Watering Exhaustion - a change is needed!

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

I bought a water butt pump which lets you use a hosepipe fed from the butt which avoids using watering cans but you get through water more quickly.

We aren't having an issue here (live in a rain forest), but other areas of our province are semi-arid and get very little rain during the summer. Our friends that live there have a drip-hose system for watering pots and veg. they have it hooked up to their main line, but it can also be hooked up to rain barrels.

A drip system allows for less evaporation since the water is slowly releases right at the base of the plant.

I agree and I don't think lawns need watering, sorry Grantanow you didn't suggest that.

Grantanow

Hosepipe use is trivial compared with the water lost by water companies through leaks in the mains which they are mostly failing to stop through underinvestment. If you are not under a hosepipe ban I see no reason to kill yourself carrying heavy watering cans.

I agree although I don't think lawns need watering. It's surprising how they revive when it rains.

Is it worse to use a spray attached to a hose to water pots and vegetables than it is to fill watering cans from the same outside tap?

Hopefully there will be some rain this weekend. I’ve pruned a lot of my shrubs and trees too in the last few weeks, hopefully it will reduce their stress. It’s going to be such an early false autumn.

Even my drought resistant garden is succumbing to this relentless drought in s somerset. I just noticed that deep rooted comfrey is laying much flatter and has not put on much new growth in weeks, I use it for my hotbins

I had to go around with a watering can, echinacea are still fine but the younger ones were looking droopy and I have watered 2 rowans and 3 blackcurrants as they only went in last winter. Roses in the ground are holding their own. Sedums look droopy but will recover without watering and best of all, hellebores have not had a drop as they are sturdy and glossy

I am glad I have planted small lavenders into pots as they are obviously ok in drought. At the front, roses, hebe and rosemary are all surviving. The 4 apple trees at the back have been in for 3 1/2 years and I fortunately did the summer prune and took quite a bit of green off them. They would need a lot of water for 2 years from planting, probably 2 cans per tree but I believe that they are ok

I have not used a hose since last year and don`t mind carrying the cans, both for water conservation and also very good for the all -important muscle building

If you feel comfortable using a hose obviously go ahead. It’s a sustainability issue, that’s why I’ve been watering with a can. It will take the whole winter for reservoirs to return to normal levels, and we don’t know if we will have a wet winter this year or not, if not there are fears that we will start next year with a pre existing deficit. Longer term it’s necessary to think about making our gardens more drought resistant.

Yes I have no idea why anyone who do that. I dont have a hosepipe ban, so I use the hose.

Hosepipe use is trivial compared with the water lost by water companies through leaks in the mains which they are mostly failing to stop through underinvestment. If you are not under a hosepipe ban I see no reason to kill yourself carrying heavy watering cans.

i've just found out that in thames water area, may be similar elsewhere, there is an exemption to the hosepipe ban for blue badge holders.

Casdon

You’re right Callistemon21, there’s a beautiful Chinese dogwood near me, and I noticed today how sad it was looking. There might well be an early autumn this year.

How right you were!
Early Autumn - called a false Autumn - was being discussed on the radio earlier. There was hope that the trees will recover if there's a decent amount of rain over the Autumn and Winter months,

my goodness, hayloft were quick and all the dwarf echinaceas arrived today. I was so glad that the trugs were ready, I even went out early and got 2 more bags of JI 2. I mounded the soil slightly as it always drops down a bit, this was by 9.30. The plants turned up at 11, was expecting them on monday

I watered the plants and not a single drop went straight down to the ground below, perhaps I hit the magic formula for water retention. Only JI and grit. Last time it was potting compost and perlite and tbh not much substance in that and the water went straight through

So 15 plants are in and I cut one in half with a knife, very good roots so I took a chance. I have ordered 5 little lady lavender plants, again not the cheapest but I want them in now, not november. I did a tip run today and actually got rid of 2 kilmarnock willows and have stashed their large planters, plastic but nice. I shall be grouping the one kilmarnock in a salt glazed trumper pot with 2 salt glazed tower pots each containing one lavender. They were already half filled with a good system of old plastic flower pots. JI 2 and grit for them. The willows were very dry and I have been watering every day

I left room for one little lady in each trug

I cannot believe my luck wrt timing. It has all been expensive £94 for the compost and grit plus a bit more than that for the plants. Lol I counted my watering cans today, I have 7 and filled them all from the water butts but not a single drop of rain all day

This next bit is relevant to this thread, something I put off doing, not wanting to add to tree stress. It is gently raining now and I slammed my rainhat on and went out with ratchett secateurs. Relevant to the trees and the rain shadow below and to my very stressed composting worms in 3 small hotbins, having had to survive on shredded paper for two weeks

From the master himself, summer pruning apples and why

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlF_ekXp5PA

I have finished, two trees were 10 feet and now around 6, one tree howgate wonder from 12 feet to 8 feet. Branch by branch. Also the head height branches on the crabapple, it is developing a good canopy and I have a reading chair underneath. Soil area is small hence no grass

