Drought proofing or art installation?

I'm sure most of us tend to have good intentions to install water butts but if you're anything like us, there is always something better to do in the garden and something a bit more exciting to spend your money on. But there's no point in pretending to be green and recycling as much as you can if you don't save some rainwater as well.

The current drought and hosepipe bans further south gave us the impetus and we duly ordered six water butts from Yorkshire Water, not expecting to receive them very quickly as sales soar in a ban. The guttering was installed on the summerhouse roof and we awaited their arrival. Not surprisingly it took almost four weeks. They arrived on Thursday and the sun shone on Friday, for the first time in a long time. Installed on Saturday we now have a water butt farm which will hold 1200 litres. It's rained incessantly today and two of the butts were a quarter full at lunchtime.

We had one water butt by the house but nothing further down the garden and wanted to ensure that the fruit trees planted last year, the grapevines and the newly planted border didn't run short of water. I'm pleased with how they look and if we find them intrusive, we'll just plant another hedge.

Of course, you don't have to buy water butts - ask around and you may be able to pick up some plastic drums. These work just as well, you will have to purchase connectors and diverters but at a fraction of the cost.

Peas and Bees

Slow start this weekend, needed to visit B&Q to get some wood for the pea supports. Sunk them quite deep with the aid of our trusty and ancient sledgehammer and added a cross beam to give more stability. Stapled some chicken wire across the supports and they were ready. Freezing cold by this point so sowing had to wait.

Sowed peas Sunday morning - used up all my saved stock so there are plenty of extras for the mice to pinch. I dry some pods each year to keep the cost down. One more set of supports to put some wire on but I'll sow that one in a few weeks time or we won't keep up with picking and processing.

Beehives in position but the base needs enlarging as they feel too close together which means they probably are. Managed to get some of the edible hedge weeded. Second year of planting and looking good. We bought larger plants than normal as this is an extension of a hedge planted 4 years ago and we didn't want them to take too long to catch up. The edible hedge surrounds the orchard, also planted up last year. The echium sown at the base of some of the fruit trees is coming up, so the bees should be fairly happy when they arrive.

Lawn Makeover - Rolawn Turf

Old house had awful turf and needed replacing.   Landscaper applied weedkiller and several weeks later laid the new lawn. I'd like to say the before picture was after the weedkiller was put on - it wasn't!  We deepened the border in front of the house and added a border between us and next door, planting a dwarf box hedge.  To buy turf visit Rolawn

Planting Day

Lots planted today - potatoes, carrots, parsnips, broad beans, onions, shallots, radishes, spring onions, wild rocket, coriander, garlic chives, dwarf green beans.  Propagator refilled as squashes planted Monday evening up and looking good.  Echium groundcover planted in preparation for the bees also up, at least in the trial pots I did for the propagator and cold frame, so I knew what to look for at the base of the fruit trees where they're seeded; not up yet but at least I'll know what they look like now.
Sorted the rest of the seeds out so I know what needs sowing next.  Cleaned up seeds collected last Autumn from our own garden and others (seem to have thousands, may have overdone it).  Feel like I've done about 3 days in 1, but great to get so much done.  Water butts ordered via Yorkshire Water website, need to get some guttering now for the summer house and make our butt farm behind it.
Probably tidy up the base of the rest of the fruit trees tomorrow to plant some Californian Poppy Seeds.  The picture may not look much but there is much promise in it!  www.digthatgarden.co.uk

Promotion code bark mulch

Bark mulch promotion at Rolawn http://www.digthatgarden.co.uk/dsps/rolawndsp.htm. 10% discount until 6 April - quote promotion code bark312. Ideal for mulching and water retention. Order fast for Easter delivery.

Veg in pots

Got a small garden - grow veg in pots.  Rolawn Vegetable and Fruit Compost with some added Perlite to aid water retention should see you with a good crop, and you can easily water with a can.  Onions, carrots, dwarf broad beans and herbs are all easy to grow. Veg and Fruit Topsoil

Mulch Away

Mulching helps to keep weeds down and retain moisture in the ground.  Keeping weeds down in the raspberries last year proved difficult so we weeded the bed, laid a membrane of leftover pond liner and covered it with a bark mulch to a depth of 4 inches bought from Rolawn Limited.  The raspberries were also too close together, so we've transplanted some to fill up our cage which did have strawberries in, now transplanted to take up spaces in the strawberry bed.  http://www.digthatgarden.co.uk/dsps/rolawndsp.htm