Landscape and Amenity produces a monthly advertising magazine giving product updates for the professionals in those areas. It will also provide that information to you so that you can learn about and use the latest products by viewing its digital edition.

Local alternatives to supermarkets:-

• Localfoodshop.com - Website allows local producers tio sell directly to the customer online from September 2007.
• bigbarn.co.uk - A comparison website which consumers can then find their local producers and then rate them
• natoora.co.uk - website selling quality French, British and Italian food directly from the producer. Delivery costs £5 in London and £10 for the rest of Britain.
• whyorganic.org - gives a directory of organic producers provided by the Soil Association
• organicdelivery.co.uk - is an online service delivering organic products - from vitamins to breakfast cereals - to 80% of London every day. Delivery is free for orders of £13.95 and above, and next day delivery is available.
• soorganic.com - offers dozens of own-brand organic toiletries and cosmetics.

I received an email in December 2014 from a volunteer in the School Fund Raising Events team in America:-

Thank you to Cindy, who did some research on her own and found this page - http://www.topiarytree.net/greatgardendingresources.php  It has a lot of great information on different types of gardening and these students found it especially helpful!  
Thank you to Cindy, and the rest of the kids at their youth center.  They have been learning about gardening and found this article about different types of gardening that they sent to me.  Good luck with your plants, kids!

"About School Fund Raising Events:-
SchoolFundRaisingEvents.com has been a leader in fundraising resources and information since 2008. The site was started as a partnership between several parents who had dealt with school fundraisers for years. They noticed a lack of good resources that covered all of the basics of fundraising and provided assistance to those who were trying to plan successful fundraisers. During a discussion after one particularly stressful fundraiser, they decided to create a resource for other parents that provided the basics and helped them find help with fundraisers. They pooled their fundraising knowledge and created SchoolFundRaisingEvents.com. Since then, they have gathered more information from other parents, students and teachers and the site continues to grow today.

Our Mission

Our main mission is to help connect volunteers with schools to assist with fundraising. These volunteers will help with fundraising for a variety of different school activities and programs that enrich the lives of the students involved and further their education in ways that traditional classroom learning might not be able to. Many schools have seen their arts budgets slashed in recent years, resulting in the loss of music, art, dance, and other vital programs. To that end, we strive to find the perfect fundraisers for each program and match these programs up with volunteers who will be able to help them achieve their fundraising goals." from School Fundraising Events in America.

in reply:-

Your students might like to create a flower clock as detailed in the following page:-

http://www.ivydenegardens.co.uk/offbeat%20glossary/offbeatglossaryu.html

and then you would have a clock the students could see outside the window during the spring/summer, instead of looking at their watches!

Thanks for your email,

Chris Garnons-Williams

I received this email in September 2018 from a volunteer in the School Fund Raising Events team in America:-

Hi Chris!

I want to share my appreciation for helping Kayla, Lilly, myself, and our students in the past! You may remember that you had added a link to a web page that our kids found about gardening tips! It was a very fun and exciting experience for all them! I am writing today to ask if you'd be willing to help me again with a similar project with my new students!

The excitement they get and the lesson that they learn about what they can accomplish is lifelong for them at this age. I am now teaching a new group of youngsters, and little things to us, still have a huge impact on them!

After showing the class your website, I challenged them with finding an article that would be useful in learning about our last project and also something that might be fun for you and your visitors. After we talked about carts and wheelbarrows, they found this page about the history of the wheel! I thought it was a great find!

https://intellaparts.com/blog/forklift-how-to-articles-guides-maintain-upgrade-a-forklift/history-of-the-wheel/

Would you add it to your web page as you did the last time? Then they can have the same learning experience, and get the same joy as my previous classes! Seeing their faces when they can click on it and know that they were responsible for it is really fun! Would you please add it where you added the other one here: https://ivydenegardens.co.uk/usefull%20data/usefulldatasitem.html

Thank you again for all of your help and have a nice weekend!

Rachel

--

Rachel Martin

Instructor | Advisor

rachelamartin@learninghaven.com

Behold the tortoise that only makes progress when it sticks its neck out!

in reply:-

Plant Selection by your students can be influenced by

the Colour Wheel,

from the Calendar of Blooms Gallery Introduction Page.

or

you could use one of my many other Colour Wheels to select bulbs instead:-

7 Flower Colours per Month in Colour Wheel below in BULB, CORM, RHIZOME and TUBER GALLERY.

Click on Black or White box in Colour of Month.

Besides the above Bulb Flower Colour Comparison Pages, you also have the following Comparison Pages:-
...Bulb Flower Shape -
7 pages of Number of Petals ...... 5 petals,
23 pages of Flower Shape ......... Stars and
7 pages of Natural Arrangements Drumstick

...Bulb Form -
7 pages of Bulb Form ...Clump-forming
...Bulb Use -
33 pages of Bulb Use ...Mass Planting,
Groundcover,
Grow in Patio Pot and
Use in Coastal Conditions
...Bulb Preferred Soil
5 pages of Soil preferred by Bulb ...Chalk

Thanks for your email,

Chris Garnons-Williams

I have used Maxicrop and its benefits of using seaweed extracts for the garden are great, and so I asked Mike Garner of Maxicrop to produce the following:-

Post: Maxicrop (UK) Limited, P.O.Box 6027, Corby NN17 1ZH
Telephone: 08700 115 117   Fax: 08700 115 118  
Registered Office: Oakley House, Headway Business Park, 3 Saxon Way West, Corby, Northants NN18 9EZ. Registered in England No. 03818182

Weblink is www.maxicrop.co.uk (click on gardening tab and
then click on Click here to view The Maxicrop Product Range)

Maxicrop Original

The original seaweed extract plant growth stimulant. Approved for organic growing by the Soil Association.
Maxicrop Original helps stimulate natural plant growth and boosts healthy root development. It can help improve seed emergence and establishment, aids rooting, alleviates transplant shock and helps build resistance to pests, diseases and drought stress.
Maxicrop Original can be used on all plant types and can be used on seeds, young plants, at planting out and on mature plants. It can be used all round the garden, including lawns, from early spring right through until the autumn.

