A place to learn, share and inspire others to create a haven for you and for wildlife.
Sign In or Register to join the conversation
Hi folks. This is the first time that I've started a thread on the Greenfingers forum but I had a few things to do in the garden today so I thought I would take a few photos as I went about it. The Greenhouse needs a bit of a clean out and was also letting in water which was pooling in the corner and causing slime to build up. It was also starting to smell a bit. When I first assembled the Greenhouse I had poured a large concrete base for it to sit on, and during the building process I had sealed along the lower edge of the frame to prevent water getting in around the bottom. This turned out possibly to be a mistake as it also prevents any water that gets in elsewhere from getting back out.!! For a while I've been trying to seal bits and pieces to stop the water getting in but as soon as it rains, the water continues to drip in, always at three of the corners but never at the fourth corner.
My Greenhouse this morning before any work was carried out.
When I say my Greenhouse, I actually mean Mrs A's greenhouse as it is she who does most of the gardening. She loves the garden and is never happier than when she's pottering around doing this and that. I dabbled a bit last year with growing some vegetables in containers and had actually forgotten that there were still a couple of Carrots still to be pulled from this pot.
The last of my produce from last year.
Whilst the camera was out I thought I'd give you a brief tour of some of my garden. I've been collecting stones to rebuild this wall which is insecure and crumbling at bits. I have another pile of stones as well and will probably start on the wall in the next month or so.
We put a Hedgehog box under this pile of wood but I have no idea if it's occupied or not. We'll find out when the weather gets warmer and it's time to clean the box out.
Looking back down the garden to 'my' bit. I planted perennials in here last year and it turned out really nice. The plants attracted lots of bees and different insects so it will be interesting to see how it goes this year. It looks a bit grim at the moment but I can assure you that it was very colourful last year.
This nest box was on the side of the house for the previous two years but no birds used it at all. I've moved it into this tree to see if it will perhaps be used in this position.
Getting back to the Greenhouse, this is the problem we've been getting with the water pooling in the bottom left corner and filling the big tray that was being used to catch some of it.
Smelly slime..
Nothing that a good scrub and disinfect wont sort out....
After failing to prevent the water from getting in at the corners, I was at a loss for a while as to what to do next. It occurred to me that the only option was to make sure that the incoming water was guided back out. I had tried this out using rubber hose and funnels but over a period of time the rubber hose had deteriorated and become detached from the funnels, thus leading to the ingress of water back inside the Greenhouse. My plan for today was to re-fit my 'water removal system' with a sturdier set of materials.
Cut to size, the right angled bend was soldered on...
The water comes in....
....And is channelled back out. The pipe is secured in place by a quick drying epoxy-resin.
And so on around the remaining leaking corners.
Plumbing innovations can be thirsty work, and today’s refreshment choice was a chilled glass of Lager Shandy...
Very soon afterwards...
Another use I found for epoxy-resin was this old repair of a cracked window pane. I taped the shape of the cracks with masking tape, and,then applied the resin to both sides of the glass before removing the tape before the resin cured. It seems to have survived well.... so far. (The thin black line to the right is a telephone cable).
The work today did not go totally unsupervised. I was being closely scrutinised by this lone House Sparrow...
...who had somehow become separated from his one hundred or so squabbling accomplices.!!
As I know some of you will be wanting to see what else is in the Greenhouse, here are a couple of more shots of what’s lying around on the shelves
Various tools and things...
Helpy growy things...
Pots and stuff.
That’s really it for today, so I'll finish with a few shots of the newly repaired and Spring Cleaned Greenhouse. The chair is only there because Harry (one of my cats) likes to sleep in here during the day.
Hope you enjoyed.
Paul
My bird photos HERE
You have been busy today!!!
I love seeing what other people do in their gardens and how they overcome problems like your leaky greenhouse with various bits and pieces!
Tomorrow I will be getting out in the garden as everything needs tidying up and it looks like we may be in for at least a few days of good weather.
My lawn has taken a bit of a beating this winter and has lots of bare muddy patches so will need some re-seeding,the problem though is I have to walk on that part of the lawn to reach the flower beds!
