Kitchen Garden Forum

I was reading another *cough* magazine, one that shall remain nameless and they were debating whether clothes lines had any place in a garden?! One person said”perhaps the question is therefore less about having a line and more about whether you would ever use one anyway?”

Is this something weird I’m not getting, do people really only use tumble dryers or dryers in the house?

Seemingly some housing estates ban then so as not to upset their aesthetics?! I’m confused, surely houses and gardens are meant to be utilitarian, this doesn’t mean that aesthetically pleasing and utilitarian need to be mutually exclusive.

They’re also better for the environment and your health.

Well, as part of the design of the garden at home here, many moons ago...a long path was included that goes right down the garden. There is a third of the garden on the north of the path and two thirds to the south. Immediately on the north side of the path is the washing line...and it was in use today. Its extent is now less than it was as it went from greenhouse to the bottom fence but a shed appeared 30 years ago that shortened it...and the extra section from garage to greenhouse is currently absent but one full load of mine can fit the existing...but as we head to dark days of Winter...the dryer will come in to play...and that's in the old coalhouse....

C.

Don't own and don't want a dryer, washing line every time, I've even designed a clever mechanism to stop it flicking over into the roses. Follow the weather forecast and rarely have to resort to drying in the house though we do have a big airing cupboard to finish them off. Batch of bedding on a lovely day today.

I was thinking about who has a washing line in our village, and I reckon nearly all the rented cottages have one, but only a handful on the bigger owned houses do!

Washing line for me, it’s hidden at the bottom of the garden. I do have an ancient dryer, which gets used a handful of times a year, generally in an emergency, no dry socks! Last year I bought a heated airer, it’s a godsend in the winter, so I don’t have to have clothes horses draped in wet laundry in every room!

It does make me smile what we talk about but, long may it last…..

When I lived with my parents our washing lie stretched the length off the bak garden some 100feet and split into two halves.Needed it for the washing(always done on a Monday)from six kids!As eldest always helped my Mother put the washing out whenever I could and put it out "right".Seem to remember chapped hands and chiblains but if there was "enough blue"in the sky to make a sailor a pair of trousers then out it went.

I haven't used my line much this year thanks to either rain or wind. It is a rope line that goes diagonally across the back garden but goes too close to the roses & gets snagged, so I'm preferring the frame set up in the back room which is a sun trap. I did have a rotary line but it was poor quality & died rather quickly especially as if the sheets were on it & if a breeze the weight would bend the pole. I did consider the Aussie Hill's Hoist, but beside the cost, the size is way too big for UK gardens.

LOL OH. I was just aghast at the thought that people found a clothes line pointless. We found ours under a very overgrown area of the garden but popped a rotary one in. It’s not had as much use as I’d like this year but if it even vaguely looks like it will be warm/windy enough then the clothes are out. Having had 10yrs of no garden space to dry clothes I’m loving having one now.

How things change.