Maxicrop Seaweed Meal

This is a dried seaweed, milled into powder form and is approved by the Soil Association for use in organic growing systems.
Seaweed meal helps improve soil condition, supplies minerals and trace elements and can be used to activate compost heaps. It can help make valuable compost, encourages fertiliser uptake and helps increase the plant’s tolerance of pests and disease. Seaweed meal can be used on all garden soils, as a soil conditioner, as well as being used on lawns and compost heaps. Apply anytime from spring to autumn.

Maxicrop Cal-Sea-Feed
This can be used as a sustainable alternative to calcified seaweed and is a blend of seaweed meal and natural calcium compounds. Cal-Sea-Feed helps neutralise acid soils, improves soil structure and supplies minerals. It is formulated to give the benefits of calcified seaweed without the environmental concerns. Approved by the Soil Association.
Cal-Sea-Feed can be used on heavy clay soils, to help improve soil structure and on soils where acidity needs to be reduced. Apply anytime from spring to autumn.

Maxicrop Take Root
Natural seaweed extract rooting liquid and transplant aid. Take Root helps improve survival and rooting of cuttings and transplants. It helps improve root mass, boosts plant survival and health and is approved for organic gardening (Soil Association approved). Take root can be used on all cuttings and transplants.

Maxicrop Compost Maker
A unique liquid formulation, made from natural seaweed and land plant extracts. Compost Maker boosts the activity of naturally occurring composting microbes. This highly efficient liquid application helps produce rich compost in weeks from garden and kitchen waste. Soil Association certified product.

Sea Magic Organics wrote the majority of the following on their website about seaweed:-

The use of seaweed in farming and agriculture has a long history. Seaweed has always been harvested in coastal areas to be used as mulch in vegetable gardens and to supplement feed for animals.

It was not until after World War II that systematic research into the benefits of seaweed took place. Even though seaweed has been researched for over 50 years now, the exact mechanism through which seaweed exerts its positive influence is still not fully known.

Initially, the thought was that the benefits derived from seaweed use were mainly caused by the trace elements.

Seaweed contains all elements. Some in substantial amounts like potassium, but most only in trace amounts. Minerals leach out through the effect of weathering from all landmasses. In the long term these elements invariably find their way into the sea, where they are used by the plants growing there. In seawater you find a natural blend of all the minerals available on earth. Unfortunately seawater contains levels of Sodium Chloride (Salt) that are too high for land-based plants to tolerate in any substantial amount, otherwise seawater would be an ideal fertiliser.

Sandy soils are leached of most of their trace elements and therefore gardeners can have the most potential benefit of using sea minerals in the form of seaweeds and fish. These nutrients are high in the same elements that have been steadily leached and eroded from the soil.

Seaweeds, unlike plants growing in soil, take up the majority of their nutrients from the medium they live in: the seawater. They absorb nutrients directly into their tissues. The 'roots' on seaweed have the main function of anchoring the plant. Seaweed takes up all the trace elements, and stores them in a bio-available, or chelated form. This means that when the breakdown products of seaweed are presented to a plant it will be able to utilise these nutrients. Chelation is a process of incorporating a mineral element in a protein molecule to stop it from reacting with its environment. This means it is in a stable form, and won't react with other elements in the soil, which could make it unavailable to plants.

For most of the trace elements scientists have not worked out exactly what role they play in human, animal or plant nutrition. Until fairly recently only the trace elements Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum and Copper were considered to be relevant for human and plant health. Now this list has been expanded to around 20 elements, but the majority of trace elements are still 'irrelevant' according to major nutritionists.

It is not inconceivable that in future the role of more elements might be discovered. The same goes for plant nutrition. The role of most chemical elements is unknown, but supplementation of even the most obscure elements in trace amounts give substantial boosts in yields and in plant health. It is therefore a good idea to provide the widest range of elements to plants that you can think of. Even elements that are considered to be toxic might play an important role if they are provided in trace amounts. In this way seaweed fertilisers act as a 'nutrition insurance', you know that all the trace elements, even the ones you don't know exactly the function of, are provided. Liquid concentrates are usually applied in such limited amounts that there is no fear for toxicity.

Liquid seaweed concentrate is used either as a soil conditioner or as a foliar fertiliser. It can be applied in concentrated form or much diluted. Use of liquid concentrate for soil conditioning gives quick results, but not necessarily long lasting. For problem soils; a seaweed meal might be more beneficial in the longer term. The cost of seaweed meal applications are considerably higher than for concentrate applications, which is a point that has to be taken into consideration for larger gardens.

Liquid extract is used for almost immediate effects. When applied as a foliar spray the nutrients are directly available to the plant, but as a foliar application also causes the plants to increase its uptake of soil nutrients through the roots there is a longer term effect as well.

The importance of trace elements lies mainly in their role in the formation of enzymes. Enzymes play an important role in all living organisms because they act as catalysts, without which many important functions such as the sugar production in plants would not take place. Most enzymes contain an inorganic compound. Often there is just one atom of a metal in the complex molecules with dozens and sometimes hundreds of atoms of Carbon and Hydrogen. Without this one metal atom in each of these enzymes it would not be able to function at all. Without these atoms of metals the enzymes could not function, the organism would not function properly either and start to show signs of disease. Sometimes these elements are only needed in concentrations of 1 in one-million or one in ten-million or even less. They are still needed and if not provided the whole system could be harmed.

Another major component in liquid seaweed extracts are the hormones. The main hormones in seaweed are auxins, gibbelerins, cytokinins and betaines. The roles of these hormones are also essential to plant health. Most of them are required in only very small proportions. They occur naturally. Plants are sometimes able to produce these hormones themselves. There are many different auxins and they all have their specific roles. Their main functions are the balanced control of speed of growth. They have both growth stimulating as well as delaying functions. They stimulate root-growth, prevent bud-forming or opening at the wrong times.

Seaweeds can even play an important role in the production of the plant's own auxins, because the enzymes formed with the help of trace elements from the seaweed often play an important role in the formation of these auxins.

Cytokinins are another powerful group of plant hormones. They initiate and activate basic growth processes. The cytokinins available in seaweed stimulate growth with greater vigour, because they mobilise nutrients in the leaves. They also provide protection from marginal frost (to -3 C). Cytokinins also retard the senescence (aging processes) in the plant.

