Garden Watering

[russ_bond]

As a final year design student I would like to know what you think of the sprinkers on the market - do you think there is a market for a sprinkler which can move around the garden on wheels of some sort without you needing to move it? Allowing you to water your lawn and plants at night when your asleep and without the problem of evapo-transpiration. Any response would be very helpful to my understanding and project- thank you

[Paul Narramore]

This post is pretty ancient now but here's my sixpenneth. I don't agree with sprinklers at all. In this day and age when water is at such a premium, I feel it's irresponsible to waste water on a garden.

What I've done in my garden is to create raised beds using railway sleepers. Then I've filled them with top soil and lots and lots of fresh horse muck. I know what the experts say about using unrotted horse muck but provided you keep it away from the tender young plants it's OK. I put sixty (really!) sacks on my garden last autumn. Some I dug in, some a lay down as a mulch. Some of the borders I covered with a membrane, then I covered the borders with bags and bags of tree bark.

Results? Well our garden has never been so lush, lots of flowers and green growth. The dug-in horse muck has mean't that some leaves on the shrubs have turned a bit yellow but I think this was because nitrogen was being taken out of the soil in rotting the muck. The yellowness has by and large gone now. I also have three 60 gallon water butts but would prefer more. The grass can take care of itself. I cut my grass a bit higher than many people like. I've just come back from a three month motorcycle ride around the US and they leave their grass much long than we do with our scalped lawns. I'm sure they also use a courser grass which doesn't get so badly effected by the dry weather.

No lets keep the household water for drinking and washing, and use good gardening practises and rainwater for plants in containers.

[Miranda]

Your thoughts are the same as mine, Paul. I water with a can when things get really dry and perennials are wilting, and I water new shrubs until they establish but other than that, they can get on with it. I've found that mixing in compost to the planting hole and then puddling it before putting the new plant in helps them to get going quickly.

I don't use much muck but do a lot of mulching - mainly home made compost and bark. I use muck round the base of the shrubs in spring, which keeps them happy. We have very sandy soil here which dries out quickly and I find that the beds do well for being mulched once or twice a year, first in spring and then in summer. I also grow plants in places where they're happy so, apart from getting them established, they tend to do well for being in the right place and don't need mollycoddling. Very little digging is done, apart from when things are planted, which helps to conserve moisture too.

The lawn is never watered and never will be as long as I live here. Like Paul, I leave it longer in summer - cutting at up to 5cm - which stops it going brown.

[Paul Narramore]

Miranda,

We live on the south side of the South Downs in Kent, and our soil is very chalky. In fact some parts of the garden the chalk lies only 12" or so beneath the surface. My late Mother's garden in Ramsgate had 9" of dust dry grey dirt on top of solid chalk. I'm amazed she could grow anything in that ground. When I was a teenager, she planted one of the first Japanese Flowering Cherries 'Kanzan' to come into the country. Apart from the roots sending up suckers all over the lawn, the tree not only thrived but my late Father pollarded it a number of times.

As I've now retired I can spend more time in the garden and pamper the plants a little bit. With the tree bark mulch, we'll be adding some more in a few weeks, everything is looking really superb. We're also into pelleted chicken poo and add that around new plants.

Now I must find some more plastic 60 gallon water butts this Autumn. Isn't gardening great?:)

[Miranda]

We're in north Lincolnshire, Paul. This is an odd place for soil as it's on the edge of an area of windblown sand over chalk. We find the soil very free draining but despite being this far north we can overwinter so many plants. The more tender subjects like Trachelospurmum jasminoides and Abutilon megapotamicum are thriving. Verbena bonariensis seeds itself everywhere, whereas I know someone in Oxford who has to grow it fresh every year.

I'm not sure how far down the chalk is as I haven't dug that deep. Our house was built over the remains of another one (as I found when digging) so it's probably a way down.

We also use chicken poo and find it very good. I make some of my own fertiliser from nettles and comfrey and while it don't half pong it's certainly effective.

Yes, gardening is a sheer delight and I think of my garden as the best playground/classroom I've ever had :)

[Paul Narramore]

Miranda

Tell us more about your comfrey liquid feed please. It's something I've always intended to try but haven't yet got around to it. I take it you buy a packet of comfrey seeds and sow them? When? When do you 'harvest' the comfrey? What proportions of comfrey to water? I saw it demonstrated a while back in a TV program where the comfrey was put into a long clear perspex tube about 4" diameter, obviouslt sealed at the bottom, watter was added to the top, then a filled bottle of water added to weigh the comfrey down. How long do you leave it to 'mature'? What proportions of 'liquor' to water do you make the final feed? Sound like the stuff needs to be stored in a screw-top lemonade botttle and not spilled!:eek:

[Miranda]

The comfrey/nettle liquid is very easy, Paul. I use an old bin which is a bit smaller than an old-type dustbin and half fill it with chopped comfrey/nettles, then I add water till the greenery is covered. After that I cover it over and leave it for a couple or three weeks, stirring occasionally.

When it's ready I decant it into 5l screwtop containers and dilute to about 1:20. The smell can make you gag to start with but you get used to it, to a certain extent. It isn't for those with a sensitive disposition, that's for sure.

There's another method where you use a water butt, which sounds like the one you describe, but I haven't tried it that way yet.

The comfrey grows on our allotment and I just cut a load of leaves and stems when it's growing well. It isn't something I'd want to plant in the garden as it's invasive, but it's fine at the allotment or in pots.

You fancy having a go then?