Is This 14×7 Shed The One For Your Garden? Bespoke Options

Spring is the time of year when we look forward to opening up your 14×7 (or whatever size you have) garden shed and take delight (??) in getting the garden tools, lawnmower and other garden tools ready for the warmer days coming. As well as that the garden table and chairs are also given a once over ready for those lovely barbecues which hopefully won’t be far away. It’s the time of year for optimism, normally, as we have a long time before winter come around and the shed is left to its own devices in the garden again. The joys of spring are the green shoots on the plants, the greenness coming to the lawn, although the water shortage and hose pipe ban won’t help this. What you can do is to utilise your shed to help collect the little rain we do get. All you need is some gutters and downpipes and a few angles from your local B&Q, Wickes or Home base and then screw these to your building. With the addition of a water barrel, normally situated at the end or around the back of the building and you can collect the rain and then use it for watering your plants or vegetables. A very practical and additional use for the wonderful well loved building. This is what I did with my own 14ft x 7ft shed and was very successful

The downside of the warmer weather is the return of the flying nasty insects which can include flies, dragon flies, may bugs, ants, ladybirds, bees and wasps. Considering there are nearly a millions different species of insects we probably don’t do too bad. Out of these the ones I dislike the most is the wasp which reminds me of a bad tempered traffic warden, or me when Grimsby Town lose, and I can’t see their purpose in life. Normally insects are part of the food chain but I can’t imagine that anything would want to eat a wasp when they may get stung on the inside.

The garden shed does tend to be home to many nests for these insects so it makes sense to check it out to ensure it’s free from them. If you do find any, normally under the eaves or in a dry corner, then I think it’s best to get an expert to tackle these nests and remove so your sunroom is clear for use again. Provided you don’t leave it too late in the Spring you can be lucky and have a wasp free building.

As I say we are reasonably lucky that the insect population is not too bad however over in New Zealand residents were being told to be wary about an explosion of wasps in their outdoor buildings and in their gardens. Norman Kerr, a pest exterminator, said that his company was having trouble keeping up with the demand for buildings to be de-wasped as more and more people had been opening up at the start of the season and finding them infected with wasps. Garden compost heaps and leaf matter were also overrun with these insects. At one stage he was receiving 200 calls per day.

Even worse, Mr Kerr said, was a couple who found their 14×7 bedroom had been taken over by hundreds of wasps after a large wasp nest in their roof cracked the ceiling. It’s bad enough in the garden in your shed but indoors – in your bedroom – that’s a truly horrific experience. The reason for this explosion was the mild winter, just like we have had, and that a large number of queen wasps have survived in the dry, cosy garden building, and this is one possible reason for this explosion of nasties.

The wasp is, by nature, more aggressive that the bee and has a multi sting capacity that allows it to sting its victim more than once. If stung then a cold compress should be applied to the stings or antihistamine cream or hydrocortisone cream applied to the affected areas and this will help to reduce the swelling and possible pain. Surely this is a good enough reason to ensure that these wasps are evicted from your garden building before they have an opportunity to expand their numbers. Hopefully, they won’t bother you too much where you are.