It's not always easy to hug a hedgehog.
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't.
Hi MP. It may be worth your while to try to get some hard wearing grass seed for the bits you walk on regularly but I'm sure you probably know more about these things than I do. Last year I did a bit of lawn maintenance myself. We bought one of those lawn raker things and de-thatched the lawns with it (creating a surprisingly large pile of moss and dead grass). I used a garden fork and aerated the lawns (which I never want to have to do again as it took me about five hours of mind numbingly tedious work to do this). I then used a rubble bin and mixed about half of a bag of sand with 3 bags of fine compost and spread this all over the lawns, raking it in with one of those wide rubber rakes that are good for spreading stone chips. The lawns looked terrible and dark for a few weeks until the rain washed most of the compost in. I have to say that it was all worth it because as the year went on the lawns were actually looking far better than I've seen them for years, although the amount of cuttings increased considerably. The plan this year is just to de-thatch it again before the growing season gets going and see how it goes.
Hi
The lawn area in question is also slightly shaded so I intend to get seed for shady areas so must look for a hard wearing seed as well.
I may give the lawn a rake and a mow on the highest setting today just to see what I shall be dealing with.Its not a large lawn but it is at the front of the house so do like it to look good.
i have spent hours on the lawn over the years especially about 5 years ago when I had an attack by leather jackets and ended up re-turfing nearly half of it!
I have saved a lot of spent compost from pots last year and sift it and spread that over the lawn generally with a bit of extra seed in.
Last year was bad for the lawn as every time I put seed down we had a dry spell and using a hose is never quite the same as a nice drop of heavy rain.
Rachel
Thank you Paul for the garden trip. It is good to get to start tidying the green/hot houses and garden. Hope you have a successful growing season. I love how the cat gets the prime seat in the cosy greenhouse, just the kind of thing that I would let happen also!!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Good days work I'd say, hope you have solved your problem. I've got a pots and things shelf in our shed, along with a rake etc and lawn mower, need a new shed outside really. Love the lounger, trust the cat to have the best seat in the house. Your garden looks lovely, especially Mrs. P's side!!!
Lot to learn
Thanks folks. Hopefully the most of the water will be re-routed back out now. We have a good sized garden and it does take a lot of work all year round, although Mrs A is really in charge of most of what happens. I get my orders and carry them out as best I can. My cat's tend to do whatever they want, when they want.!! They always manage find the warmest places to sleep.
Wow Paul great post mate I really enjoyed reading about your garden but I have to confess that I had a little chuckle to myself when you presented your 'before the tidy' picture of your greenhouse as mine looks worse than that after I've tidied it up!! LOL
I will have to take some pictures tomorrow to show you what state it's in as it will make you laugh! :-)
Ingenious fix with the pipe and the funnel I was well impressed as I love all those sorts of little jobs that you struggle to get round to doing but when you do get round to them they make a big difference as that one will.
Another Wow for your Sparrows on the lawn, that really is a good number and they are such good value when they get together in those sorts of numbers and start squabbling with one another aren't they?
It's also good to see someone else with a proper 'man' stone pile!! I love having piles of rocks and timber that I can just pick up and use when the next hair-brain idea hits me! Don't forget to post up pictures as you go along so that we can all continue to enjoy your handiwork!
Best
Higgy
Thanks Higgy. The next step I think is to organise all my stones into a rough idea of where they're going to go in my wall. The plan is to remove the old wall as I go along and hope that the soil built up behind it stays in place as the new wall is constructed. I have a friend who has kindly volunteered to help me, and my brother is a landscape gardener so I should be able to secure the use of a small cement mixer for a day. I will definitely take photos as I go along and post them as the work progresses. I also have plans to put guttering on my shed and to route the water to a large rain barrel so I think another few threads will be coming to the Greenfingers forum from me. I mentioned before that we were thinking of putting in a small pond as well but it's looking like it may not be this year as I have stuff to do inside the house as well. I'll see how it goes. I look forward to seeing your updates on your pond build as well, (not forgetting your greenhouse pics).