It is a gorgeous spring – day after day of beautiful sunshine, and a special bright quality to the light. However the lakes, rivers and streams are low, and the ground is getting baked. Even without a hosepipe ban, it feels profligate to water the garden as much as the plants are demanding. So our water retaining products are selling fast.
The ollas are useful for delivering water to plants’ roots, rather than top watering. They also mean you don’t need to water quite so often, since they drip-feed the water as it percolates through the terracotta. There's more about ollas here.
The self-watering spikes are ideal for hanging baskets and containers. Again, the water drips in gradually over a period of time. Such a lot of water tends to get wasted when watering hanging baskets. Using a self-watering spike or mini-olla is a much more efficient way of doing it, and means you can water them less frequently. It’s also a good way of delivering liquid fertiliser.
I do go on about wool a lot, sorry about that, but it does have a range of interesting super-powers, one of which is remarkable water retention. We’ve got some wool that got wet in the winter before the wool shed was finished, and we’re still drying it out now. The wool that we put around the trees keeps them nice and damp. I’m pleased to introduce Woolch, our latest in the range of wool products for the garden. It’s chopped up raw wool with added biochar. This gives plants a nutrient boost, encourages natural microbial activity, and adds to the water retaining properties of the wool. It looks neater than raw wool and has a pleasing malleability to it. I challenge you not to run your fingers through it when you open a box!
Our other wool mulch products include raw wool and wool pellets. The pellets can be incorporated into the compost / soil to aid with moisture retention and slow-release of nutrients. The raw wool sits on top of the ground to retain moisture, add nutrients and deter slugs, snails and deer. The felt shillies are a neat way of mulching too. These are labour-intensive to make so we don't always have them in stock, but click on the "notify me when back in stock" button and whenever we get a batch made, you'll be notified about it.
One of our most popular products is our sheep wool garden felt. This is very versatile and has a range of applications. In the water-efficiency department, it makes excellent natural capillary matting. If you stand your pots on it, then any excess water leaks into the matting, then is absorbed back into the pot by osmosis as the plant transpires.
Another new product in our range is the capillary matting for plant pots. These are neat little discs made from the left-over Chimney Sheep felt.
Finally, our ever-popular jute mulch mats are also efficient at retaining water, and are long-lasting. They suppress weeds very efficiently, reducing competition for water.
It’s surprising how much good clean water goes down the drain, just running the cold tap or rinsing vegetables or whatever. Our stylish large enamel bowl is perfect for collecting the water, then you can take it outside and make use of it.
