Watering

[Sean Regan]

I've mentioned before our two pop up sprinklers for our small lawn.

and that I've a leaky hose system which will water all one side and the end border, or any one, or two sections of such, with a couple of these located either side of the rockery with a length of hosepipe connecting them..

It was controlled by an ancient Hoselock water valve (the tape was because the body had started to crack near the connection to the tap) which you could programme to dispence seven different gallonages of water.

I still need the hose for the pots on the patio, those on the side of the drive and the front garden and for mist spraying our acers a couple of times a day in weather like this.

Although the leaky hose system is sort of comprehensive, the major fault with it was that I had to remember to turn it on just before I came in from the garden.
A failing of mine in this instance
I've got over that now by buying this battery operated Hoselock adapter that you can set to turn on for a pre-determined, number minutes for a range of different combination of time and days.
There is a more sophisticated version with "buttons," but I'm of the opinion that less sophistication means longer viability.

I've set it for 60mins a day. Sounds a lot but isn't really for a leaky hose. It needed a bit of "fettling," to get it to fit the tap over the drain by the back door where the hose runs under the patio and koi pool collar to a point behind the waterfall where the leaky hose is connected.

The other taps are for a hosepipe and the supply to the sink and water heater in my koi filter room another tap on the side of the shed for the hosepipe and the supply to the lawn sprinklers.

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Are you on a water meter @Sean Regan . I was quite surprised when talking with several friends recently at just how many weren't. I thought most were these days. Good idea with the leaky hosepipe
We are resorting to the occasional hosepipe watering as our 6 water buts are bone dry now

 

[Sean Regan]

Are you on a water meter @Sean Regan . I was quite surprised when talking with several friends recently at just how many weren't. I thought most were these days. Good idea with the leaky hosepipe
We are resorting to the occasional hosepipe watering as our 6 water buts are bone dry now

Fortunately not.

Ad I as do msany other koi keepers, with filters, UVs and air pumps have a 24/7 trickle change system. Others do a bulk change of ten to twenty percent of the water weekly.
Consequently, i'm using quite a bit of water. For which I pay £869 a year.

I'm happy to do that as if we were on a meter, the koi pool would have to go. Wouldn't be able to sustain the water quality without the trickle change which would be unfair on the fish. I haven't that many but some are quite big.
This tancho sanke is over 2ft in length. He came in a job lot of 5" to 7" tiddlers at £10 each six years ago.

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Oh I know if you've got a pond it certainly drinks the water

My Dad has always built ponds in every house we lived in. Fortunately when he moved to his present place 48 yrs ago it already had a pond....a huge one with a little island in the middle, thankfully my Mum ,who was a brilliant gardener could see beyond the pond ( not my Dad...he only had eyes for the pond) and they wasted no time buying it.
Was my Dad content.....no!! A few years later he JUST had to add a 2nd one!!!

Thankfully like you he is not on a water meter, not sure how he escaped as everyone else is!!

Love your fish, Dad has the same ones too

 

[Sean Regan]

Oh I know if you've got a pond it certainly drinks the water

My Dad has always built ponds in every house we lived in. Fortunately when he moved to his present place 48 yrs ago it already had a pond....a huge one with a little island in the middle, thankfully my Mum ,who was a brilliant gardener could see beyond the pond ( not my Dad...he only had eyes for the pond) and they wasted no time buying it.
Was my Dad content.....no!! A few years later he JUST had to add a 2nd one!!!

Thankfully like you he is not on a water meter, not sure how he escaped as everyone else is!!

Love your fish, Dad has the same ones too

When I got into ponds I started small.

Then built this 18" deep goldfish pond.
My wife was happy with that

I then told my wife I wanted to convert it to a koi pool
When I'd dug it out and got to this stage, she wasn't a bit happy.

But she's been alright with it for the last thirty years.

 

[Upsy Daisy]

You sound so much like my Dad..

But it's lovely having a pond isn't it, so relaxing watching the stunning fish.

Not sure if my Mum had been keen on the idea of a 2nd pond robbing her of precious growing ground, but like your wife...she came round to it in the end! We have the photos to prove it.....she actually did most of the digging out, probably so she could keep a check on it's eventual size

 

[alp]

Yes, Koi can grow to quite big in size. We can hear them splashing in neighbour's pond all the times. Nice to have a pond.

 

[alp]

So lucky you are. Well worth that money, especially this year! Watering my plants is bleeding me dry!