Topic: WIND!

[Garden Manager]

Well, what a night we have just had. Wasnt supposed to be as bad here in the south as in ohter parts of the country, but it was certainly bad enough!

Woke up to find two glazing panels of the greenhouse blown out (not broken - thank goodness for toughened glass).  Thought this was all  then went out to look closely at the greenhouse and found 2 panels and 3 posts of boundary fence flattened. Great!! >:(. Technicaly not our fence but the neighbours' (they put it up) so will have to wait with a great hole in the boundary until they decide to fix it. Thankfully no other damage - only a few pot plants affected by the fence going down (it largely fell away from our garden).

Looking at the location of the damage, it almost looks like some sort of mini whirlwind or even mini tornado cut through the garden. A few feet either side nothing looks touched.

Just off shortly to fix up the greenhouse, and rescue the plants by the fence!

So how was it for you? Ar you unscathed or busy clearing up?

[kt.]

Here in teeside - fence panels blown down, totally destroyed. Lid blown off garden storage box, bins blown over, plant-pots blown across the allotment - now got a few cabbages less :(

[flossie]

Lincoln - windy but really bright have just had a good hours digging in the sunshine 8)

[Larkspur]

Tremendously windy in Shropshire, still is now. One or two plastic compost bins blown about on the allotment but no other damage. Mind you cycling in it for an hour this morning was interesting ::). Worse than the wind  was the fact that I found this morning that someone had stolen my spade, second one this year >:(.

[manicscousers]

very windy and rainy last night, got a couple of hours in at the lottie this morning, water back up to pre pit levels, still, when I look at what's happened in the phillipppines, I feel humbly grateful for living in britain   :D

p.s. north west of manchester

[Robert_Brenchley]

Windy in Birmingham, heavy rain last night judging by the size of the lake in the road outside, but it was clearing up fast by the time I got up.

[Trixiebelle]

Windy in Nottingham last night but not enough to do any damage to the lottie. Mind you, we are surrounded by huge privet hedges so it shelters the plot and the greenhouses are made out of window frames which don't tend to blow away  ;)

The artificial Christmas tree I'd plonked in the middle of the parsnip patch took a bit of a battering though. Tinsel and baubles EVERYWHERE 8) I even found a bauble floating in the duck pond!

I was a bit disappointed that the wind wasn't blowing in the right direction to gust through my bedroom window as well. Nothing better than being snuggled under a duvet and a fresh gust of cold wind blowing up your nostrils  ;D

And ditto what ManicScousers said about the Phillippines :(

[ACE]

I had to take my wife out in the country to make sure an old lady she has on her books was alright.

Flooded roads, trees down, power lines down. We got there, (see there is a use for 4x4s) chain saw and a rope in the back of the truck. Also camping stove to make the lady her brekky and a flask of tea.

Out again this evening for some more of the same. After a nice sunny break it is just starting to blow again.

[kt.]

Wind forecast to get worse. Its picking up  more of a gale now than last night. Need to baton down the hatches. Gonna leave my damaged fence till next weekend now. Aint worth bothering.

[lorna]

Had the pleasure (?) of monitoring the weather last night!! The dog has an upset tum and got me out of bed three times. It was VERY windy (the weather not the dog :)) and at one point we had rain as well. Expected to see damage this morning but everything seems OK. Today we have blue skies but still quite a strong wind. Hope you are all OK.

[Garden Manager]

Looks like i got off lightly. Not far away form me several thousand homes were left without power when the power lines were blown down. Yet apart from one fence, glass out of the greenhouse, the lid off a water butt and another neighbours' rotary washing line looking slightly drunken, no signs of any other damage. This is surprising considering we have 9 large pines at the top of the garden, and even given the strength of the wind these are untouched.

Mind you the fence was only a fairly cheap interwoven panel one, with wooden posts concreted directly into the ground. it turns out the posts had rotted (after only 4.5 years), and thats probably why it went down. The greenhouse on the other hand was a different matter, After a previous storm last year where the wind had blown open the door and knocked a glass panel out i had taken to securing the door firmly closed in windy weather. This clearly wasnt enough last night since the dooy was wide open this morning. The wind had got in and forced the glass out from the inside.

Certainly been all action since i started this thread this morning. I went out as soon as I could to see to the greenouse, move plants etc. Whilst out there the neighbours came out to sort out the fence - all three affected panels had to be removed. This also meant cutting down a young clematis montana i had trained on the fence - one not very happy bit of gardening done there.

Then of couse came the discussion on replacing the fence. Clearly what was there was not substantial enough, something better must go in its stead. There was also some debate on ownership of boundary and responsibility for the fence. Since the neighbour built the (now deceased) fence, we assumed the boundary was his. He claims the boundary is ours and he only put the fence up originaly to keep his dog from straying and to get rid of the old hedge that was there previously. 

Its a bit of a funny one since his is one of 3 gardens situated at right angles to ours, so what is the side of our garden is the end of these others. We assumed that because ot was 3 different properties that each owned their part of the boundary. We plan to check the deeds to find out for sure. I am sure its a misunderstanding and that there will be no dispute over it, and we are quite willing to share the cost of replacing the fence.

Anyhow for the time being the old fencing has been cut up and rebuilt as a temporary (lower) fence until a replacement can be sorted out. Personaly the loss of th fence doesnt bother me much, as i never liked it in the first place (more of a hedge man these days), its more the loss (albeit temporarily) of privacy. I like to work and be in my garden without the feeling of being watched or be interupted by a neighbour at any time.

[Mrs Ava]

Windy, but not to bad in Essex glad to say.  And after being woken at around 6am to hear the wind and rain, the day brightened up and it has been a glorious day!  Shame we have been in decorating all day.  Oh well, back to work tomorrow in other folks gardens....just think of all those leaves that came down!  :'(

[cambourne7]

hi

i have not dared to go to the lotty, its on the top of a hill and gets wind in 3 directions.

but the only damage in the garden is that there was a rip on my sheved greenhouse outside and there was a small rip in the front and the whole front has now been ripped off :-(

I was slightly more worried about my washing machine breaking  :-X

cambourne7

[Shirley]

No actual damage to stuff in the garden, but a few pots blown over - greenhouse fine.  The main problem was elements of the ham radio aerial broke away, fortunately not causing any damage to property.  OH decided that the whole lot should come down before it could cause damage, so spent yesterday afternoon dismantling a 30ft pole, attached to the house, with two large aerials.  We are not very active on the ham radio these days, so will have make our minds up later if they are to go back up; they are certainly a liability during high winds.

[mc55]

spent the night listening to the roof tiles lifting, the wind howling around the house and worrying about the lottie.  Can't get there in daylight until the w/e, so can only pray its OK ... its been a dreadful day here - very cold with blustery rain and generally feeling very wintry

[sarah]

my  shed blew over  :'( . i love my shed. lovely husband spent all morning putting her back on her feet and perfoming some major surgury.  she all secure now. blimey it was sooo windy.

[Robert_Brenchley]

At least it was only the shed. I used to live on the Cornish moors, and a couple of years after I moved away, my morther was getting ready for church on a windy Sunday morning when there was a crash, she looked ourt of the window, and there was the roof, still in one piece, landing in the garden.