Ferdinand

Aubergines and figs...

So at the current UK CO2 emissions equivalent that is very very roughly 2 person years of carbon emissions. I am not sure of the conversion factors from carbon to CO2 conversion which presumably involves a doo dah diddle with molecular and atomic masses, three assumptions, and 4 fiddle factors. Also ignoring variations in claims about CO2 per capita emissions and calling it 5-10 tonnes per person per annum ish. F

Incidentally, does anyone have a number for how much carbon is sequestered by a house insulated with cellulose for the next century?

That is quite an interesting insight. One thing we noticed there was an ancient (=probably 18C) yew tree which had drifts of needles underneath to a depth of several feet .. which must have been there for the best part of half a century. And amazing quality composts type soil beneath that which must have been the previous generations of needles. The further point about sequestration being an interim for 50-100 years to blunt the peak is an important one. Long life big trees which will grow for 200-300 years can perhaps go a long way to that on their own .. eg beeches, sweet chestnuts, turkey oaks etc. (The garden had been laid out by the mid-Victorians and not really changed. There was even a marked ‘turning for coaches’ circle around a particular weeping ash tree). F

@MaryM Suspect that microclimate is also important, so this is a sketch of my setup and a couple of piccies. My conservatory links the lounge and kitchen on the NW corner, and gets bright light but little or no direct sunlight, which is my recipe for 3.5 season conservatories without horrible technical bodges like huge heating / cooling systems. it is well insulated .. 100mm Celotex In walls and floor ... and has a modest electric ufh system. Also 2 walls are against internal rooms. So I think it can be termed a Temperate Conservatory. The way it is used is that the internal patio doors to kitchen and lounge are kept open from approx April to Oct to give a single living space and closed for the remainder. These are plans and piccies. The sofa is being junked and the green wall will go where the current hat display is located. Hoping to rig up a tank on the high windowsill to do drip watering, set to be manually refilled once a week or so so that the tank will run dry and keep it bug free every few days. If necessary I could actually put one of those mini lean to greenhouses there, butI think the environment should be OK. Those cactususes really thrive with no attention. only issue might be humidity, but I think auto watering and damp soil should fix that locally.

I think you may be looking for the heat pump version of air con unit which works through a single penetration where both pipes go through where all the gubbins is inside.the property and no External unit. @PeterW has some knowledge, but essentially they are an air con or heat pump which sits inside your room and has a single outlet for both pipes and no external unit. Think you are into 1-2k but there is little alternative. Unico Easy is one model I think. I am planning one, but I think @lizzie may have done one already. I plan to fit one in my S facing lounge to manage summer overheat if I keep the current house after probate for mum etc is done and I buy other family out. We touched on them in passing on this thread:

Really useful. thanks, Yes I have rampant mint in its own frame in the garden, and also rosemary. TBH I do not use rosemary much. Lemon balm is a good suggestion. Wonder about sorrel? I think there is also a technique to learn about replanting several times a year, and rotating new little pots of herbs and micro veg (which are harvested too young to regenerate) across the face of the wall in ‘pulses’. That would keep them all young and juicy. Amd also perhaps it may be a good idea to focus on flavourings and garnishes .. so the spring onions are good. In one sense treating perennials as annuals May be a good technique. Also some hanging fruit seem to be good on external living walls, but that may not fit mine .. which I think may be a 1m x 1m space to start. But I am new to this. F

cannot recommend specifics, but my normal suggestion is to go for a reasonably sized local practise big enough to have specialists should you need them but not regional sized so as to be big enough to have major pretensions to treat you as a Vanderbilt. In my area I have used firms with several offices and a number of partners, but which are still small enough to be considered local firms. In Somerset that might be a well established town firm rather than panjandrums from Bristol. On one or two occasions having the extra internal expertise of a small specialist eg land dept has been really useful. In terms of value I would look for extra expertise available that your person can consult with internally on tap rather than cutting top line fees to the bone. The person who bought our old house with deeds going back to copperplate days a few years ago used a fixed price type online solicitor and they got totally tangled up in land ownership adjustments left over from when the M1 was built and the lane realigned; refused to believe we had a right to drive into our own drive! Hope that helps from a different angle. Ferfinand

Can you use steels?

For herbs I think Thyme MArjoram Chives parsley chervil dill

So which herbs work well. And if I add in veg, which veg? My first veg thoughts are radishes and cut and come again lettuce.

it is actually in a conservatory with a glass roof and front, so quite bright. Will post piccie, The only thing missing is direct sun, which I always keep out of my conservatories as far as poss. Cheers

I would suggest have a good friend or two in reserve willing to put you up for a night or two at short notice, either apart or together ... just as an occasional safety valve for when you need a break. At some point you will just want to do that. 220sqft is quite small. Ferdinand

I think there’s nothing stopping you putting a floating ufh system on the top should you have the space, provided that you have sufficient insulation in.

With luck you can get the GPS location from the information in the photo. PS Glad to see you have it sorted.

We used to have a 2 acre garden with a woodland in it :-), in which we planted an orchard amongst other things. I guess in toto we put in 30-40 trees, and the field went to scrub over a number of years. That would be sequestering something, but no idea how much. I am sure there is someone on BH who is planting trees by the thousand.

One of my little get back on the wagon projects this spring is putting a small green wall of herbs for cooking in the normally unheated north facing conservatory off my kitchen. Has anyone done something like this? I am imagining perhaps a dozen herbs in felt type pockets with growing matter, perhaps with a drip feed watering system that can be turned on every day or two. Any experiences or comments would be welcome. Thinking about something like a smaller version of this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jazooli-Planting-Hanging-Vertical-Planter/dp/B075KKP9SJ/ Ferdinand

Yep. The iron law is that by managing it properly you get most of the life expectancy back. And yet, and yet... The best plan is to be diagnosed at 62 like Lindsay Hoyle.

TBH never anything serious. But I am ultra cautious, and currently have fingers crossed. As a Type I Diabetic I may eventually get complications to make your skin crawl.

these days the place to take those would be any Drs surgery for a same day nurse appointment, or a Minor Injuries Unit. I had my nasty burn re-dressed half a dozen times in December, including Christmas Day, and the difference in waiting times between different similar local facilities was between minutes and 4 hours. if you phone up they can tell how long you have to wait. If you do not want to self-medicate ?. F

My technique on renovations is to pre-install ducts and pullcords to where I know where I want them to go, to small 'mini cupboards' in the wall. So they do not have to drill any holes at all, and my way is easier. I put them in when I do the underfloor insulation. if necessary I would bung them £25 as well. Too important not to have holes being drilled through my beautiful renovation. Outside I run them under loose gravel borders and paths eg along a French drain. F

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The climate in Paris is like the climate in Sunderland. Hmmm ?

TBH 8 think we probably do not like awnings as a culture. Plus we have a rather more temperate climate than eg the areas in Europe you highlight. For me I think they are unlikely to last long enough in pristine condition.

Which is another version of the same thing. The will assess and monitor, then feedback. It perhaps depends on how authoritative an outcome you need. Your other approach is to talk to your building insurer, who may then do the monitoring as part of their claim investigation.