Wednesday, 19 August 2026

HOSEPIPE BAN AND A LONG DROUGHT

 So the country, in the south , is suffering from almost two months without rain and five heatwaves of continuous days of temperatures above 30 + degrees. Added to that the local water company put on a hosepipe ban, so the garden has not received any water for a few weeks and is showing the costs.


 We moved some of the plants that were in pots to the patio by the house, to make it easier to water them with the waste water.

These plants, on the table, don't need much water so have not been effected.


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Lots of our pots are terracotta which unfortunately are not good in very hot weather as they dry out quicker. So next year we will either place the plants in plastic pots and drop those into the terracotta ones or line the terracotta pots with plastic to help stop the pots from drying out the soil in hot weather.


Even the pots in fairly shaded spots have suffered.


Unfortunately we may lose some lovely plants that have been around for a few years.


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The flower garden is suffering due to no water.


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I'm hoping we can save this , a plant we have had and divided up round the garden over the years.


We put some shading up in this area but the plants are still suffering.


The folly 


This is my thirty plus year old cherry tree ! Trying to make sure it survives as the ground is so dry.


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Before



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The field Maple tree is already turning red and will drop it's leaves months early as it tries to survive the lack of water.


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The pink in this trough is pasted saving.


This trough which does not get as much sun is still struggling on.


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We moved what plants in the pots into the shade where we could .


but even in this drought a plant will find a space to grow ! 


Hoping these will survive ! 


But of course the brambles still manage to stay green and grow !

Well they are talking rain ! But since we are in one of the driest counties, it remains to be seen just how mush we will get in the next few days.

Monday, 8 June 2026

ANOTHER SMALL GARDEN JOB.

 When we bought our Gazebo kit, it was just a roof and all side were open. But being me , I could not just leave it as that and so we added a couple of walls on one end with old stained glass to keep it light but sheltered from some of the wind.

However, Paul decided to infill the non stained glass area's with some exterior plywood, but that is now looking a bit the worse for the elements.


You can see from the photos it's not looking that good any more.


 So we have decided to remove the plywood and replace it with the feather boarding.




The longer boards under the windows.



Boarding going up.



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There is still a small section to do further across under the window but it's looking so much better already.