Reason for not doing it last week was the drought and heat, not a good time for the trees. Fewer buds and branches means fewer leaves next year = less transpiration= better apples and less stress on the trees. I have no doubt that heat will be a problem every summer, into autumn and this does seem to be a `thinking and planning ahead` thread

Heavy lifting and hard work was so satisfying after a week of doing booger all and just in time as there is a touch of rain, that gentle stuff that normally happens in april. I just felt like being ruthless yesterday, plants that don`t earn their keep cannot stay

The french lavenders were not as good as the dwarf little lady ones which remain lovely and compact and are easy to trim in the taller pots. A dressing of grit on the tops makes up for not having pots full of flowers, sets off the one plant in the centre. I have just talked myself into doing the same with 2 salt glazed chimney-like pots, tall and slim and I never know what to put in them. I have some little lady cuttings, hopefully rooting and that will give me enough time to collect adds and sods of bottles etc to half fill those pots with before adding compost

I put cosmos in the soil this year as the sedum etc were new but will not be putting any annuals out next year. I had to give the brand new echinacea a bit of water this summer but not the 2 year old ones and all have done remarkably well.

I shall probably move 2 new echinacea in autumn as I put them too close to a jelly king crab apple, which has hefty top growth in three years and I suspect equal hefty roots, must have, seeing it bending in the strong winds.

I used long angled stakes for all bar one tree, a pigs snout apple from sturrock in wales, which was only a whip, hence a vertical stake. All the stakes were 5 foot and I managed to get them down to only 18 inches above ground. Glad I had a lump hammer

My two new rowans are showing signs of stress, it was the wind the other hot day but they have had 2 full cans each and will survive

The upside for trees under stress is that their roots will go down further, looking for water. They need these long strong roots for the gales. This is why humus in soil is good, the worms do their bit and take it deep down and the humus hangs onto water. The summer I moved her, the soil was awful and water just pooled on the top, not any more

Casdon

You’re right Callistemon21, there’s a beautiful Chinese dogwood near me, and I noticed today how sad it was looking. There might well be an early autumn this year.

We'll need a lot of rain to really get down to the roots and it could be too late already for some of the trees we saw

Hats off to you karmalady, that was a huge effort on such a hot day. Hope you have something long and cool to sip this evening.

Our horse chestnuts are crisping up locally as they have some disease or other but other big trees seems OK. Smaller ones, such as the elders, aren't looking so great.

On the other hand my weigelia is in bloom!

You’re right Callistemon21, there’s a beautiful Chinese dogwood near me, and I noticed today how sad it was looking. There might well be an early autumn this year.

A few grey clouds this afteroon and now, oh look, a lovely blue evening sky ☹️??

We had to travel to London today and all along the M4 the trees looked quite autumnal.
They are suffering from stress from the drought.

Well done karmalady that’s sounds like really hard work, I hope you’ve got your feet up now.
We had heavy rain and thunder forecast for today, so far we haven’t even had enough to wet the patio. Keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow.

I did it, completely changed the compost in 2 big vegtrugs, I got good quality john innes 2 and 3 and several bags of grit. Heavy lifting as each trug took 7 bags of compost. I have decided to just put the dwarf echinacea in and then top dress with more grit. No lavender in the trugs. The trug soil with hebs was a real hard empty, the roots were everywhere and well pressed down. I don`t think I used those herbs at all this year, waste of space. I am shattered now but satisfied and waiting for rain

grannygravy, the last house was an eco house and had a water harvesting system, underground tank with a pump. It just fed the toilets and washing machine. Needed to be thoroughly cleaned every few years which cost a lot and a hot dry summer caused the water to get smelly, so we flicked the switch to mains. Not something I would do as a retrofit

I did grow vertical small squash on my allotment and they were decent but heavy butternuts were better sprawling over the ground

I have french lavender in a veg trug, they were lovely when they flowered and I planted begonias down the middle, which are pathetic. The trug has no colour right now and I am so pleased with my existing echinacea in the ground.

Echinacea are companion plants to lavender

I have just spent a shed load of money and ordered 12" echinaceas for my trugs and pots. I am going to be very busy this week, I have one week to sort and replace some compost and need to buy some potting grit and more compost, I think JI 3 this time. These plants are going to arrive in one week

My herbs in a trug look awfully dry and woody and it is the end for them too. The two trugs will be filled with french lavender and dwarf echinacea. Compost will only have the top half changed to a mix of JI3 and grit.

The 72 basket strawberries are producing like crazy and most are big strawberries, enough to freeze some for winter. They drank a weeks worth of water in 3 days. I started with 9 plants, I divided and divided, it will be changeover in november. I ordered 50 plugs from ebay and they are getting bigger, in shade. 1/3 fewer plants in the troughs next year. Easier. Will be washed troughs and new compost

I have also re-thought my veggie plan for next year. Charlottes and shallots, ready in june and charlottes kept in the ground after haulms cut. Easy. Dwarf beans not worth the space,rather buy local from the allotments. One sprout and one purple sprouting very much holding their own. Carrots were good and I will cut and treat like the potatoes next year. The only greens I need are swiss chard gigantia. Beetroot maybe. I get riverford every week anyway

Hoping for rain this week, aren`t we all