Betaines play an important role in the osmotic processes in plants. They help to increase the water uptake in plants and are extremely helpful in dry or saline conditions. Betaines are particularly helpful to plants in stress.

Soil conditioner

Seaweed and especially the alginates in the seaweed act as soil-conditioners. The alginates react with metals in the soil and form long and cross-linked polymers in the soil. These polymers improve the crumbing in the soil, and swell up when they get wet, and retain moisture for a long period.

Foliar feeding

Nutrients are absorbed through leaves more speedily than through its roots. A foliar spray can also work as a stimulant for the plant to take the nutrients up through its root system.

Seaweed and /or fish emulsion sprayed on a bed can have an almost instant effect on the health of the plants. A dramatic increase can be achieved overnight.

Many farmers use the fish and/or seaweed as soon as they find the start of a pest infestation. The day after the foliar application the pest have usually disappeared or are not feeding.

Caution

Seaweed should not be seen as a panacea for every ill. On some gardens, especially the ones with low pH (Highly Acidic) or extremely low Calcium levels (Peaty soils), there has been hardly any benefit in applying seaweed and fish.

Combining seaweed extracts with fish emulsion

Fish emulsion, with its high Nitrogen content complements seaweed extracts well. Fish emulsion also supplies bulk organic matter, which helps to buffer the nutrients available in seaweed. In combination they provide both the trace elements, main nutrients and essential hormones.

In recent research, fish emulsion by itself has been shown to increase the growth of plants through the stimulation of some bacteria strains. The bacterial and actinomycete isolates were capable of producing auxins, gibberellins and cytokinins and appeared to use fish emulsion as a source of nutrients and precursors for these Plant Growth Regulators( PGR). PGR levels in plants following combined treatments of the bacterial and actinomycete isolates and fish emulsion were found to be significantly enhanced over other treatments. The effect of fish emulsion appeared to be more related to its role as a nutrient base for the bacterial and actinomycete isolates rather than to the increased activity of the general microflora of treated soil. According to the research report this was the first report of fish emulsion as a nutrient base for plant growth promoting rhizobacteria. These results also indicate that the successful treatment can be effective and economical for horticultural production, especially in sandy soils (Khaled A. El-Tarabily: Fish emulsion as a food base for rhizobacteria promoting growth of radish (Raphanus sativus L. var. sativus) in a sandy soil).

At Sea Magic Organics we use mainly shark as input for our liquid fish fertiliser, and use a natural, enzymatic digestive process to hydrolyse the fish. Because we use mainly shark, we have to avoid using the fatty tissues and the livers, as sharks are at the top of the food chain and tend to accumulate the toxins in their livers and in fatty tissue. Our product therefore does not have the thick consistency of other fish emulsions, but as the meat is completely digested the final product is completely liquid and still contains a considerable amount of oil.

The enzymatic digestive process is anaerobic. Because of this the final product has a distinctive anaerobic smell. We are currently working on different microbial cultures that are still anaerobic, but produce a less offensive smell. The process needs to be anaerobic, because in an aerobic process too many nutrients would become volatile, and in an anaerobic environment a substantial content of auxins is preserved/created.

PO Box 251,Coffs Harbour. 2450, Ph 02 6652 3131 • Fax 02 6652 3132, enquiries@seamagic.com.au

.

Manure:  

In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship and it was also before commercial fertilizer's invention, so large shipments of manure were common. 

It  was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet, but once water (at sea) hit it, it not only became heavier, but the  process of fermentation began again; of which a byproduct is methane  gas. As the stuff was stored below decks in bundles you can see what could (and did) happen. 

Methane  began to build up below decks and the first time someone came below at night with a lantern,

BOOOOM!


Several  ships were destroyed in this manner before it was determined just what was happening.    

After  that, the bundles of manure were always stamped with the term 'Ship High In Transit' on them, which meant for the sailors to stow it high enough off the lower decks so that any water that came into the hold would not touch this volatile cargo and start the production of methane.   


Thus  evolved the term

' S.H.I.T '

(Ship High In Transport) 
, which has come down through the centuries and is in use to this very day.

Useful Data - Subject Link Index

• A
• Acoustic Fence Barrier to reduce noise from outside your garden
• Aggregate
• Anti-slip paint spray
• Apprenticeship places not being taken up
• Artificial grass for children and pets

• B
• Bamboo root control
• Biodegradable Oils
• Bird and Thief repellent strips
• Bottle top rose
• Brick laying made easy by using plastic spacer to give uniform depth of mortar every time.
• Bridges - Steel, Timber and Kits

• C
• Carpet Bedding Displays
• Cat deterrent - Wall Spikes
• Children's Play Area Safety Rubber Matting
• Chipper/Shredder
• Clocks and Weathervanes
• Concrete crusher to crush your waste to produce foundation material for your drive/garage/etc
• Concrete repair
• Concrete repair to produce smooth level, high strength, concrete surface
• Corrugated roof anti-corrosion paint

• D
• Anti-slip Composite Decking
• Anti-slip Wooden Decking
• Decking and Railing material
• Diamond Sharpening Stone
• Drainsmart prevents blocked rainwater downpipes
• Dulally Bird

From April 2016, all dogs in the UK will need to be microchipped by law. Anyone who doesn't have their dog microchipped by April 6th will have 21 days to comply or may face a penalty fine of up to £500.

• E
• Ecomerchant - an environmentally responsible builder's merchant in Faversham, Kent, England
• Electricity connection to Pond Equipment
• Everedge lawn edging
• Ecolaw website to help prevent illegal construction/development on your estate.
• Expanding Foam to fill holes in tree trunks

• F
• Fencing - Close Boarded
• Flat Free Wheelbarrow Tyre
• Flower Ball hanging basket
• First Aid Kit
• Friendly Fungi - multipurpose
• Frostproof Terracotta Flowerpots
• Further Education Courses at Hadlow College

• G
• Game on a Lawn - Crown Darts
• Garden Detective CD to detect and treat weeds, pests and diseases
• Garden Scoot - wheelchair gardening sitting 1 foot above ground
• Gas to Liquid DIESEL Replacement Fuel
• Graffiti prevention
• Graffiti removal kit
• Grass and Concrete Driveway absorbs the rain
• Ground creation on steep slope if no topsoil is currently there
• Grow grass from seed on a steep slope using TR-Flex to stop soil erosion
• Gardening under Glass by Kenneth A. Beckett

