Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Yarden maintenance for April, 1 by coleup

coleup wrote:
lol love to see garden 'art'. my whole yard is tongue in cheek when it comes to neighbor approval. it would be best if i were in the middle of nowhere, but alas, I can see the state capital bldg from my back yard, and i have no lawn! Seems i've given nature a head start in reclaiming this area should it be abandoned or revert to wild. So April is "Maintain My Clearing" month as I trim back multiple 'invasives' (Seems like each year, they gain an inch or two of open ground...Luckily, the bamboo I planted decades ago as a screen from hwy noise hasn't taken off yet. YET!!!! My latest is beating back honeysuckle (such a pretty plant in Spring with those red stems and indented leaves) .

Holly and Speedy I am a water wand fan thru and thru. Mine has 10 spray patterrn settings, a trigger handle, and I can adjust the angle of the spray head. See pic below. I also use BRASS splitters and Brass shut off valves on all attachments and hose couplings. I can replace the brass shut off valve instead of the entire wand, for instance.

In addition to using new washers every year, I've learned that there is a subtle difference in hose and watering paraphanalia that decreases the leak factor. I have found that some fitting connections are deeper than others and thus allow a few more turns of tightness to the seal.

Being down almost 5 inches of usual rainfall already this year in my area, means that "watering" will be a major part of gardening so I best come up with some better solutions now. Any of you using rain barrels? Wildlife is thirsty, too as their usual pools and puddles aren't there.

If I compost my invasive gleanings of honeysuckle, etc will I just be compounding the problem?