How Does Your Garden Grow?

[redlig]

the grass isnt always greener as they say infact it will be burnt to a crisp now good old insurance will have to pay out if its rented

If that includes the contents the landlord will make a few quid on the houseplants.

 

[MattF]

Some hours later after she hit concrete, we ended up here.

Tell her to put her back into the job next time, if it took her a few hours to only dig that deep.

 

[Barking Mat]

Fosse septique ?

Definitely not, we had to put one in, no toilet here, when we bought the house.

A thunderbox out back.

 

[Mick Annick]

Definitely not, we had to put one in, no toilet here, when we bought the house.

A thunderbox out back.

Same here, though we’re now on the mains

 

[Barking Mat]

Same here, though we’re now on the mains

Lucky you.

Been over 5 years now, dreading the day it needs a pump out, or the pump (pompe de relevage) dies.

But not having mains sewerage halves the old water bill.

We're careful, eparcyl every weekish, when I remember.

 

[DAPPH]

A few hours on the Allotment yesterday, got my beans planted out amongst other jobs.

View attachment 346521
Plenty there to see me and the Mrs through the summer.
And taking @DAPPH advice to keep a few back to replace the snail food.
View attachment 346522
More importantly though, it won't be long now until we're into the Broad beans (Broad Bean and Pea risotto, made with allotment fresh beans and peas is the absolute best), and hopefully the Strawberries won't be far behind.

Plenty to look forward too over the coming months and a bit of repayment for all the digging and weeding.

We are getting a few strawbs each day from inside the glasshouse . Thank god for micro misting & Tomorite plant

Right or wrong I've started stringing the frame with coir rope. Round turn and two half hitches top and bottom. I've left a 6" tail at the bottom:

View attachment 346559

Now that is a decent strong " A " frame plant up on both sides a variety of different climbing bean types .

Telegraph 6 foot climbing peas if they are still available ( four per string ) can also be grown on such a frame .

It's a PIA having the free rope at the bottom especially when there is a lot of beans growing up it & it's wet with rain as the coir rope goes very tight . That's why you slacken the tents guy ropes off during rain . You could make some guy rope adjusters say 8 inches long and use them to put the tension on when needed .

For my lines I use ex BT blue poly prop rope all of my ropes are in their 17 year of use here in Wales .

 

[DAPPH]

And if anyone is short of storage, a length of plastic gutter bolted to the wall of your greenhouse makes good use of empty space:

View attachment 346636

I'm currently storing bamboo canes in this one but they're ideal for growing anything that doesn't need much depth of compost such as radishes.

Some of my international gardeners are using stopped end guttering & gravity fed nutrients feeding strawberries growing in a soil less grown medium .
Did you find long enough channel bolts for your purpose or have you had to hacksaw the heads up to make you own lengths . I drilled a hole very carefully at the top end of channels so I could slip in a turned down headed longer bolt . I'm not paying the daft prices being asked for on eBay etc by a woman up in Scotland .


I found that over the years the bamboo's split and unwanted insects took up residence . A remodeled industrial unit came to my rescue . I got loads of the white UPVC 20 mm conduit from the guys . turned up a lot of joiners and was able to make stop ended 20 mm rods 2.5 mtr or less high .


I'm currently experimenting using 10 mm carbon fibre rods araldited up ( several freecycle wins ) to make the pyramids . In the top pole I've araldited in a turned to fit the top sleeve bolt , then cut a 4" equilateral triangle and drilled it just over clearance . so the bolts go thorough it , putting on nylock nuts to hold the top end triangular . The only prob has been there were so many beans on the tripod that a strong wind pushed them over to one side . ....,had to make up guy ropes & use 20 inch stakes to set it back up & be wind resistant .

May be this year I'll try four legged pyramids instead of three legged ones .

 

[DAPPH]

Lucky you.

Been over 5 years now, dreading the day it needs a pump out, or the pump (pompe de relevage) dies.

But not having mains sewerage halves the old water bill.

We're careful, eparcyl every weekish, when I remember.

When we had the septic tank set up at the old gated railway crossing cottage .

I spoke with the farmer who also pumped septic tanks out locally . I asked him to do ours ( for £ 35 ) with his sludge gulping hippo slurry unit . He took one look in the tank and said , " In the 30 years I've been emptying I've never done this property Dave , looking at the nice light pea soup colour and the few darkish floaters on the top , your tank is in fantastic condition everything is breaking down to liquids and running out the soak-away " .