• H
• Hose

• I
• Ice Melt
• Inert PETROL Fuel
• Instant hedging
• Instant Raised Bed and Mini-Greenhouse
• Instant water-proofing for leaking flat roofs
• Irrigation system

• J
• Japanese Knotweed Eradication

• K
• Kneeling Mat

• L
• Label printing for garden games
• Ladder
• Land Drainage
• Landscaping Fabric
• Turf for Lawns
• Leaf Mulch
• Lime mortar instead of cement for walls
• Living security Fence
• Low voltage garden lighting system

• M
• Mulch warning - Cocoa Shell poisonous to dogs
• Manure/Mulch - Cow Manure
• Manure/Mulch - Shredded Manure and Compost
• Metal paint system from Dulux Trade
• Mini-excavator
• Mortar free retaining wall system
• Mower
• Mulch - Woodland Coarse Grade

• N
• National Fruit Collections.
• Natural Swimming Pools instead of chemically-treated pools
• Non-toxic and Non-Chemical Fence Post protection
• Noise Reducing Acoustic Fencing

• O
• Oil - WD40
• Organic meat
• Organic milk and dairy products
• Organically produced wine
• Outdoor Rattan Furniture strong enough for Children

• P
• Paint for external render, which keeps clean
• Paint for external render for maritime areas
• Paving Jointing Compound
• Paving - Stone
• Paving Spacers
• Permeable Concrete Paving
• Plants
• Planter pockets
• Plantex Liner - Pond Liner
• Plastic Post, Fence Panel and Gravel Board
• Plug Plants
• Pond creation
• Pond liner
• Post Hole Digger
• Potato Barrel
• Pro-Seeder
• Pry Bar to remove stones from ground

• Q
• Question: Do British Scaffold Erection Engineers in erecting the scaffolding usually make
  • 1) performance of the future contract for a builder to replace guttering literally impossible?
  • 2) the tiles under the supporting boards to get broken and
  • 3) when the painters or builders use the scaffolding, then they will be causing further damage to the roofs over which these scaffolding boards have been used as support for the scaffolding.?
     

• R
• Roof Paint for corrugated iron with Reinforcing Scrim. All weather application.
• Red Spider Mite - Natural Pest Control
• Roof Sedum Lawn with flowers
• Root Trainers
• Raised beds and terracing
   

• S
• Screens in Planters for hard standing areas
• Seaweed soil improver
• Seed Sowing Guide book
• Seed Trays
• Self Watering pots with their water reservoir can be mounted onto metal frames to provide a gardening area for wheelchair users or for the infirm
• Self Watering Pots with their water reservoir provide garden space on your window cill and garden boundary walls
• Self Watering Propagators
• Sewage treatment in own garden using a sewage treatment plant above ground level. Then use treated water in your garden.
• Sewage treatment in own garden using a sewage treatment plant below ground level. Then use treated water in your garden.
• Skid-resistant surface for vehicle and pedestrian areas.
• Skin shielding lotion helps reduce the natural oil and moisture loss when you are gardening
• Slugs - Natural Pest Control
• Soil Reinforcement on steep slopes
• Soil stabilisation on steep slopes to allow plants to establish themselves.
• Soil Pick
• Spade, fork, rake, hoe, edging iron set,
  Lopper, Hedge shear, sharpener, pruner set and
  Trowel, hand fork and kneeler.
• Spud Tub. If you only use containers, then you can grow your vegetables in these tubs on your concrete garden/patio/courtyard
• Swell Gel
• Topsoil for different applications

• T
• Tarmac Rake
• Tennis Court Fencing
• Tree Pit Porous Paving System to use for tree in centre of Driveways
• Tree Root Protection below a driveway
• Tripod Ladder
• Turf reinforcement for car parking and to stop dogs digging up the lawn

• U
• UK Pesticide Guide 2013
• Urban Bird Deterrent

• V
• Vertical turf
• Vine Weevil - Natural Pest Control

• W
• Waste from your garden
• Water Clockwork Timer
• Water play splashpad system as alternative to paddling pools and traditional water play systems.
• Waterproof Coating for walls, concrete ponds and retaining walls
• Waterproof socks
• Waterproofing and drainage to create areas for dry storage
• Water re-use
• Water saving tip
• Weed Control Fabric
• Non-woven Weed Control fabric from China
• Wheelbarrow puncture-proof
• Whitefly Killer - Natural Pest Control
• Wig Wam Cane Grips
• Wild Flower and Grass Seed Mixtures to produce wildflower meadow
• Wildflower Meadow to be sown from seed
• Wildflower Turf Timelapse Video
• Wildlife safety system to cross a road
• Windbreak Fencing Mesh
• Wood saws
• Wooden Bridge up to 30metre span
• Wooden sections to create raised beds and terracing
• Workwear gloves

• X
• Xtra winter warmth by eating Chilli Jam on Welsh Rarebit

• Y
• Yellow Flexitub

Adonis Blue Egg

• Z
• The first 5 days after the Weekend are the hardest for watering your garden plants
• Zolution is Water Saving Polymer - Broadleaf P4

Adonis Blue Egg on a leaf

I have finally managed to find how to care for this Dulally Bird from

"The Care and Feeding of Stuffed Animals" by Glen Knape, as mentioned in the book "How to Avoid Huge Ships and Other Implausibly Titled Books" by Joel Rickett.

The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, originally known as the Diagram Group Prize for the Oddest Title at the Frankfurt Book Fair, commonly known as the Diagram Prize for short, is a humorous literary award that is given annually to the book with the oddest title. The prize is named after the Diagram Group, an information and graphics company based in London, and The Bookseller, a British trade magazine for the publishing industry.

The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (BLFC) is a tongue-in-cheek contest held annually and is sponsored by the English Department of San Jose State University in San Jose, California. Entrants are invited "to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels" – that is, deliberately bad.
The contest was started in 1982 by Professor Scott E. Rice of the English Department at San Jose State University and is named for English novelist and playwright Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, author of the much-quoted first line "It was a dark and stormy night". This opening, from the 1830 novel Paul Clifford, continues floridly:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

The first year of the competition attracted just three entries, but it went public the next year, received media attention, and attracted 10,000 entries.

