Posting here for traffic (name changed as could be outing if they were to read it). I have a problem with being too blunt and coming across wrong to people (despite trying really hard not to), but I really want to keep relations here good, so I'm hoping someone could help me form a good but very gentle message/way of saying this.
We get on really well with our neighbours - consider them friends. They are absolutely lovely people and I value them as friends, though they are quite strong characters and try to give us a lot of advice etc.
Anyway, we've been working super hard on our garden this year. We don't have much money at all, but have saved, scraped and scrimped to spend a few hundred on plants/flowers/baskets, been planting seeds etc as we enjoy working in the garden. The plants and garden are doing well and I'm quite proud of it. A few times, I have noticed that my plants are overwatered, as in saturated. It wouldn't be a problem usually, but without being too outing, some of the planters I have designed specifically for plants with high water needs, and I purposely installed very little drainage in for exactly this reason, to make life a little easier. I let the soil dry out a bit between watering to avoid roots rotting etc but lately it seems as if they are always wet. It's also happened when I've just fertilised the plants in the last day or two and want to give it chance to do its magic before being washed away/diluted. I thought it was my partner, who denied overwatering them, and it caused a bit of a to-do because I thought it must be him, who else could it be? Well I'm a bit sheepish now.
One of my neighbours informed me they'd been watering my plants as they were gettng dry and with this type of plant they need a lot of water. A fact I'm well aware of and considered in the design. I also received other advice I don't really want about my garden from them on a few occasions now. We're doing well and there's nothing wrong with the garden we've worked very hard on. Everythings healthy and thriving, we are in the garden a lot working hard on it, but I feel it's quite condescending when we're doing so well.
I didn't really know how to respond. I know they mean well, and feel they are being kind and helping us, using their own time to do this, so don't want to upset them in any way by asking them not to do this, in a harsh way, and as I say, previous experience with neighbours trying to set boundaries in place never went well, I think it's how I come across, inadvertently. But I am really concerned the amount of water going in, and the timing with when we are trying to fertilise the plants.
I could install more drainage, though that doesn't help the (expensive!) fertiliser being washed away/diluted. It's not really the point, I kind of just don't want my hobby interfered with. It's supposed to be something for me and my partner to spend time doing, even if it is just watering our plants. Should I just install the extra drainage and let this one go for the sake of relations? I know more comments/advice will be coming though! Thanks for reading.