one point that it won't work as well if you use too much wood compared to soil/compost.

S J you are not the only one who's managed to kill comfrey. Considering the weather we've had this year, my first guess would be insufficient water while it was getting established. Mine gets some supplemental water during our summer drought.

However, there is a difference between 'dead' and 'died back' - are you sure they won't pop up next spring? As Nancy wrote, knowing a bit more about your eco-system would help.

I do find they're a heavy feeder in my ecosystem also. The two spots I lost plants early on, had too high a ratio of rock to soil.

Now that I'm more experienced and was able to start with larger sections of root, my patches all put out a few fall leaves, so I know they're alive for now... the deer pressure has been huge this year, and once they discovered that comfrey was edible, they've been quite hard on it.  I may have to find a way to fence it.

bump!

John Duffy wrote:Jay, for your coop, have you tried rare earth magnets? Harbor Freight has them super cheap and for their size, they are ridiculously strong! Use Super Glue to mount them and the metal mating plate.

My, oh, my, ridiculously strong is an appropriate description. Hubby installed them on a cupboard door using the screw on cups that Lee Valley sells for them. He insisted on installing two of them, one on the top and one on the bottom. The handle eventually broke due to the force I had to exert!

He was away at the time, so I could fix it as I saw fit. I can't remember if I was able to remove the lower magnet, or only the metal plate, but that reduced the force needed. I found a new handle and spaced it out better with longer bolts and a bunch of washers, so the force on the handle would be better distributed. It is still more than strong enough for the cabinet door. A smaller diameter magnet would have been plenty.

So, yes, magnets of appropriate strength in a well designed system can make wonderful door latches, and possibly some sort of gate latch, just do a bit of experiementation.

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Thekla McDaniels wrote:Aaaaaah!  The internet ate the second half, in which I described this simple hook system

https://www.tough1.com/qwikee-gate-latch.html

I had three pictures.  I will have to post them one at a time.  The key component is a ring that changes position.  Look for it in the pictures…

The thing I love about this one, is that you can fairly easily adjust which link of the chain you use to make it tighter or looser. For wimpy livestock, like chickens, I betting I could DIY it (do it yourself).

Dennis Barrow wrote:...  I have found that several of the latches need to be readjusted almost every year because of the shifting of the gates with the weather.

This is a problem for me with both 'hook and eye' and 'wood swivel' style of latches - the difference in wood sizes between summer drought and winter constant wet is very noticeable.

The more I try to get away from plywood to gick-free local lumber, the greater this factor appears to be. I'd really like to see a few more "sliding latch" ideas and definitely ideas that cope with expansion/contraction better. Theckla's weighted rope set up could work in some situations. I use a similar idea to raise and lower two of my Roman shades - combination of the right amount of weight and the friction of the cord allows the drape to be stopped at any point in the rise.