Not so long ago, it seemed that the only man-made features available to enhance the average garden were obelisks and bird baths. Sure, people knew about water features, ponds, lighting and kitting out garden buildings, but there was always the thorny issue of power.
Now it’s not actually technically difficult to install power in a garden, but it is definitely a pain and needs to be done carefully so as to protect and conceal the necessary cabling from damage and thus from potentially causing injury to others. Also, the fact is that no one ever plans ahead – they decide to install a pond pump for example, then two years later think it might be nice to add some lighting. The result is an uncoordinated profusion of different circuits and switches, or to use the technical jargon “a mess”.
The solution to providing power in the garden has its roots in the development of the photoelectric cell just over one hundred years ago. Nowadays of course these are much more efficient and compact, as are the batteries that store the electrical charge, and are commonly found in all manner of outdoor accessories.
Perhaps the most well known way to exploit free power from the sun is solar powered garden lighting which is available in a wide range of different forms, from deck and patio lights to solar powered security lights and of course that workhorse at the bottom of the garden – the solar shed light.
But there’s more to it than just lighting; these days many water pumps are solar powered so ponds and ornamental water features are all now much easier to install wherever you want. Or how about a solar bird bath (yes, they really do exist) that keeps the water running and thus prevents freezing and stagnation? And if you want to keep an eye on what’s going on when you’re away then you’ll no doubt be in the market for a solar powered CCTV camera.
So solar power in the garden not only frees you from the tyranny of cables, meaning you can install and relocate features quickly and easily, but of course it costs pretty much nothing to run (aside from replacing batteries every few years).
Comments on this entry are closed.