There are now several subcategories, such as detective fiction, romance novels, Western novels, and purple prose. Sentences that are notable but not quite bad enough to merit the Grand Prize or a category prize are awarded Dishonorable Mentions.

This is how to keep your groceries from falling over when they are in plastic handle bags:-

Copied from

Case Studies Pages
Site Map

When you have the following 8 problems, then instead of building the building and conning the buyer, that the new building will not subside, then why does the builder not do something to solve these 8 problems - of a house built on clay - before sale?

There is no need for the builder to worry about there being insufficient water for these new buildings well before 2030; as shown in the last row; therefore no need to tell the potential customer.

Problems for Houseowners and Builders when the new home is surrounded by clay and how to solve them.

8 problems caused by clay:-

• In creating a new driveway for a client you can see (from the top photos) that when it rains, that the indentations in the clay caused by my boots do fill with water and then that water does not drain away.
  Solution -
  Had I installed a soakaway under the drive or elsewhere in the back garden below the drive, then it would have filled with water and not drained.
  If the ground is clay, then that soakaway will fill and never empty. In that case if you create that soakaway as a continuous one about 2 feet away from the boundary with it starting 3 feet from house and continuing round to meet the entrance of the drive, then planting privet or yew evergreen hedge in that 2 feet gap between it and the boundary will absorb the water from that driveway. The 2 feet depth of existing clay soil between that extended soakaway and the boundary should be replaced by the following mixture of 1 part existing soil and 1 part sand to provide a soil where the soakaway water can move from the soakaway through the soil to the hedge roots. The french drain used to transport the water should be surrounded by 4 inches of coarse pea-shingle inside an envelope of geotextile to stop that pea-shingle from mixing with the mixed soil.
• The same happened to a client's house, which subsided after 6 years from being built. The builder had run out of top soil and instead of putting sand as the rest of the back garden was composed of where it had been growing a forest, they put 24 inches (60 cms) of blue clay the full width of the back of the house which sloped up and met the upward sloping lawn laid by the builders. The lawn prevented much of the rainwater from entering the sand underneath and thus draining away and ended up on the 144 inch (360 cms) wide slabbed patio before hitting the house wall and soaking into the blue clay below the slabs. Clay can absorb 40% of its own volume before it turns from a solid to a liquid. When the clay absorbs the water, then the suction on the housewall is sufficient to raise that wall. When it dries out then the wall subsides and so it subsided. The 6th photo down the Case 3a Clay on Sand Subsidence of New House Page shows the blue clay as the dark section at the top of the trench with the sand being dark yellow below it.
  Solution 1 -
  Instead of the patio sloping up the back garden, I installed a concrete foundation for a conservatory with the concrete going 12 inches (30 cms) deeper than the 24 depth of blue clay. Then, the foundation for the new Path/Patio at the back of the house was sloped away from the house at 1:40 and the rain drained to the Gully, thence to the Sump in the middle of the garden. I then bought a powerful Cultivator Tiller and rotovated the back lawn. Using an asphalt rake and a spade with wheelbarrow; I then levelled the remaining back garden lawn in both directions, with the conservatory/path areas sloping away from the house to allow rainwater to be collected and taken to the sump, instead of causing further damage to the house. The levelled lawn then needed a Patio wall to stop the earth from being unsurported. A builder than built the conservatory, the restraining patio wall and the new path/patio.
  Solution 2 -
  If that area of blue clay had been surrounded by the Aquadyne Drainage System (details at bottom of this page) by the original builders to a 36 inches depth, then the problem would never have arisen as all the rainwater would have been transferred to the surrounding sand soil and the underlying sand. Thus the suction power of the clay would have been on the Aquadyne Drainage System and not the house wall. Since the Aquadyne Drainage System is plastic it would if it moved up and down and not taken the house wall with it.
• There are other factors causing Subsidence of Buildings, especially Tree Roots in Clay Soils.
• I spent some months maintaining the grounds within 5 acres of a new Care Home. The previous use for these 5 acres had been as a boys school. This had been demolished and the rubble then built on for the 5 new residential Care Buildings with its Administration/Kitchen Building. 5000 shrubs and trees were planted and at the end of the first year, I audited what remained - 2000 out those 5000 had died. The builders had generously added a 2 inches (5 cm) depth of topsoil before planting into that and the rubble under it.
  Solution -
  I bought an American Super Tomahawk Chipper/Shredder and shredded the tree/shrub prunings during the winter and applied the shreddings as a mulch in the further beds on the 5 acre estate during the winter to provide nutrients for the surviving plant.
  I did suggest putting a 4 inch mulch of bark on top of the ground in the beds at a trifling cost of £19,000, since digging up the plants and transfering them to a nursery bed, before excaving a further 12 inches (30 cm) and replacing the 14 inch (35 cm) depth with good soil mixed with manure; and then its plants; would have been extremely time consuming and expensive. This money was not forthcoming, so when I started cutting the lawns, I added the mowings to the beds as a mulch. I was told that this was unsightly and to stop doing that - at this point I resigned since the contract for the original planting only included making up the losses in the first year, I could not see that many of the plants would survive in the succeeding years.
  You need a minimum of a spade depth of at least 8 inches (20 cms) of topsoil with a 4 inch mulch of bark or spent mushroom compost surrounding each plant after the planting, plus an irrigation system - that means 12 inches below the top of the bed edging, so that the mulch does not flow out onto the lawn, patio, drive or paths after it has been laid.
• In maintaining a client's lawn, I found that after rain that their lawn was squelchy. The lawn was laid on a clay topsoil.
  Solution-
  I mowed the lawn quite low and applied Top Dressing at the recommended rate. I repeated this twice more once a month. After that, the problem was sorted.
• I received this from a client - An unsuccessful planting scheme had left bare areas of garden as plants failed to survive winter in the waterlogged clay soil. The loss of numerous plants and the cost of replacing them had left us disheartened.
  Solution -
  A 150mm (6 inch) deep mulch of mixed peat, sharp washed sand and horticultural grit was applied on top of a heavy clay soil to improve its structure, and stop the plants therein from drowning, at £10 a square metre. The mix was:
  • 4 cubic metres of Peat (to provide the Organic Polymers/Organic Matter and Carbon.)
  • 2 cubic metres of Sharp Washed Sand (to provide the sand for the production of microaggregates)
  • 2 cubic metres of Horticultural Grit (to provide larger particles for aggregation)
  • 25kg of Garden Lime (to provide Calcium for the plants and allow clay minerals to bond together to form domains. Once clay minerals are stacked together to form domains, they can then bond with organic matter to form microaggregates)
  • 25 kg of Sulphate of Iron (to provide Iron to act as a trace element and to create soil colloid for buffering chemical nutrients in the soil for later use by plants)
  • 25Kg of Sulphate of Potash ( to provide fertilizer for the plants)
    
