The zombie army COVID-19 Gardening thread.
Discussion
I had the borders at the back planed up by a professional a couple of months ago and all this sun & rain is making all the new stuff grow like crazy. Will see if I can take some decent pictures.
Meanwhile, for Father's day, I was asked what I wanted and I just said I wanted a whole day to potter about & finally get an irrigation system rugged up for the 12 pots on my balcony.
I had a load of old Gardena and no-brand parts lying around which I sorted into junctions, drippers, elbows, taps, etc and I had a Claber started kit. I combined the lot and set about figuring it out. After a bit of trial and error I ended up with some of the higher-flow Claber drippers in the large planters and the Gardena drippers in the rest of the pots with a couple on in-line taps to throttle them back on the two smallest ones.
Very happy with the result and all I need to do now is add a timer and I can forget about constantly water them in hot weather.
in the back garden I've got a leaky hose doing a lot of the perimeter borders but need to sort the pots in the same way plus a section of dry border by the patio.
Next job.
Meanwhile, for Father's day, I was asked what I wanted and I just said I wanted a whole day to potter about & finally get an irrigation system rugged up for the 12 pots on my balcony.
I had a load of old Gardena and no-brand parts lying around which I sorted into junctions, drippers, elbows, taps, etc and I had a Claber started kit. I combined the lot and set about figuring it out. After a bit of trial and error I ended up with some of the higher-flow Claber drippers in the large planters and the Gardena drippers in the rest of the pots with a couple on in-line taps to throttle them back on the two smallest ones.
Very happy with the result and all I need to do now is add a timer and I can forget about constantly water them in hot weather.
in the back garden I've got a leaky hose doing a lot of the perimeter borders but need to sort the pots in the same way plus a section of dry border by the patio.
Next job.
Harry Flashman said:
Pics please! I need to do this and wish to steal your ideas and then claim they were mine.
Pictures of the newly-planted borders? I'll try and get some when the sun's right.Basically, I'd planted up lots of shrubs/bushes/trees which looked OK. But my wife wanted to fill in some of the remaining gaps and add some more variety & colour.
Go a landscaper in, she did a planting plan and that was that. Easiest bit of gardening ever.
Sway said:
We've an agricultural college nearby - I've been told one option is to ask if any of the students 'need a project' for their coursework... Scratching each others' backs, for greatly reduced cost!
Need to clear my big front strip and I'm tempted to give them a shout.
I'd take them up on that. Need to clear my big front strip and I'm tempted to give them a shout.
They should be able to come up with a decent planting plan and, if you want, plant it up I guess.
AC43 said:
Harry Flashman said:
Pics please! I need to do this and wish to steal your ideas and then claim they were mine.
Pictures of the newly-planted borders? I'll try and get some when the sun's right.Basically, I'd planted up lots of shrubs/bushes/trees which looked OK. But my wife wanted to fill in some of the remaining gaps and add some more variety & colour.
Go a landscaper in, she did a planting plan and that was that. Easiest bit of gardening ever.
Harry Flashman said:
Pics please! I need to do this and wish to steal your ideas and then claim they were mine.
I've set up a few of these now.You need;
A watering timer. Loads of these on Amazon, or pick one up from B&Q etc.
Enough 13mm distribution pipe to go round the area you want to water and any elbows, T-pieces and end stops you require.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hozelock-Supply-Hose-25-1...
(This is the Hozelock version, there is usually cheaper generic stuff available)
For each point you want to water, you pierce the distribution pipe with one of these;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Antelco-Key-Hole-Punch/dp...
and screw one of these spigots in;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/irrigation-threaded-joine...
Push a length of this pipe onto the spigot;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-micro-irrigation-pi...
And then put a dripper on the other end.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/UCTOP-STORE-Adjustable-Ir...
A flask of hot water is useful for softening the pipe to push it onto the fittings.
Once it's all connected up, so that you have the distribution pipe going round the garden and sealed at the end, with droppers coming off wherever you need them, set the timer to manual on and turn the water on. Don't immediately turn it up to maximum pressure, some timers are fragile. The Hozelock kits come with a pressure relief valve, but that doesn't seem to help much. Your sprinklers will start working. You can adjust the flow on them individually, so it's an exercise in tweaking the tap and balancing the drippers until everything gets enough water. Then set your timer to automatic, forbid anyone from messing with the tap, and you're done.
Sway said:
Those that have set these irrigation systems up - reckon they'd work in the context of an allotment setup, where I'd have to attach the hose to the tap at the time of watering, and the water pressure out of the tap is somewhat variable?
I'm assuming not...
I think it would be workable, and might be easier than wandering round with a hose. For me the big draw is not having to actively do anything, everything just gets watered whether I am at home or away. I cannot grow hanging baskets or containers without one, it's only a matter of time before I neglect them to death. I'm assuming not...
Day off in lieu thanks to a fortnight's travel, so popped down this morning to weed and water the allotment.
Won't bore with bed pics, but here's our current plot (other half for scale):
And here's what will soon be our new plot (spot the other half!):
Easily 4-5 times the size of our existing plot, plus we can have the 'industrial stuff' like storage and compost bins tucked under the trees at the back so it's all growing space. Have some plans for how we'll build it so it'll be a proper mini farm, with both space for 'permanent' fixtures like a fruit area with flowers, and a big asparagus bed - but also there should be the ability to be fully self sufficient in all the 'core' vegs and beans.
Never seen anyone do what we're planning, so watch this space! It'll either be an epic failure, or the makings of us writing a book...
