News
Affinity Water warn of possible London hosepipe ban in Spring 2020.
5 reasons to buy a water butt
Save money if you have a water meter. Every time you fill a watering can from your water butt instead of from a mains tap, it means your water meter bill doesn't increase.
Easy access. Having a water butt in your garden means you can very quickly fill a watering can and water your plants. It's a lot faster, than having to go into a kitchen or utility room, which might mean having to carry the heavy watering can down steps.
Great quality water for garden plants. Unlike tap water, rainwater does not contain chlorine. It is also ideal pH, and lacks “hard” water minerals, additives, and conditioners, and has the presence of beneficial nutrients. It is a soft water, and is usually a warmer temperature, than water from the cold tap. Rainwater is perfect for plants.
Help the environment. The water butt is made from recycled plastic from household waste, old car bumpers etc. Creating useful products from waste plastic reduces the amount sent to landfill. If a lot of houses in an area have rainwater butts, it can help reduce flash flooding after a heavy storm, by lowering the volume of water flowing fast down drainpipes into gutters.
Made in Britain. British made, you will be supporting UK manufacturing jobs.
PREFORMED PONDS IDEAL FOR WILDLIFE POND SUMMER HOLIDAY PROJECT
FLOATING - Water lily, common water-crowfoot, frogbit.
POND EDGES - Marsh marigold, globeflower, pillwort, brooklime, watermint, lesser spearwort, water forgot-me-not.
SUBMERGED - Water violet, rigid hornwort.
Gardenis.co.uk sell 3 sizes of preformed pond;
Small - 85 litres is about the size of a large Belfast sink (£30 inc UK delivery)
Medium - 200 litres is about the size of a small bath (£48 inc UK delivery)
Large - 420 litres, the surface area of an average fireside rug. (£78 inc UK delivery)
(Delivery is usually 1 to 2 days excluding weekends)
Once complete, children can monitor the pond over the next few years to see if it has any attracted any wildlife, such as frogs. Ponds are not suitable for gardens of homes with very young children, eg 3 and under. If one is installed in such a garden, it should be in area only accessible behind a fence, with a locked gate that only adults can open.

Many small ponds = A BIG pond
The preformed plastic ponds have been selling great this year, available in 3 sizes, the smallest (£30) being not much bigger than a Belfast sink, the medium (£48) the size of a small bath and the large (£78) the size of a fireside rug (All prices include delivery). However, with a calculator you can work out the approx surface they would make if all those sold this year were placed together. It's surprising just how big the area is, in fact its probably not far off being equivalent to this large wildlife pond above!
I know plenty of the customers were intending on creating a mini wetland in their garden, with native British aquatic plants, such as Marsh Marigold, so its great to think that a surface area of freshwater as big as that above has been created this year, just by customers of gardenis.co.uk. All will be providing habitats for insects, frogs, toads, and a place for garden birds to access water, across GB & Northern Ireland. And the great news is that every week the total surface area just keeps on growing. If the ponds keep selling as well as they have been, at this rate we'll eventually create a surface area as big as LAKE WINDERMERE! ;0)
You can help restore Britain's pond numbers by ordering one here;
https://gardenis.co.uk/products/preformed-pond-3-sizes
As well as the preformed plastic ponds, we sell larger pond liner and underlay wildlife ponds. Available here;
How to create a wildlife pond in your garden, quickly and easily
A nice article featuring our preformed ponds. Available in 3 sizes. They are perfect for making a small wildlife garden pond, quickly and easily. The article has tips about where to position your pond, and British native aquatic plants that can be added. Did you know the number of ponds have halved in the UK in the last century?! The good news is loads of gardeners are adding them to their gardens, which will all help to restore habitats for frogs, dragonflies, newts etc.
The article
http://www.gardenandgreen.co.uk/garden-wildlife-pond/4594627513
Product page
https://gardenis.co.uk/products/preformed-pond-3-sizes
Water butt news - From dry to soaking
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
Water Butt news - Low rainfall in May
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.
Fake garden plants and artificial grass NOT for sale on Gardenis.co.uk
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.
Weedkiller NOT for sale on gardenis.co.uk