    and the following was sent to me in October 2004:- An unsuccessful planting scheme had left bare areas of garden as plants failed to survive winter in the waterlogged clay soil. The loss of numerous plants and the cost of replacing them had left us disheartened. It was evident that remedial action was needed in the form of a mixture of gravel, sand and peat to create an organic loam. Approximately six inches was added in April and left to settle and do its job. By July there was a noticeable difference in the quality of the soil and the plants. Shrubs with sparse, mottled leaves were looking glossy and robust, overall growth had increased (including the weeds!) and the soil was holding its moisture well. But the biggest difference came in the confidence it gave us to transform the garden. The borders used to be a no-go area between May and September as the clay baked and cracked, but the new soil was easy to handle and weeds could be successfully removed. We realised that there are no quick fixes - the key to a healthy garden is rich, nutritous soil. Once our plants began to thrive we were optimistic that, with good advice, we could create a garden to be proud of.
• I visited a prospective client whose second laid lawn sloping up from the house in the back garden was needed to be replaced. The turves had dried and the clay soil had also dried with the result that the turves separated. She had had the builder lay a horizontal patio at the back of her new house and the lawn went from there up to the next house. Her home and garden were on clay. I did point out to her that when it rained, then the patio would become a lake and her house would subside, since not only the rain falling on the patio but the rain falling on the lawn would also end up at the patio. I refused to quote for her lawn replacement.
  Solution -
  in next row.
• When requested by a builder, I visited his site where huge excavators were used to dig the trenches for the drains and utilities. The garden at the back of the showhouse had a downward slope from the garden wall to the house and moss was already growing round the french windows facing the back garden.
  Solution -
  in next Row.
   

Builders do sell the original topsoil including

• the grass,
• the zone of organic matter and the
• zone where mineral and organic matter are mixed

where the new building and its garden areas are to be built.

The consolidated parent material (bedrock) is usually sand, chalk or clay with flint possibly. At the end of building; the builders rubble is covered with possibly only a 2 inch (5 cms) depth of imported topsoil, which might be the washings from the sugar beet in the sugar industry. This is covered with turf and the unsuspecting public is offered the result. As likely as not one of their gardens slopes towards the house and even with the modern depth of foundation wall, there is no guarantee that subsidence will not occur.

If every garden of a new house had a 12 inch depth of soil removed from its new garden area, then at the end of the building work, the Aquadyne Drainage System would be laid round the entire boundary. Next to it then plant the relevant Instant Hedge on the non-house wall sides to absorb the rainwater collected by that drainage system:-

• Screening Boundary Hedge
• Stock Boundary Hedge
• Thorny Barrier Hedge
• Anti-graffiti Hedge or
• Security Hedge

And finally on the same day pour a depth of 11 inches (27.5 cms) depth of the builders soil mixture detailed below onto the remainder of the new garden areas and alongside the Instant Hedging.

To provide a different requirement from the current plants used in the above Instant Hedges, plants for each of the following could be used instead:-

• Thorny Hedge
• Windbreak
• Use as Garden Hedge
• Use in Coastal Conditions
• Use in Woodland Garden
• Pollution Barrier

A fortnight later the following type of turf containing RTF (Rhizomatous Tall Fescue), bred by Barenbrug Research USA, could be laid over the proposed lawn areas. The roots of that grass will reach the clay below and stabilise the new builders soil mix, before the proposed owners view the property a month later.

The mix to change clay soil into a friable useful soil in less than 4 months for the above domestic garden problem was in royal blue colour typing.

Builders Soil Mixture
Using the burgundy colour typing components, the builder could create the following soil mix for his gardens:

• 4 cubic metres of Peat (to provide the Organic Polymers/Organic Matter and Carbon.)
• 2 cubic metres of Sharp Washed Sand (to provide the sand for the production of microaggregates).
• 2 cubic metres of Horticultural Grit (to provide larger particles for aggregation)
  752,000 tons of glass are now recycled annually in the UK. Crushed glass (cullet) is used in Agriculture and landscape applications, such as top dressing, root zone material or golf bunker sand, so builders could replace the Sharp washed Sand and the Horticultural Grit with cullet.
• 25kg of Garden Lime (to provide Calcium for the plants and allow clay minerals to bond together to form domains. Once clay minerals are stacked together to form domains, they can then bond with organic matter to form microaggregates).
  Poultry litter - Uric acid and organic nitrogen (N) in the bird excreta and spilled feed are converted to ammonium (NH4+) by the microbes in the litter. Ammonium, a plant-available N form, can bind to litter and also dissolve in water. Ammonium is a highly reactive ion that bonds with sulfates, nitrates and phosphates to form ammonium salts that improve the nutrient value of litter when land applied as fertilizer.
  Plasterboard (is gypsum - Calcium sulfate dihydrate normally pressed between a paper facer and backer) wastage in the UK is estimated to be 300,0000 tonnes per year. Builders could replace the Garden Lime with the reaction of the poultry litter on the gypsum.
  The recommendations stated in the RHS article are for the finely ground garden lime (calcium carbonate) sold in garden centres in kilograms (kg) per square metre or ounces per square yard. They are based on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) recommendations for incorporation into the top 20cm (8in) of soil and are enough to raise the soil pH to pH6.5. This is considered the best all-round pH for the majority of garden plants.
• 25 kg of Sulphate of Iron (to provide Iron to act as a trace element and to create soil colloid for buffering chemical nutrients in the soil for later use by plants)
• 25Kg of Sulphate of Potash ( to provide fertilizer for the plants)

If water with 150 kgs of clay was first added to the Concrete TruckMixer and then the required volume of cullet followed by the required volume of waste plasterboard, the mixture is then mixed for an hour. If the cullet/waste plasterboard mixture is passed through the poultry houses to mix with the poultry litter on the litter floor before being collected into the next Concrete TruckMixer, then the houses would be cleaner and smell less. The required volume of waste from beer making could replace the Peat above and the requisite Sulphate of Iron and Sulphate of Potash could be added to the Concrete TruckMixer before that mixture from the Poultry Farm litter floor is added.