Won't bore with bed pics, but here's our current plot (other half for scale):
And here's what will soon be our new plot (spot the other half!):
Easily 4-5 times the size of our existing plot, plus we can have the 'industrial stuff' like storage and compost bins tucked under the trees at the back so it's all growing space. Have some plans for how we'll build it so it'll be a proper mini farm, with both space for 'permanent' fixtures like a fruit area with flowers, and a big asparagus bed - but also there should be the ability to be fully self sufficient in all the 'core' vegs and beans.
Never seen anyone do what we're planning, so watch this space! It'll either be an epic failure, or the makings of us writing a book...
Sway said:
Day off in lieu thanks to a fortnight's travel, so popped down this morning to weed and water the allotment.
Won't bore with bed pics, but here's our current plot (other half for scale):
And here's what will soon be our new plot (spot the other half!):
Easily 4-5 times the size of our existing plot, plus we can have the 'industrial stuff' like storage and compost bins tucked under the trees at the back so it's all growing space. Have some plans for how we'll build it so it'll be a proper mini farm, with both space for 'permanent' fixtures like a fruit area with flowers, and a big asparagus bed - but also there should be the ability to be fully self sufficient in all the 'core' vegs and beans.
Never seen anyone do what we're planning, so watch this space! It'll either be an epic failure, or the makings of us writing a book...
Looks fantastic, I'll buy the book. Won't bore with bed pics, but here's our current plot (other half for scale):
And here's what will soon be our new plot (spot the other half!):
Easily 4-5 times the size of our existing plot, plus we can have the 'industrial stuff' like storage and compost bins tucked under the trees at the back so it's all growing space. Have some plans for how we'll build it so it'll be a proper mini farm, with both space for 'permanent' fixtures like a fruit area with flowers, and a big asparagus bed - but also there should be the ability to be fully self sufficient in all the 'core' vegs and beans.
Never seen anyone do what we're planning, so watch this space! It'll either be an epic failure, or the makings of us writing a book...
Harry Flashman said:
AC43 said:
Harry Flashman said:
Pics please! I need to do this and wish to steal your ideas and then claim they were mine.
Pictures of the newly-planted borders? I'll try and get some when the sun's right.Basically, I'd planted up lots of shrubs/bushes/trees which looked OK. But my wife wanted to fill in some of the remaining gaps and add some more variety & colour.
Go a landscaper in, she did a planting plan and that was that. Easiest bit of gardening ever.
DonkeyApple said:
Took a quick snap of the little area I set up during the first lockdown. Seems to have grown in very well. Must admit to not being arsed to plant any basil in the cloche so far.
[Img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52160127298_3e70575a81_c.jpg[/thumb]
Meanwhile the raised bed of raspberry and various herbs has gone mental as have the shrubs around it.
Crikey DA, I remember the pics of you building it - that looks superb and really nicely matured.[Img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52160127298_3e70575a81_c.jpg[/thumb]
Meanwhile the raised bed of raspberry and various herbs has gone mental as have the shrubs around it.
Raspberries seem pretty foolproof - the new allotment plot hasn't been 'worked', at all, for years - yet there's a nice line of raspberry canes covered in fruit that my other half had big helpings of as we were looking around/planning. Think the neighbouring plot holders have been helping themselves too (one of whom is the site chair, who I've cultivated a good relationship with, which is partly how I've managed to 'skip the queue' to get this plot).
The other element in my favour is what we've done to our little starter plot in the last 20 months, and how we've mucked in for any community plot clearing, etc.
It's going to be a bit of a wrench handing over our existing plot on 1st November, even though we're hugely restricted in what we can grow.
otolith said:
Harry Flashman said:
Pics please! I need to do this and wish to steal your ideas and then claim they were mine.
I've set up a few of these now.You need;
A watering timer. Loads of these on Amazon, or pick one up from B&Q etc.
Enough 13mm distribution pipe to go round the area you want to water and any elbows, T-pieces and end stops you require.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hozelock-Supply-Hose-25-1...
(This is the Hozelock version, there is usually cheaper generic stuff available)
For each point you want to water, you pierce the distribution pipe with one of these;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Antelco-Key-Hole-Punch/dp...
and screw one of these spigots in;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/irrigation-threaded-joine...
Push a length of this pipe onto the spigot;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-micro-irrigation-pi...
And then put a dripper on the other end.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/UCTOP-STORE-Adjustable-Ir...
A flask of hot water is useful for softening the pipe to push it onto the fittings.
Once it's all connected up, so that you have the distribution pipe going round the garden and sealed at the end, with droppers coming off wherever you need them, set the timer to manual on and turn the water on. Don't immediately turn it up to maximum pressure, some timers are fragile. The Hozelock kits come with a pressure relief valve, but that doesn't seem to help much. Your sprinklers will start working. You can adjust the flow on them individually, so it's an exercise in tweaking the tap and balancing the drippers until everything gets enough water. Then set your timer to automatic, forbid anyone from messing with the tap, and you're done.
Quick question; what do you think the max length would be for the 6mm distribution pipe as opposed to the large bore 13mm stuff?
The system I canibalised was the Claber Rainjet 20 which consisted of a 20m run of 6mm and 20 x drippers. I hacked it around as I wanter a pertimeter run of pipe with T junctions behind the pots so I could hide all the feeder pipes. It works fine for the 12 pots I'm watering. I probably used 15m or so of pipe in total.
I want to set up a second system on my rear patio whish would probably total 25-30m. Do you think I might run into problems with lack of pressure? I'm hoping not as the 6mm pipe is much easier to run and to hide.
https://www.diy.com/departments/claber-rainjet-flo...
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