What did you do in your garden today?

[Sean Regan]

I won't be doing much in the garden today, as I've some laundry to do and a bit of shopping.

We've had a week of dry weather and are promised another one.

So I gave my lawn sprinklers a "service," this morning.

That sound rather grand, but there's just two and they work on mains pressure.

I anticipate they'll be used far more frequently, than they have been for several years.

Not that there's a lot of pressure, despite having had the 15mm original copper supply from the road to the house, changed to 25mm plastic last year, which cost me £1000.

At first, United Utilities wanted to charge me over £1,800 to change 18" of the old copper pipe, for 25mm plastic, to connect my new pipe to their mains. (Contractors aren't allowed to do it).
When I told them I wasn't having it, they came down to inspect the situation.
I got my £1000 re-imbursed, due to the fact that they found they had installed, several years previously, a water meter incorrectly, which caused the low pressure in the first place!
And they had a record of me complaining about it twice, but had come down and "tested" it and told me it wasn't a problem on "their side!"

So they fitted a new meter.
"The right way round."

Big job.

The pressure still isn't great as U.U. haven't uprated the pumps, despite all the new builds in Trafford. One of the engineers told me that.
More pressure?
Bigger leaks!

Anyway, it was a ten minute job this morning, just a case of unscrewing the two heads, giving them a clean, running the water without the heads for a minute then putting them back.

The pressure is still not as good as it was when I installed them thirteen years ago.

I found the heads on eBay for £7 each, bought a length of speed-fit pipe and fittings, plus bits of plumbing stuff I had in my garage.
Total cost around fifty quid.
Half a day to fit them.

This was the "dry run,"...Well... "wet run," to make sure they worked. The supply needed to be mid-way between the two.

The 6" deep wedges I took out of the lawn to install the pipe recovered in two weeks.

Job done, in half a day!

I removed the return springs years ago, as they reduced the already low pressure. It's since been a case of just pushing them down with your foot once you've turned them off. You can reduce the coverage arc, so I leave a quadrant "dry" to stop me getting wet when I turn them on or off and also the corner of the tea-house with the second one. They don't quite cover the whole lawn, but they do save some time.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I try not to use mains water, it costs and is not as nice as collected rainwater, but the missus registered me as 'vulnerable' because of my Wegeners so we could get shopping delivered during the pandemic. When there was a hosepipe ban they wrote exempting me from it because of it. I had thought of getting a sprinkler for the front lawn, I know the bloke opposite would report it, he's like that, so just as an 'Up yours'

 

[Sean Regan]

To be honest, I don't think it makes a great deal of difference, if you give your garden the amount of water it requires, rather than as some people do to save on water bills, end of with a yellow lawn, relying on the fact it will usually recover.
But the difference would only have been a few pounds a month.

Before I went on a water meter, when we had a koi pool, I was paying over £80 a month as a fixed rate. I was using 300 gallons a week, just to trickle change the pool.
A big difference five years ago when the meter was installed.
Last year I paid £38 a month. This year, as they said there would be a big increase, I'll be paying £51,

I got most of my domestic jobs done by lunchtime, so I spent a couple of hours repointing the small patio and half the path down to the tea-house, I'll do the rest on Thursday, as it's golf tomorrow. I'll be well finished before the golf starts on TV.

It's a pain mixing the mortar dry by hand in a bucket. I have to judge how much yellow powder dye to add for it to match the York stone slabs, then plasticiser and a little water. I make it just damp. It's easier to manage that way.

When I'd had enough and was going to come in. the postman arrived with my new fairy lights.
It wasn't a straight-forward swop over, as the new lights didn't have a tail. They started about six inches from the adapter. Fortunately, they used the same make adapter as the old ones. So I re-used it. and just joined them up with a connector, next to the first beam of the pergola. Finished for 5.00.pm.

Just dinner to cook now!

 

[gary350]

We had a very heavy frost this morning 4/9/2025. At 6:30am frost looked like snow. Now it is 8:13am some of the frost can still be seen. Years past sometimes frost does not hurt potato plants and sometimes plants look good until a week later plants were slow to die. Sometimes I wonder if potato plants are cold heady to about 31° and 30°. One year 28°f with a lite frost caused no plant damage. OH well potato plants always grow back and sometimes I think dead plants helps to grow a larger crop of potatoes. We need 80° f temperature and 25 mph wind to dry up all this mud 30" of rain in 6 days is slow to dry up.

 

[Heirloom farmer1969]

We had a very heavy frost this morning 4/9/2025. At 6:30am frost looked like snow. Now it is 8:13am some of the frost can still be seen. Years past sometimes frost does not hurt potato plants and sometimes plants look good until a week later plants were slow to die. Sometimes I wonder if potato plants are cold heady to about 31° and 30°. One year 28°f with a lite frost caused no plant damage. OH well potato plants always grow back and sometimes I think dead plants helps to grow a larger crop of potatoes. We need 80° f temperature and 25 mph wind to dry up all this mud 30" of rain in 6 days is slow to dry up.

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It got down to 28 here in South Eastern Kentucky last night.
Because it's been so wet, my potatoes was just planted two weeks ago so I didn't have to worry about the freeze last night.
I feel you on the mud, I need waders to walk threw mine.
It's going to take some serious warmth to dry things out.
They're calling for more rain starting tomorrow threw Saturday. Don't look like it'll be drying up anytime soon.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

The only thing I did in the garden was pot on a lot of lettuce seedlings, it wasn't nice out there today. This morning I went over to Rye and had hearing aids fitted. They have made them a lot smaller and less conspicuous, but that means a smaller battery, I was told it should last about five days, and they gave me a box of eighty batteries. They do make quite a difference, surprising how many small sounds I was missing.