That soil mixture could then be mixed for 30 minutes before applying it to the garden areas of the new houses built by the builder to an 11 inch (27.5 cms) depth. The resulting mixture would then integrate with the clay and create a deep topsoil within 3 months.

All the requirements for a soil as shown in the figure above would then have mixed together and time will increase the bacteria and get a new soil structure created.

The following type of turf could then be laid over the proposed lawn areas a fortnight later:-

RTF (Rhizomatous Tall Fescue), bred by Barenbrug Research USA, produces rhizomes (an underground stem) that send a shoot up to the soil surface while extending new roots downwards. In fact, RTF can root to 1.5 metres deep giving it a chance to tap into water reserves that normal lawn turf cannot reach.
Because RTF is suited to almost all soil types and needs little maintenance and minimal irrigation, gardeners will be rewarded with beautiful lawns, rich in colour and disease resistant, not only in the summer but all year round. During the winter months, the lawn will hold its lush green colour and can resist frost and darker corners. With the onset of spring the rapid germination and quick spring green-up means that lawns are greener earlier.

Lack of water by 2030.

20 million homeless English before 2030 as a
Minor inconvenience -
West Midlands, London, Parts of the South West, East Midlands, East of England and South East regions of England are at risk of running out of water by 2030.
Since the privatized water companies have
not completed any new reservoirs, nor significantly reduced the water loss in their pipework or in the pipework between them and the customer's stop tap in the last 30 years, then the increase in the population comes as a surprise, so that the pressure falls below the minimum static head when more is being requested than can be supplied in that pipe.

So the water companies use this escape clause without fixing the problem:-
"Water companies should usually supply water at a minimum of seven metres static head, unless low pressure is due to drought or essential maintenance work. If the pressure falls below this for an hour or more on at least two occasions in a 28 day period, you're entitled to a payment or credit of £25. Only one payment of £25 can be made in any one financial year. " from Claiming Compensation from Water Companies.
Schools are closed as water shortage hits South East; reported on 14 June 2023, due to their ancient pipework structure from their full reservoir not being able to transfer that extra water required.

28 June 2023 we find that Thames Water who supply water and waste water services to 15 million in London and the southeast of England is in deep trouble. It will run out of water by 2030 - rainfall is exceeded by demand. Macquarie tripled Thames Water debts from £3.2 billion to £10.5 billion by 2017 to increase dividend payments to its shareholders. Ofwat approved. The utility, which counts one of Canada’s largest public pension funds among its top investors, has around £14,000,000,000 of debt on its balance sheet. The company said it had a “strong liquidity position,” including £4,400,000,000 ($5.6 billion) of cash.

Medway in 2023 is over-abstracting water (as does India) from its chalk aquifers to provide water for these new houses:-
"Medway has a population of 274,015 in 2014. So 31092 / 274015 =0.113468 = 11.34% increase in population to drink the water. Southern Water have allowed for 15% increase in the water supply by 2035. When you add all the other houses/flats that have been built since 2014 in Medway and adjacent to it, it is more than likely than the increase in the population is over 15% already, 14 years before 2035." from Medway Proposed New School page for details on this population increase. There is nothing that the population of Medway can do about this running out of water.

"Some local people have accused South East Water, which is majority owned by Australian and Canadian private equity funds, of failing to invest in infrastructure. It has paid £156m in dividends to shareholders over the past two years.
"Yet around 20% of the average household bill of £400 goes on water company interest and dividend payments.

In 2021, Southern Water accounts showed accumulated net debt of £5,100,000,000, and a remuneration package for the CEO worth over £1,000,000 (including a bonus of £550,900). The average annual Southern Water dividend payout over the last ten years is £57,000,000."

"Since they were privatised 30 years ago, the UK's sewage-spilling water companies have paid out a staggering £72,000,000,000 in dividends, and not built a single reservoir. Perhaps naively, I thought dividends were paid out of profits, having made provision for necessary investments - but Pennon Group proudly boast about their policy of increasing dividends annually by 2% ahead of inflation (Consumer Price Inflation was 11.1% in October 2022), regardless of sewage spills, leaking pipes, and hose pipe bans. This is jaw-dropping insensitive to those of us vomiting after swimming in the River Dart." from Guy's News of Riverford Organic Farms on Monday 26th June 2023 - riverford.co.uk 01803 227227. Pennon Group own South West Water (See Table Waste of Time for its pollution in row 8), Bristol Water and Bournemouth Water. River Dart has higher than safe levels of 'forever chemicals' pollution.

4 out of the 5 chemical cocktails identified in English river sites from analysis of official Environment Agency Data contained banned - by the UK - toxic 'forever chemicals'.

Because these bankrupt water businesses do not have the land or the money required to create the new infrastructure, then they will give up and get the UK government to take them over (if your business had debt of £5,100,000,000, then in the UK you con your customers to pay for the interest on it, not supply that paid-for product, then demand more money from your customers to fix the problem instead of using the dividend payments that you pay out to business shareholders, which is part of the reason for the debt being accrued over 30 years) as shown within pages in this Home topic.

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Ivydene Gardens Case Studies:
Case 1 - Prepare Garden for Sale

When you wish to sell a property, then the work done to the garden and the house is different.

When a property is to be maintained, then you need to know for what purpose.

I was asked to mow the lawns, prune the shrubs and weed the beds for a property that had had no garden maintenance for a year.

After the first day of cutting the overgrown lawn and weeding the front garden; knowing that the property was going to be put up for sale, I wrote the following email to my client in the left column with work done after the client's response in the right column:-

Some observations, suggestions for you and possible actions by me about the external part of your property and your neighbour's (to improve the visual look of this property before it’s sale)

Client requested that I carry out the work for all 29 of the observations, suggestions for you and actions by me.

