Fuel prices (petrol & diesel)

[DominicBest]

There are a couple of fields full of horses to the right of the wall before the river. On the other side a château is hiding in the trees, what’s not to like?

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[Hotrodder]

Where I live in Brittany (a very wet place) I only get away with not cutting from early December to late January. Grass, and weeds of course, grows like fury all year. Once it warms up and there is more daylight, once a fortnight is possible, any longer gap and you're stuffed because with long (and wet) laid-over grass ordinary ride on mowers and their belts just get destroyed. I usually try to keep at least two mowers in running order so I have a backup in case of breakdown. At the moment my best one is waiting for replacement carburettor seals to replace the ones destroyed by the crap petrol. The backup mower is in the middle of an engine rebuild but since I can only work on it outside its a slow process because of the wind, rain, and temperature.
It takes between two and three hours for a cut depending on length and dryness at the time. (4 to 5.5 litres per session.)
With these crazy petrol prices I can see just letting it all go to rats at some point.

[Quiksilver]

I'm gritting my teeth here Three of the great pleasures in life are fast becoming impossible...driving, mowing and rotovating. As said above, each to their own when it comes to outdoor space . Mine's a mix of veg plot, orchard and ornamental garden with everything left over being 'lawn'. That was the point of buying 2 acres in the first place Anybody know how you train sheep to nibble to within 2" of grass roots?

[Quiksilver]

Aha! Here's the solution!

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[Char]

Interesting idea but you'd need a bloody big magnet.

[Polarengineer]

Regarding my comment to DB's garden. I can only agree with you all that it is not my business to criticise how the land is used, however, I do feel that 70 m of garden not being productive is a bit much. Having to go that distance to get the firewood in would have me changing things to be more efficient. I do appreciate DB fixing the stone wall, so many people don't bother or cannot do it.

[niemeyjt]

I'm gritting my teeth here Three of the great pleasures in life are fast becoming impossible...driving, mowing and rotovating. As said above, each to their own when it comes to outdoor space . Mine's a mix of veg plot, orchard and ornamental garden with everything left over being 'lawn'. That was the point of buying 2 acres in the first place Anybody know how you train sheep to nibble to within 2" of grass roots?

Not sure about sheep - but maybe go for the no-dig approach (my son gave me a book on this for last birthday) - look for Charles Dowding on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/c/CharlesDowding1nodig

Then, with the petrol you don't use for rotovating you can instead use it instead in the mower and car.

[Sparkle]

This morning at Intermarche Lassay-les-Chateaux Diesel 2,27 SP98 2,11

[DominicBest]

I'm gritting my teeth here Three of the great pleasures in life are fast becoming impossible...driving, mowing and rotovating. As said above, each to their own when it comes to outdoor space . Mine's a mix of veg plot, orchard and ornamental garden with everything left over being 'lawn'. That was the point of buying 2 acres in the first place Anybody know how you train sheep to nibble to within 2" of grass roots?

One of the reasons I used the brush cutter is that it uses a fraction of the fuel that the ride on does. I too enjoy lawn mowing so find the size of my garden no problem at all.
My latest road vehicle, a proper motorbike has proved capable of 100 mpg which might be useful in the future.
I’m heading up to north of Paris during the week and the round trip using TER and TGV works out at just less than than half the price of taking the car, the journey time is halved too.

[niemeyjt]

Anyone tempted with electric strimmers, mowers etc?

Some seem to be on a par with smaller petrol models for performance.