News

The last blog post was about how reservoirs were low and rainfall was low in May. Well, this is Britain afterall, so it's no surprise to say its been torrential rain the last few days in June. This of course means anyone with a water butt, will have plenty saved in their barrels, from the downpours. I had to check to see when the heatwave began last year, and it was later than I thought. According to the wiki page about the 2018 heatwave, it began on the 22nd June. So, all is not lost yet for a hot, sunny summer, but I wouldn't bet on it, could just as easily be a soggy mess, like previous years. One things for certain though, having a water butt installed will ensure you have some free rainwater to use if there is dry periods, and the clever thing with the water butts is that with the diverter kits they don't overflow. Once the water butts are full the water then just continues down the drainpipe into the drain.

All sizes of water butt for sale can be found here -

https://gardenis.co.uk/collections/grow-your-own

After last summers heatwave it was predicted that there could be a hosepipe ban in summer of 2019, if it was also dry. Despite the summer of 2018 being a scorcher there was no hosepipe bans as the reservoirs were at good levels due to high rainfall the previous spring and winter. As you can see from below, the current river flows are being described as below normal or lower for this time of year by the Environment Agency.

"Weekly bulletin: Wednesday 22 toTuesday 28 May 2019 Summary: It has been another dry week in southern and central England but a wetter week in northern England.River flows remain below normal or lower for the time of year at the majority of indicator sites."

The Met Office has reported that May's rainfall was only 45% of the average.United Utilitie, that supply water in North West England, has said current reservoir levels are slightly lower than normal.

It will depend on rainfall in the coming weeks and how warm it is, as to whether or not there will be hosepipe bans. A water butt is a great idea to preserve water for your garden and allotment. They can collect rainfall from drainpipes from house roofs, shed roofs and greenhouse roofs. Various size options are available from 100 litres to 1050 litres. All include drainpipe diverter kits plus GB delivery and can be ordered here, in the

Grow Your Own section.

A disaster for the environment. They will all end up in landfill sites and will remain their for centuries, whereas real plants when finished can be put on a compost heap and will turn into fresh, clean nutrituous soil. Plus real plants can help wildlife, and provide beautiful scents.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6981947/As-plastic-plants-realistic-heres-lazy-gardeners-guide-faking-it.html

Brrrr.. well not quite, as it hasn't been too cold so far, but as this video from last winter shows, things can get rather nippy. If you have a fireplace or wood burning stove and need a new log store, we sell two sizes, small and large. The small is perfect for a cottage and the large, ideal for a large home.Both can be ordered in the garden storage & tidy category.

Compost bins are always popular in the Autumn months, due to gardeners being confronted with loads of garden waste matter from dead plants, fallen leaves etc. Rather than throw it all away they decide to buy a composter, and make their own nutrient rich soil, which can be used in planters, raised beds, hanging baskets etc. 

Gardenis.co.uk sell both wooden and recycled plastic composters, in the 'Grow Your Own' section. The most popular is the 330 litre plastic composter, in either green or black, and available with or without a base. This composter is made from recycled plastic, from items such as old car bumpers, wheelie bins, and kerbside recyled household waste, such as drinks bottles. So it's a great use of used plastic, that otherwise might end up in a landfill site.

There is a few important tips to consider when making compost, to ensure the compost process works as quickly and cleanly as possible.

1. Don't add any kitchen waste, other than fruit and veg scraps. So NO meat, bones, cheese, yoghurt, fish, pet food, etc.

2. Your compost bin requires both green and brown waste. So as well as green waste such as grass clippings, and dead plants, you need to add things such as - sawdust, cardboard, straw etc. This will help create a good soil, and prevent the contents from getting overly mushy. Ensure the bin has a mixed content, rather than one type of material.

3. A good location for your composter, is an area of light shade. So the composter gets some warmth, but will not dry out.

4. If possible use a shredder to break down twigs, before adding to the compost bin, so they will decompose faster. 

Single use plastic has been a hot topic in the news this year, after the general public were shocked at the devastation plastic is doing to our seas and marine animals, featured in the BBC Blue Planet documentary series narrated by Sir David Attenborough. There is now many plans and projects from both a government and charity level to reduce single use plastic use and recycle more.

If you are interested in protecting the environment you might be interested to know that all the water butts and the 220 litre and 330 litre composter are made from 100% recycled plastic. These useful garden products that can help save rainwater, and make rich nutritous soil from garden and kitchen waste, are made from plastic waste, that otherwise would be buried in landfill. The plastic comes from both consumer waste and industrial waste. For consumer waste, these are plastics which are collected at the kerbside by councils, such as your empty drinks bottles. The post industrial waste is things like scrap from plastic companies, old gas pipes when replaced by utilities companies, old wheelie bins, car bumpers, etc.). 

They are great examples of sustainably reusing resources. Useful and popular products from waste materials. They can be purchased in the Grow Your Own section.

On our micro site www.gardenpondshop.co.uk we sell complete pond kits. Everything you need to set up a garden pond. The kits include a pond pump, a pond filter, pond underlay and liner, and pipes/clips.

There is various size pond kits available, to suit a range of garden sizes, from small to large.

Loads of new garden buildings are currently being added to the site, as finally we are past winter and into spring. If you have any questions get in touch, and if there is specific size you are after, that is not featured, please send a request, and we can let you know if that size is due to be listed, as there is all types of garden storage and sheds being added from 3 x 4 ft all the way up to 20 x 10 ft!