Front Garden:-

1. Action - Your neighbour at No 6 did say that the verges were the council’s responsibility, but that they have not cut them this year. I asked her whether I could cut her verge and she agreed; since she has not cut hers. I hope you agree that the cut verges do provide a better first view, since I intend to keep on cutting them as well as the lawns until they look like lawns.

The verges, caravan parking area, vegetable garden, front and back garden lawns were cut using a 21" Honda Self-Propelled Mower every fortnight.

The front and back lawns were scarified using a Honda Scarifier by scarifying along the lawn, vacuuming the lawn with the lawnmower, scarifying at 90 degrees to the last way, vacuuming, scarifying along the diagonal, vacuuming, scarifying along the other diagonal and finally vacuuming.

2. Action - Your tarmac drive has weeds and moss growing in it. I intend to use my high pressure hose to clean them off and brush off the loose tarmac shingle.

The drive was swept, the weeds removed and the moss removed by high pressure hosing it. The loose material was put into into a Hippo bag.

3. Observation - Your top pane of glass in the front door is broken. The draught excluder at the top of the side on the door frame is not on the door frame.

Bell Glass of Gillingham replaced the glass in the front door, the cracked glass in the scullery window and the workshop window.

I painted the door before replacing the draught excluder and the respective windows after their glass replacement.

4. Action - I intend to remove the ivy from the door and its frame between the drive and your internal patio.

The ivy was removed.

5. Observation - The garage door handles and the side door to the internal patio are not the same colour as the rest.

The garage door handles, garage doors and side door was repainted.

6. Observation - The caravan parking area has concrete slabs and small pea-shingle directly onto the clay earth below. This has no Geotextile at the base with no 8” deep Type I MOT foundation above or no 2” of washed sharp sand on top and below the slabs to prevent the underlying clay from heaving or depressing the top surface to the detriment of any weight of caravan or vehicle placed on top.

The weeds were removed, Plantex laid on top and a fresh layer of pea-shingle (supplied by Allsand Supplies Ltd who sell by the cubic yard as against by the ton - 1 cubic yard of stone is 1.8 tons) applied.

Creating the correct foundation etc would not have been cost effective from the point of selling the property.

7. Observation - The middle post on the fence between you and next door is broken at the base and it’s metal support is not keeping it upright.

A wooden stake was inserted into the ground alongside and screwed to the post.

Replacing the broken post would have required replacing the fence sections on each side of it as well, which would not have been cost effective.

8. Observation - The paint is coming off your front soffits, and next doors soffit. The paint is coming off your front asbestos/concrete downpipes.

The soffits and downpipes were painted.

9. Observation - Next door has asbestos/concrete guttering facing your garden in need of painting (perhaps black to match the black plastic guttering and downpipes which you have). The Windows of Next Door and their wall has ivy root fragments on their glass and frame, from the ivy that was cut down from your garden.

The guttering was painted. The ivy roots were removed using water from a high pressure hose.

10. Suggestion - The Asbestos/Concrete downpipes and guttering along the front fence in the caravan parking area need removing.

This was removed.

11. Action - Concerning the climbers on the front fence: Honeysuckle - leave alone, Clematis – prune to ground, Rose – tie to fence with vine-eye/wire support system below trellis, and Climber at end – cut to ground.

This was done.

12. Action - The 3 remaining trees in your front lawn are to have 1’ radius of grass removed from their trunks, to allow the trees to receive nutrients and water.

This was done. Grass mowings were used as a mulch in that 1' radius to provide nutrients for those trees.

13. Action - The 2 front borders to be weeded, pruned, prunings shredded and shreddings applied round their shrubs before covering with grass mowings to feed the plants.

This was done.

14. Internal Patio:-

Observation - if the internal patio climber is removed with its string support system, then the ceiling beams that it is supported by could be stained the same colour as the rest.

This was done.

15. Back Garden:-

Action - The buddleia by the external ramp will be removed, as will the grey juniper tree, grey leylandii tree and yellow juniper tree at end.

These were removed.

16. Observation - The paint is coming off your back soffits, asbestos/concrete guttering and downpipes.

These were cleaned and painted.

17. Action - The garage rose needs vine-eye support system.

This was done. The vine-eye support system keeps the plant at least 3" away from the building, thus allowing airflow behind to stop fungal growth on the climber.

18. Action - Back Garden beds to be weeded, pruned, prunings shredded, shreddings with grass mowings on top to be used as mulch on the beds.

This was done.

19. Action - All support systems on fruit trees to be removed.

The tree posts and straps were removed and put into a HippoBag for disposal.

20. Action - Either the rose trellis is replaced and the rose tied to it, or the trellis is removed together with the rose.

The rose trellis and rose from the vegetable garden area were removed.

21. Observation - The back garden slab patio and slab path are laid directly onto the earth with the cement grouting having weeds in it. Either remove cement grouting to replace it with Geofix to allow for drainage, or lay the slabs correctly with correct depth of foundations etc.

The patio and paths were high pressure hosed to clean them and the lawns abutting them were edged.

Creating the correct foundation etc. would not have been cost effective from the point of selling the property.

22. Suggestion - Suggest you eat your raspberry crop and maybe your rhubarb.

The raspberries were eaten by the birds and the forced rhubarb left for the new owners.

23. Action - Remove the 3 gooseberries from the vegetable garden and plant them where the trees, which will be cut to the ground, are.

This was done.

24. Action - Remove raspberries, keep the rhubarb, level the ground to path level and sow lawn seed to create lawn in the vegetable garden.

This was done.

25. Suggestion - The rocks and bricks leaning against the chainlink fence in the vegetable garden are removed together with the material behind the shed.

The Medibags from Hippowaste were used to remove this waste.

26. Suggestion - If the shed was painted perhaps black, it would not look so shabby.

It was painted chestnut brown.

27. Action - Remove honeysuckle climber from shed.

This was done.

28. Suggestion - White emulsion underneath conservatory roof to be removed, to provide more light in the winter.

Deniva Cleaning Services removed this emulsion as part of their cleaning preparation of the house for sale.

29. Action - Prune trees.

These were pruned, prunings shredded and the beds mulched with those shreddings.

Does this help?

The cost of materials and labour was half of the increase in value between when the remedial work was started and when it had finished.

The property was sold within a month.