Running Repairs

Duck tape to the rescue. Fixing the rake handle gives me time to ponder the virtues of well made tools

My rake has broken. I am only collecting up some cut grass after strimming, which is what it’s designed to do after all. The steel tube handle just buckled under the strain of it all and bent in two. I’ve only had the rake about three years and I certainly don’t want to be traipsing to the shops to buy another one so it’s a case of ‘make do and mend’. I find my trusty duck tape and an old brush handle and set to work.

The rake is just one of a catalogue of things that are giving up the ghost in the house. Just this week the kettle element burnt out after just three weeks of buying it, and no, I didn’t keep the box or receipt. Long life low energy light bulbs are popping, a tyre is deflating on the car and my strimmer head flew off into the wilderness just before the rake handle buckled. Again I haven’t had any of these things long. I’m not sure if it’s just my imagination but things seem to be lasting even less time than usual, maybe manufacturers are building in shorter product life spans to kick start the economy by getting us to buy more often that we used to. It’s called built in obsolescence, or designed to fail. In 1954 Brooke Stevens, an industrial designer in the US explained planned obsolescence as "Instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary." I don’t know about it instilling me to desire a new rake though, I could quite happily live with the one I have for a few more years. As early as 1932 there was a talk called “Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence”, so maybe the shorter product life isn’t all in my imagination.

It’s fixed

The duck tape sticks the brush handle nicely onto the bent metal tubing and within a few minutes I am back in action again. In fact the handle is better than ever.

I do have a few really good gardening tools that just seem to go on and on. I invested in a pair of Felco secatuers twenty years ago and they are still going strong. My mattock was forged out of Victorian steel and loves tearing out the brambles in the wood. There’s hope for modern manufacturing too. My Chillington hoes seem to be standing up to the rigours of the raised beds and hopefully will be doing just as good job in the garden in 50 years time.

Veggie seedlings

We have a lot of maturing vegetable seedlings taking up space on the patio table. They have been hardened off and are ready to plant out in the raised beds before the get pot bound in their modules. The runner beans got their leaves badly browned by the cold winds last week. It’s tempting to cosset the plants for a lot longer, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be in their best interest. They have to fly the nest sometime and be able to stand on their own root systems and bamboo poles. I have gone around the beds to clear them of weeds, leaving a fine bed for them to get a good start. I’ll be adding a bit of the organic chicken pellets to the soil before hand as a bonus, that’s if the dog hasn’t eaten it all.

Escallonia

I am pleased to see the new shoots of recovery on my Escallonia hedging. It’s taken a few weeks but the bare stems seem to be none the worse for their ordeal in the frosts last winter. The same can’t be said for a few of the Oleria type hedges that still show no sign of greening up. I’m sure new shoots will come from lower down the plants, so don’t go digging them out just yet. Wait until the middle of summer and re-think the situation. It might just be a case of cutting them down a bit in autumn. Looking around the garden today I have also seen another casualty of the frost. The decking wood stain has all but been lifted off with the freezing and will need another coat or two to make presentable. There’s an industry that won’t be in recession this year.

Northwest Garden Show 2010

Don’t forget the Northwest Garden Show this weekend. It is the first show of its kind in the Northwest and promises to be the biggest trade exhibition for the garden and outdoor living industry. Follow the signs to the Castlefinn Partnership Initiative Complex in Castlefinn village. There will be all sorts of horticulture, outdoor living and landscaping people there as well as entertainment for all the family. Gardening expert Diarmuid Gavin will be making an appearance and no doubt be entertaining the crowds.