and today i have mostly been...

[Doggy]

I have nothing but admiration for people wot can grow stuff. I iz clueless.

[Welly]

the idea is you want one stem (vine?) going straight up, they often side shoot from leaf joints and these are what you want to pinch out. Otherwise it does end up like a bush, have lots of small toms and a propensity to fall over in a breeze. You're meant to let the plant grow 5 or 6 bunches of toms and then pinch the growing tip out to force the plant to work on the toms instead (I usually leave them to get to the top of the stick).

Thank you, now I know!

[Welly]

I have nothing but admiration for people wot can grow stuff. I iz clueless.

Wellll, you might wanna start cultivating - when that there Covid-19 takes hols you'll be trapped in your own home scratching around for food stuffs.

Come to think of it; when you run out of firewood that door will keep it going a few days

[steve_earwig]

that there Covid-19

Pah, plants. I'd have said raising kids is a far more serious responsibility.

In other news, I just mowed I changed the oil in the mower first just for Welly

[Welly]

Ahhh a freshly-oiled 4-stroke garden machinery pez engine, you'll notice the difference* in performance! actually it should smell a bit better. Hope you've cleaned the air filterage?

My modern Mountfield hasn't got a sump plug I don't let that stop me though I just invert the thing and drain it from the dippy tube......sh*t guess what I didn't do last summer

Saw a youtube vid once where someone made an oil extraction system using old bottles, clear tubes and a vacuum cleaner....looked perfect for lawn mowers.

[Bailes1992]

I've got into the habit of putting the lawnmower up on crates after my last cut of the year, undoing the drain plug and just leaving it drain until the first cut of the following year. Usually use a 15w40 heavy duty engine oil or a monograde SAE30.

Fuel is my biggest issue, on two occasions I've had fuel go off and ended up having to drain and clean out all my carbs and fuel tanks. I started using Esso Supreme Unleaded last year as it's ethanol free and making sure to empty my fuel tanks and carbs after every use. BUT I bought myself a secondhand rotovator/tiller to turn over my garden and re-seed the lawn. The rotovator had a 50cc two stroke single cylinder engine that threw the exhaust gasses pretty much in the direction of your face. I was using this rotovator for two or three hours on end and was left with a tight, itchy chest and dry cough. I did some googling and come across a product called Aspen which supposedly burned cleaner with far less particulates and other nasty emissions. I bought a litre of Aspen2 and low-and-behold after two hours cultivating the garden my chest was absolutely fine! I was quite impressed so I went down to my local stockist the next day and bought 5 litres of Aspen2 and Aspen4. I've left all my garden equipment with full tanks and carbs, it will be interesting to see if they all start up without any issues in a few months.

My Aspen is coming to an end now, £4/litre is a bit steep for my liking to unsure if I should return to Esso Supreme or try find some 100LL aviation fuel that's leaded and ethanol free.

[Doggy]

I've never had a petrol mower engine failure despite virtually zero maintenance. Why worry about it?

[Bailes1992]

I've never had a petrol mower engine failure despite virtually zero maintenance. Why worry about it?

I don't worry about it. But it gives me the warm fuzzy feeling inside. I fully expect that my mower frame will rust out long before the engine fails.

[steve_earwig]

I just invert the thing and drain it from the dippy tube

I gather that's the way its done these days, tip it on its side over a pan so it drains from the level/fill tube - it sure beats hunting for the drain plug and then trying to find a spanner to fit.

And how did my lawnmower repay me for my (ok, sporadic) care? Why, after I stopped it while I moved some stuff about, it didn't want to restart I thought the governor flap was stuck shut but it was getting dark so I left it for this morning. I've just had it in bits and couldn't find anything wrong, but that governor flap? Nope, that's the choke. When you start it the choke's closed, the fan pushes it open when the engine's running, but it also has a thermostat in a can behind the eggzaust, this holds the choke open when the engine's hot. I remember how much fun these can be from my days of beetle, on those the thermostat sits between the r/h cylinders and runs the air flaps, eventually they go weak meaning the engine never warms up properly and they cost a kidney to replace. So I'm wondering if this one's going up the swanny and flooded the hot engine. Hold on, Briggs & Stratton Thermostat 593208 - 35 quid delivered, excellent

[steve_earwig]

I fully expect that my mower frame will rust out long before the engine fails.

Frame? Usually they're just a steel housing, moist grass makes them rot through. When I first bought this Atko I painted the underside with underseal, which soon peeled off, so I've since been giving it a clean and then spraying it with chain lube (other spray greases available) and it seems to be doing ok, I redid it at the end of last year and there was very little of the red stuff.

Aspen

I found a flyer for that in one of the big diy stores here but I've never found anyone actually selling the stuff. I wanted it for the Matchless 'cos all the crap in modern fuels eats the cork seals.

[Welly]

I've never had a petrol mower engine failure despite virtually zero maintenance. Why worry about it?

But but the manufacturer says to change the oil every 50 hours of engine use or risk a custodial sentence.

Like bailes there I do feel kinda smug and superior with fresh oil in the sump.

The 'shitter' mower gets used for tough jobs and if I'm bored I'll experiment with my own 'alternative fuels' .... it kinda ran* on barbeque lighting fluid once (the proper liquid not that EU-gloopy stuff).

[steve_earwig]

This is for you then (crazy Dutchmen alert )
I1qwPvX4nGA

[Bailes1992]

I fully expect that my mower frame will rust out long before the engine fails.

Frame? Usually they're just a steel housing, moist grass makes them rot through. When I first bought this Atko I painted the underside with underseal, which soon peeled off, so I've since been giving it a clean and then spraying it with chain lube (other spray greases available) and it seems to be doing ok, I redid it at the end of last year and there was very little of the red stuff.

Aspen

I found a flyer for that in one of the big diy stores here but I've never found anyone actually selling the stuff. I wanted it for the Matchless 'cos all the crap in modern fuels eats the cork seals.

Frame/Housing Whatever

I keep saying I'm going to take it back to bare metal, treat areas with surface rust and re-paint it. But since having a child, these things aren't a priority any more.

[Doggy]

crazy Dutchmen alert

Is there any other kind?

[Bailes1992]

My Wife and I purchased a 2018 Jeep Renegade around two weeks ago. It's a 1.6 e.Torq (basically a Tritec engine with a 16v head) with a 5 speed manual box and front wheel drive only. It's only got 9,000miles on the clock and is absolutely immaculate. 24 hours after purchasing I was pulling off (gently might I add) and the clutch plate decided it didn't want to be in the gearbox any more.

The car has spent two weeks in a Jeep dealer and we've been told it's going to be another 4 weeks before it can be repaired.

The dealer we purchased the car off has been fantastic. They put us in a hire car as soon as the car broke, and call us nearly daily to make sure everything is okay. They have given us three options.

Option 1, They've offered to leave us in the hire car until the Jeep is fixed and offered to extend the warranty to 5 years/100k over the standard 3 year/60k manufacturers warranty.

Option 2, we can have a full refund.

Option 3, they have a 2017 Renegade in stock with 18k on the clock which we can 'swap' for. They will extend the warranty to 5 years/100k and give us a £2000 refund.

We are siding with option 3 at the moment. The first Renegade we purchased is Solar Yellow and the 2017 is Omaha Orange. Both are exactly the same specification.