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Making plant feeding easier
CountryloifGirl
Posts: 13
Hi there I have been feeding plants with liquid feed whacking it into a four litre watering can........I am pretty petite which combined with a wrist injury, much to my frustration, means I really can't carry anymore than this, and do struggle a bit even with a can this size!
This makes feeding all my plants very time consuming, and frankly, tedious!
Anyone used any gadgets or gizmos that help with this? I've seen an attachment to a hose pipe online that you put the feed in......don't know how you make sure you get the right concentration though?
thank you!
0
Posts
The simplest way would be to top dress each pot with a slow release granular feed and then water with a hosepipe rather than cans so you don't have to carry any weight. It's what I do with my pots and seems to work. I have about 20 pots of hostas, two Japanese maples, assorted roses and clems plus hydrangea paniculatas and lilies and dahlias and several other shrubs in pots I can still give an extra tonic of liquid tomato feed if I feel it's needed.
Years ago we had an attachment for the hose that allowed one to squirt plant food around the garden with reckless abandon. It worked very well.....until I broke it. I think I was the first person to do that because the guy I spoke to was a bit nonplussed when I asked if they did spares. I''m guessing they have evolved a bit since the dark ages and will be easier to use. It would certainly be a good way of feeding plants when you have a weak wrist. Try it. What's the worst that can happen?
What I need is some sort of pump to get the water from the butt into the hose. My water butt is on the back of the potting shed and I would have to get the electric cable out to the water butt to power the pump.
Does anyone have one of these that they could recommend. Carrying two gallons of water about the garden is a bit too much for my back and my shoulders. Preferably about £60.
'You must have some bread with it me duck!'
Its for plants similar to the one obelixx mentions, so pellets may be the way forward providing I can keep the dog away! Ceres sounds pretty darn fun, may just get one and give it a go If not pellets. and I'd be interested in answers to iamweedy's dilemma too, im pretty new to gardening and it's pretty tough on the back!
http://www.hozelock.com/product-category/aquatics/pumps-aquatics/
Iamweedy getting the electric to it is the hard part but Hozelock do all the fittings and fixtures for pond pumps etc. Instead of pumping it back into the pond, put a hose on it and off you go. Contact them and ask them do they do it.
I was having pond problems and I attached a couple of rolls of that flat tubing stuff with a jubilee clip onto it and ran it to the sheugh and slung a wee pump into the pond. Took it down inches in an hour and it's a BIG pond! It was all a bit Heath Robinson because I had to run a 45m extension cable from the house and cover it with a plastic box and some bricks in case it rained.
It could easily be refined to a more permanent set up.
I had one of those gizmose Ceres, it was for use with Miraclegro I think. Used to put the blue stuff in a container which fitted onto the hose and the water used to run through it.
I use fish blood and bone at the start and middle of the year and also used Incredibloom for the first time this year. Been really good. Oh also use David Austin's rose food twice a year.
Not exactly what one could call petite but have a back problem so can't carry lots of heavy watering cans.
Yviestevie A fellow traveller in these decrepit back scenarios. I have been crawling on my hands and knees in the mud for years now to do my garden.
'You must have some bread with it me duck!'
I have a back too and lots of pots and a large garden so a couple of years ago I asked for a 40m hose on an automatic rewind reel for my birthday and it's been brilliant. I have another on a normal reel for the front so I don't have to carry cans of water outside. I use a small 5 litre can inside for house plants..