One thing he also said is that , " If you ever get put on a course of strong antibiotics it can kill the action of the tank. So if that happens buy a litre of natural yoghurt and flush it down the toilet to get it working again " .

 

[Pete.]

If that includes the contents the landlord will make a few quid on the houseplants.

He's gonna be disappointed the cops got in there first

 

[Barking Mat]

When we had the septic tank set up at the old gated railway crossing cottage .

I spoke with the farmer who also pumped septic tanks out locally . I asked him to do ours ( for £ 35 ) with his sludge gulping hippo slurry unit . He took one look in the tank and said , " In the 30 years I've been emptying I've never done this property Dave , looking at the nice light pea soup colour and the few darkish floaters on the top , your tank is in fantastic condition everything is breaking down to liquids and running out the soak-away " .

One thing he also said is that , " If you ever get put on a course of strong antibiotics it can kill the action of the tank. So if that happens buy a litre of natural yoghurt and flush it down the toilet to get it working again " .

That's interesting, we're really careful, Eparcyl is a thing you chuck in every week, like yogurt.

Assumed no matter what, it would need pumping occasionally, well fingers crossed.

 

[Onoff]

That's interesting, we're really careful, Eparcyl is a thing you chuck in every week, like yogurt.

Assumed no matter what, it would need pumping occasionally, well fingers crossed.

I only found ours after living here for 20 years in 2018. Never been pumped in all that time. Like a brick beehive. Built circa 1950.

Not sure if it's a septic tank or cess pool tbh. Rumour is that they would build these, get it passed then knock a few bricks out the bottom when passed.

The loos were backing up and clay pipes blocked. Found a pink toothbrush wedged across a junction my daughter must have flushed when little. Bless!

Paid a guy to come and pump it out and he said to leave some stuff in the bottom to keep it working and doing its thing.

Wee video clip:

https://flic.kr/p/2hSRYCR

If I had my way I'd clear the whole area, put a treatment plant in, new drains etc and fill this one in.

When sorting it I had to balance on the ladder, lean in with a rake and hook a slow worm that had fallen into it and was slithering around on the "crust".

 

[Barking Mat]

I only found ours after living here for 20 years in 2018. Never been pumped in all that time. Like a brick beehive. Built circa 1950.

Not sure if it's a septic tank or cess pool tbh. Rumour is that they would build these, get it passed then knock a few bricks out the bottom when passed.

The loos were backing up and clay pipes blocked. Found a pink toothbrush wedged across a junction my daughter must have flushed when little. Bless!

Paid a guy to come and pump it out and he said to leave some stuff in the bottom to keep it working and doing its thing.

Wee video clip:

https://flic.kr/p/2hSRYCR

If I had my way I'd clear the whole area, put a treatment plant in, new drains etc and fill this one in.

When sorting it I had to balance on the ladder, lean in with a rake and hook a slow worm that had fallen into it and was slithering around on the "crust".

View attachment 346683

If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

Mustapha Crackatit. Love it, excellent !!!

 

[DAPPH]

So long as everything that goes in the tank is bio degradable.... if the tank has a large enough capacity /is big enough it will turn to a watery liquid and pass out along the soak away. Disinfectants bio action soap powders / liquids and baby bottle sterilizer fluids & excessive use of bleaches can also slow the tanks action considerably .

IIRC our septic tank was built in the early 1960's by the railway company and had a volume of 12 foot long by six by six deep , the inlet was via a 4 inch salt glazed T joint where the top to the T was vertical .. this is so the inlet can be rodded with ease if it gets blocked .
The outlet to the 50 yard deep rubble filled soak away was the other side of a hit & miss floor to ceiling brick wall , the salt glazed outlet pipe was arranged like a J syphon , long bottom end about three feet down in the fluids at the out going wall , actual out let pipe through the wall a mere foot or so down down the wall . Arranged like this so that no floaters or toilet paper got in the soak-away outlet pipe .

 

[DAPPH]

I only found ours after living here for 20 years in 2018. Never been pumped in all that time. Like a brick beehive. Built circa 1950.

