[mushroom]

hi everyone,many thanx for your suggestions  
the plot holder next to mine told me that he actually sunk in the mud right up to the top of his wellies!! so the patch altogether is about 10 ft long by 5. we are on a hill although the rest of the plot is fine.
so, me thinks i will double dig ,add more soil,in the hope that by spring it'll be dryer !
what deep rooting crops could i grow to help the soil?
thanx again  

Regarding drainage - a picture is worth a thousand words. What does the swampy area look like, what kind of soil is there? Have you got lots of clay?
If you're on a slope, I'd be tempted to dig a deep ditch at the bottom, lay a largish perforated plastic pipe to somewhere with better drainage, fill the ditch in with gravel.

[shaun]

everywhere is waterlogged now but then again it is winter  
its not worth putting any type of drains in if theres no where for the water to go,you will just make matters worse.

[gobs]

So I keep suggesting wildlife pond, rice paddy. Nobody's listening.

[mkhenry]

Now Aunty since when does a "Hen" like getting wet.

      Mine have deen dashing in and shaking themselves like dogs all day  :roll:

How I wish I could keep a few.
I remember just what mine were like on a wet day.
Never mind ,I may just do it one day and see if I get caught out.

Milton Keynes - Quite an experiament in urban design with its grid square layout, linear parks and cycle ways.  I suppose in order to maintain the original ethos the local council put in place regulations which it thought would prevent degredation of the area.  
Scruffy old chicken houses in back gardens, smelly birds and rats would not fit in  :roll:

Break the mould Henry, turn your back to the Telescreen, a few hens would give you so much pleasure  

O if only,but the council have a birds eye view of everybodys garden,a bit like google earth but much more up to date and a lot clearer.  They also have those little one man aeroplanes (micro lights) that fly over spying every day.
I promise you we are the most Big Brother Town in the Uk.

I would never get away with it. I live in one of the nicer parts and the houses on my estate sell for around £350,000 I dont think some of them would be happy about it either. So I can only live in hope.

In case you think I am kidding about the Micro lights Spying, it was all on the local news a month ago.Its for our own safety apparently. :shock:  :shock:  :roll:

[Aunt Sally]

That sounds like a really scary place to live Henry  :shock:

Big brother IS watching you  

Do they have Thought Police too.  Coz you'd be in trouble  

Oh no...  they were allowed "those" types of thoughts in 1984  :roll:

[Selkie]

that does sound really freaky; we get helecopters going over us all the time but it's just posh lazy people going to the golf courses, or else sometimes the coast guard one

[mkhenry]

That sounds like a really scary place to live Henry  :shock:

Big brother IS watching you  

Do they have Thought Police too.  Coz you'd be in trouble  

Oh no...  they were allowed "those" types of thoughts in 1984  :roll:

There really are cameras  on all shopping areas and spys in the sky,but thats because MK is very open about what they do to "Protect us".
They do have many more than most cities,I think that it is because we are all part of a giant experiment,a real opportunity to watch a city grow from the ground up.It will never again be that easy for a goverment to "control" an area,to test drive any new ideas and to watch the people concerned so closely. :shock:
 What a wonderful experiment and what a chance to help control the population,without seeming to control in the future. :shock:

[Aunt Sally]

How can they still get away with it  :?:

[mkhenry]

That sounds like a really scary place to live Henry  :shock:

Big brother IS watching you  

Do they have Thought Police too.  Coz you'd be in trouble  

Oh no...  they were allowed "those" types of thoughts in 1984  :roll:

They did not allow my sort of thoughts then or now.  

[WG.]

MK sounds like one giant big Naughty Step to me, Henry!

[mkhenry]

How can they still get away with it  :?:

Because most things happen at a very slow pace,and most people fail to notice it.
If you live in the UK in any major or even in some minor towns or cities you are watched and recorded 100s of times a day. :roll:

It is only when someone goes missing or the police are trying to follow someone on TV that you suddenly realise that you too are being recorded in you normal day to day life,
Next time you are out and about look around you may be surprised. :shock:

[Aunt Sally]

Very true Henry !  You've only got to look at google earth to see in what detail we are observed  !

[mkhenry]

Very true Henry !  You've only got to look at google earth to see in what detail we are observed  !

And most Councils have the same system in place,in case the goverment decide to tax your home improvements.
They have already photographed your back yard and will do it again in a year or so to see if you have an extention,conservatory,or a garage etc etc.
This is fact.
It will be no use denying it they already have the evidence and will produce it.

Check out your local page see what they may have going.
I found the birdseye view of my place just by looking on the web page.

[sweet nasturtium]

Henry you'd better keep your keks on when you're sunbathing then!

[Aunt Sally]

On google earth the shot of my lottie was taken about this time last year and you can see EXACTLY how much of the derelict plot we had dug over, a strip about 6 ft wide.

And in the shot of my house you can even see the 6 x 3 ft tarpaulin we had put over the chickens run  :evil: