I had it all worked out.
After last year’s disastrous experience with the slug busting nematodes, I thought I’d found the perfect solution. A spraying gadget that fixes to the end of the garden hose. No more measuring, diluting and lugging a heavy watering can back and forth.
To make absolutely sure, I watched the instructional video again.
The whole process was easily covered in the 3 minutes it took to run. “Simple” proclaimed the presenter, sauntering around his garden with sprayer in hand, in smart casual clothes on a lazy sunny afternoon.
********
We started late in the day, prompted by a threatening sky. After all, it was only going to take a few minutes, wasn’t it?
I carefully laid out bamboo canes to divide the first veggie bed into sections and, to effect even application, allowed 25 seconds of spraying for each. Mike deployed the stopwatch app on his phone.
But then for some inexplicable reason the water pressure dropped. My stream had turned into a trickle.
Perhaps the sprayer was blocked?
Mike thought he knew how to fix it, turned the dial from ‘water + nematodes’ to ‘water only’ and gave it a good blast through. Magic, it was working again.
At the end of the third and final bed I opened up the sprayer. The sludgy brown appearance of the water suggested that the concentration of nematodes had dropped not at all.
********
It’s starting to rain. And getting appreciably cooler.
The dial on the sprayer points precisely to the problem. ‘Water only’. It never got reset. All I’d been doing was watering the beds.
Timings go out of the window and the plot is lost.
But the thing that really gets my goat, as I retrace my steps, is the leak that has suddenly sprung forth between the sprayer and the hose.
My wellies are slowly filling up with water.
I love your expectations of good behaviour from birds/creatures/tools. Let us know once your garden starts behaving perfectly. I’m sure there’d be a book in it.
I live in hope..
The Veg artist hit the nail on the head-there has to be a book in this and the title is on this post. Joking aside, how infuriating. Sometime you just wonder why things can’t just go as you expect them to. I hope the nematode s are now where they should be.
The nematodes are in situ and no doubt loving all this rain. More than can be said for me. But the new growth in the garden seems to have doubled in size today!
I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t stop laughing.xxxxx
It took a couple of glasses of Pinot. Then I laughed too..
Water in my wellies and my knickers in a twist – lol could be the core or refrain of a fine song?!
Joking aside, I have true empathy for your frustration…. I wish I had a stone (I’d build a wall) a penny (I’d be rich), a pint (I’d be happily drunk – no actually I’d be A DRUNK lol so skip this one!) a board (I’d build a fence) etc for every
guaranteeeeedddddddd time saving, clever, WOOT device or product I’ve tried that, well hasn’t (been clever or saved time). Dang. Been there done that. Truly annoying.
How ‘oft I said aloud ‘and who was the idiot who thought THIS would be a good idea’ ??!!!
(oh yes, it was me….)
My last venture into clever-land was an extendable handled three prong weeding device. Loved it LOVED it as it could work short for close garden or bed tasks THEN with a simple turn of the center dial it could extend several feet. Twist the dial again locking it in the extended position and work the soil/sod/weeds in more out of the way areas without mucking up wellies and leaving footprint/crushing! Marvelous!
Marvelous right up to the moment that (as I was leaning on it for a bit of a breather) the clever center-dial-lock in the device went katy-wompkas and dropped me, my glass of tea, my sun hat three feet with the speed of light. Further maddening upon discovery it was impossible to repair. Great joy short lived, lol
The final inventory showed:
Rip in my sunhat
tea in my wellies
bruises hiter and thither
hopelessly broken ‘clever and costly’ timesaving device
Yes, yes, I can relate! lol
PS love your wellie stand….
Hugs
Issy
Oh goodness, and I was just thinking what a wonderful device this must be… I hope bruises have healed!
Ooooh dear. Sounds like the sort of thing which would happen here. Hope those nemotodes are homed where they should be, and hope you are all dried out, including your wellies. Chin up, shoulders back, …repeating over and over to yourself…. “I do like messing about in the garden, I do, I do, I really do!!!”
Have you ever thought (I have, often) how nice it would be, one day, to just sit in a chair and enjoy it? With no guilt?
I sympathise; wellies full of water are not nice to say the least. I really hope the nematodes are a success after all the trouble they’re putting you to!
I know. Mike has still to get over having them in the fridge. And the trouble is there’s another pack due shortly, which will also have to be stored in the fridge now that everything’s been delayed..
I hate hosepipes they dribble and leak and water goes up your sleeves and in your wellies – you’d think someone would invent a dribble proof hose wouldn’t you. Hope the nematodes work after all the bother you had.
So much for universal connectors. If the nematodes don’t work I’m not sure what to try next…
I have a fine array of swear words which I employ when I stick needles in my fingers. Malcolm knows from my choice of word how bad the pain is ….. when it is the strongest word he sympathetically says “watch you don’t get blood on your sewing!” So just let me know when such disasters strike and I shall let fly with a word or two for you!!
I’m the same with curtains. I worked out in Germany for a bit, and did bring back a few choice words which go near the top of the list. I’ve left traces of my DNA in several houses now. Let’s just hope nobody in any of them ever commits a crime..
Feffing, feff, feff, feff!
Cup of tea, piece of cake and some new wellies is my prescription. Ooooh, the hassle we suffer for the sake of slug war fare.
How will you tackle them on the allotment? Other than throw them in the river maybe.
Well, the river is a possibility although my previous attempts at trying to drown slugs in a water butt have failed abysmally. I suspect I shall collect them up in a bag and take them home as chicken sushi!
Lucky chickens?!
Any kind of hose attachment is a disaster in my world so I’m right there with you, weeping into my tea. x
What really gets me mad is when Mike leaves the damn thing under pressure, I take the connector off the tap and get absolutely soaked. I think he does it on purpose sometimes.
I would hate to have my sprayer clogged up with nematodes!
The ‘five minute’ job took well over an hour..
Water in my wellies or shoes would have spoiled my day too!!
It’s not nice at all. And as long as it was just water..
Sorry you got water in your wellies Jessica – I’ve thought of getting nematodes too, but it does seem like a lot of trouble.
It’s good to know I’m not alone in my slug hatred though. We have hedgehogs – the gardeners friends who eat all the slugs…not in my garden, the slugs last year were big enough to eat the hedgehogs! (Slugs actually make up less than 2% of their diet, and can cause lungworm in hogs too.)
I would love to have hedgehogs, you’re so lucky that you do. Not good to hear that the slugs transmit disease though.
Our nematodes last year had limited success, so I have doubled the quantity this time and am keeping everything crossed for a drier summer too. The sprayer is definitely the way to go, and next time we will have it cracked!
Go nematodes!
:o)
🙂
I have actually had nightmares about your nematodes; thank goodness it was only water in the wellies and not nematodes! Very frustrating for you but great reading for us. Better luck with your next batch.
Oh no! The last thing I would want to do is give you nightmares!!!
I think it was the fridge!
Next time, hopefully, I won’t need to store them for so long.. 🙁
Oh dear, what a palava! Hoses really are a pain, the dial on mine always gets stuck halfway between jet and shower and I end up with water dribbling all over my legs. I hope the nematodes do their job after all this. I’ve never tried them before so am curious to see how effective they are.
I’ll let you know how we get on, hopefully not with a picture of a slug in mid chomp.
Would it be rude to laugh? CT x
🙂
I’ve never had a gardening project go ‘simply’—video or not. Wonder how many ‘takes’ it took to get that 3 minute disaster-free video!!
And how many changes of freshly pressed trousers.
Water in your wellies, and nematodes between your toes?
It doesn’t bear thinking about does it..
Nothing worse than water in your wellies! Excpet perhaps soggy socks? Hope you are dried out and that the nematodes are now distributed:)
All sorted.. until the next lot arrive!
Lucky you didn’t have a boot full of worms! Could be worse you see. It can always be worse! I’m glad you got them out of your fridge at last.
I HOPE I didn’t have a boot full of worms…!!