Not sure if it's a septic tank or cess pool tbh. Rumour is that they would build these, get it passed then knock a few bricks out the bottom when passed.

The loos were backing up and clay pipes blocked. Found a pink toothbrush wedged across a junction my daughter must have flushed when little. Bless!

Paid a guy to come and pump it out and he said to leave some stuff in the bottom to keep it working and doing its thing.

Wee video clip:

https://flic.kr/p/2hSRYCR

If I had my way I'd clear the whole area, put a treatment plant in, new drains etc and fill this one in.

When sorting it I had to balance on the ladder, lean in with a rake and hook a slow worm that had fallen into it and was slithering around on the "crust".

View attachment 346683

Sounds like you have what is known as a rainwater bottle well . Many as you say were converted to the new flushing toilets' receptor tanks having had the bottom 2 sq foot of bricks knocked out & new steel galv lid arrangements put in place instead of the three inch cast concrete lid with a 2 foot cast iron manhole lid that used to be over the well .

 

[Onoff]

Mustapha Crackatit

The surname's actually Crackatthat!

I tried joining FB with that and they banned me within 24 hrs for it.

 

[Barking Mat]

So long as everything that goes in the tank is bio degradable.... if the tank has a large enough capacity /is big enough it will turn to a watery liquid and pass out along the soak away. Disinfectants bio action soap powders / liquids and baby bottle sterilizer fluids & excessive use of bleaches can also slow the tanks action considerably .

IIRC our septic tank was built in the early 1960's by the railway company and had a volume of 12 foot long by six by six deep , the inlet was via a 4 inch salt glazed T joint where the top to the T was vertical .. this is so the inlet can be rodded with ease if it gets blocked .
The outlet to the 50 yard deep rubble filled soak away was the other side of a hit & miss floor to ceiling brick wall , the salt glazed outlet pipe was arranged like a J syphon , long bottom end about three feet down in the fluids at the out going wall , actual out let pipe through the wall a mere foot or so down down the wall . Arranged like this so that no floaters or toilet paper got in the soak-away outlet pipe .

I don't want to takeover this thread, but I'm quite interested.

3000 L tank, 2 adults, 2 kids, kitchens and bathrooms go via degreasing tanks, which I emptied out once in 5 years, the 'clear' water which comes off it soaks into a ? soak away, gravel, geotextile piping slotted pipe thing down the garden, septic tank drains into a tank, with a pump, when full pumps it up to aforementioned drainaway, all inspected, officially, meets norms, signed off.

 

[DAPPH]

The French have a certain expertise in human dung & it's disposal .

I like the degreasing traps for the grey water as it's full of nitrates & nutrients so will help feed your plot & plants eventually.
The sump emptying pump in the septic tank is quite normal if the water table is fairly high .
An associate had to construct a pumped raised 1.5 mtr high filter bed 200 mtrs away from his new home as he was pulling his domestic water in from a bore hole a few mtrs from his dwelling . Lovely place , weeping willows running down to the river 300 mtrs away ..........that flooded to his doorstep each year in winter.

 

[Onoff]

Mine appears to have one chamber. I shoved drain rods in and hit "silt", but nothing hard at about 9' from the lid. The diameter is about 8'. Works out about 150 cubic feet or 4250L.

This was before I'd stuck my head and a tape measure in there back in 2019 I see now, not 2018.

 

[Barking Mat]

Hmm, photos, give me time....

I've more photos, but these are easy to find.

That's the hole the main tank went in.

Thinking about it the rest of the photos are probably on a phone still at the bottom of the Nantes / Brest canal.

 

[DAPPH]

Best get a decent power washer ( 150 bar ) that can handle a 20 mtr drain cleaner hose on the end of it's normal length of high pressure hose .
I had to run my hose & extension hose c/w cleaning head down 30 mtrs of 25 mm ID blue alkathene water pipe I'd inserted in the drain bit by bit with the washer running as the 100 mm diameter was too big for the cleaner head to pull itself along much past 20 mtrs to reach the blockage which was five feet back along my pipe run down a six foot deep manhole full of crap & a sanitary towel blocked exit ( thanks neighbours ) .


I didn't know until fairly recently that :- If a manhole serves two or more properties on utility owned drains the local water board here in Wales usually pressure wash it back to the main sewer for free .