 

[gary350]

We get so much spring rain I have learned to plant seed potatoes above the water level of our swamp. It is very common here to have 4 to 6 months of spring rain 6 days a week some years but I have never seen 30" of rain in 6 days. 2010 we had 26" of rain in 2 days all 3 interstate highways were closed and under 4 ft of water for several days. My garden is 3 ft of soil on solid rock some how rain water drains away fairly quick. Very windy days are helpful to dry up the soil. 30 minutes before dark I inspected potato plants, top leaves protected the lower leaves from frost, top leaves are dead and lower leaves appear to be ok so far. Wait and see leaves may grow back quicker than I expected.

I found several YouTube videos where some commercial potato growers cut potato tops off when plants start to blossom they claim this produces larger potatoes because more energy goes to growing potatoes and less energy to grow plant leaves. Few videos tell geographical location and weather conditions and details. I could sacrifice 10 ft of a potato row to learn if that 10 ft grows more lbs. of new potatoes. I get my potato lbs. by quantity not by diameter wife likes 3" new potatoes.

 

[Heirloom farmer1969]

We get so much spring rain I have learned to plant seed potatoes above the water level of our swamp. It is very common here to have 4 to 6 months of spring rain 6 days a week some years but I have never seen 30" of rain in 6 days. 2010 we had 26" of rain in 2 days all 3 interstate highways were closed and under 4 ft of water for several days. My garden is 3 ft of soil on solid rock some how rain water drains away fairly quick. Very windy days are helpful to dry up the soil. 30 minutes before dark I inspected potato plants, top leaves protected the lower leaves from frost, top leaves are dead and lower leaves appear to be ok so far. Wait and see leaves may grow back quicker than I expected.

I found several YouTube videos where some commercial potato growers cut potato tops off when plants start to blossom they claim this produces larger potatoes because more energy goes to growing potatoes and less energy to grow plant leaves. Few videos tell geographical location and weather conditions and details. I could sacrifice 10 ft of a potato row to learn if that 10 ft grows more lbs. of new potatoes. I get my potato lbs. by quantity not by diameter wife likes 2" to 3" new potatoes.

View attachment 107964

Looks like frost just nipped the tops!!
In about a week and a half you want even be able to tell frost hit them. Hopefully this is the end of the freezing weather for Kentucky/Tennessee.

 

[Jana]

I picked up dog poop. Does that count?

That most certainly counts! Lol

 

[Tundra20]

made couple trays of microgreens
got some weeds pulled and ready for squash peas and more tomatos to go in

 

[Tundra20]

juiceing most of the beets and stems

 

[Sean Regan]

Not a lot today other than some watering..."eventually."

I've a couple of double hose points. One is near the back door, it's for my Hoselock hose reel, I use it to water the front garden and another for when I want to fill a watering can.
The other is on the side of the shed. One for the other Hoselock hose reel and another for filling a watering can.
They all leaked a bit. After many years, the seals tend to go a bit on the Hoselock and similar connectors, In the end, I had to change five, as well as renewing the PTFE tape on the brass fittings.

I did check the twelve roses in their ceramic pots on this patio. Lots of buds coming and so far no sign of black spot, but it's early days.

 

[Sean Regan]

Apart from patio and path re-pointing, I'm pretty much up to date. I need to get another bag of cement and some sharp sand, before I can do any more.
I jet-washed the main patio a couple of months back but some of the pointing has gone green again, so I'll give it another go of "Wet n' Forget."

We're finally getting a bit of colour. This "Amber" clematis I bought from Taylors a few years ago. It was relatively expensive, but never disappoints. It fills the whole of this part of the fence next to the kitchen window.

It has these bell-like yellow flowers.

The ever faithful Mayleen is the first to flower of many.

The wisterias are nearly in bloom. We've seven, but they don't all come out at the same time. This part catches the early sun. The wires you can see are to prevent the huge wood pigeons sitting on the fence.
That huge branch travels from the corner of the little bed at the side of the garage, right round and over the pergola on the back of the house.

These are the first of the many azaleas.

I'm quite pleased with the way the lawn has recovered, except for the bit in constant shadow which is always a problem. It'll need some more moss treatment and during the next spell of some consecutive dry days, I'll scarify it again. But it won't fully recover until mid-summer.

My new turf is holding up well, despite the attention of a couple of squirrels who try to dig little holes in it. A couple of joins are visible, but any little clumps of grass I find growing in the borders I transplant into them, as they'll grow anywhere.

Whatever it is, in this border, is doing exceptionally well along the full length.

 

[Sean Regan]

I took the "training wires" off this acer palmatum this morning.
The leaves aren't fully out, when they are, the top branches will dip a bit.
But there's now a more even distribution of the branches around the trunk.

I mowed the lawn, including the new turf under it. I was very careful, as it's possible to disturb it if you aren't.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I had turned off the outside water over winter as the insulation was missing from part of the pipe, and we wouldn't be using it anyway, how was I to know there would be a drought in March? Anyway I went and bought a couple of new lengths of lagging, fitted them, and then watered seed beds, and potatoes in bags. The ones in the ground will be okay, it's due to rain soon and most of the other container and greenhouse plants I have been watering with a can from the water butts, now just about empty. I had moved the butt at the end of the line a while ago, so today I disconnected it and reconnected higher up the middle butt and with a tap in the line, fine tuning while they are empty. Potted a few things on, watered the onions in pots along the side of the greenhouse, did some general stuff like sweeping and tidying, fixing a loose slat in the shed. I wanted to mow the front lawn before it rains, but it is full of violets and the missus forbade it!!
Primroses, daffodils and violets grow all over this garden at this time of year, and I rather like it, they vanish soon enough come Summer.