We’re recently back from France where the weather was stupidly hot @ 45 degrees – here’s a photo I took of our Alexa in our French kitchen in case no-one believed me!

Since our return things have escalated with dreadful wildfires rampaging through southern France & Spain. Our British climate is such a relief to us in comparison. That said I’ve noticed our hydrangeas around the drive are really struggling. I’d assumed that the irrigation simply wasn’t up to the heat we’ve had here – although so much cooler than France, it has been intense & on top of that we’ve had no rain at all.

We’ve been watering it all in the evenings as a top up to keep it happy but we now have a hose pipe ban which has scuppered things somewhat. Together we decided to take action & check out the irrigation system properly just in case there was a fault.

We have 3 systems: one that does all the corten planters, one that does all my herbs by the kitchen door (other side of the fence in the photo above) & a large leaky hose system that irrigates the beds that surround the drive. It was all installed when we had the garden built back during lockdown.

I put the irrigation on & my husband & I methodically walked through these beds to try & see where water was coming through the leaky pipes & where it was not…

This is what we found! Mice have clearly been chewing through the pipe in order to get a drink. Whilst I feel sorry for the mice I can’t let them inadvertently destroy our garden! We didn’t have a repair kit so I chopped this piece out & added a new piece of garden hose cobbled together with spare Hoselock connectors. Here is a lesson – it sadly does not work! The smooth irrigation pipe wouldn’t allow a proper seal & water literally gushed out. So annoying!

So I drove 10 minutes down the road to Burford Garden Centre & purchased proper connectors for the same style of system with smooth plastic. Click click – so easy to install! However, huge disappointment – that also leaks – not as much – but the reduced pressure means water cannot reach the plants on the opposite side which is most infuriating. I have now begged my contractor Tom to come & sort it with professional pressurised kit pronto. This means rubber bungs that grip the smooth pipes so well that water at high pressure cannot escape through joints. Another lesson – garden centre irrigation repair kits can leak – but not in a good way 🙁

Note – Dear Burford Garden Centre, you are one of my favourite places to visit but in this situation you have let me down. Please stock better kits as we won’t be the only ones needing help

Anyway – main lesson I’ve learnt is check your system as rodents can do a lot of damage & waste your water. We all love our gardens & irrigation systems when working are not only brilliant, they are allowed during hosepipe bans.

Landscape Plus who are experts in ponds & all things water in the garden just sent me this. It explains what you can & cannot do at present during the hosepipe ban so you might find it helpful… it reinforces irrigation systems are allowed.

Hope that’s helpful?

Til next time