Cable, Connectors and Spares

The least glamorous collection in the shop and the one that decides whether everything else still works in five years.

Cable. 1.5mm², 2.5mm² and 4mm². The right size depends on the load and the run length, not on the size of the garden — the table is on Sizing a Transformer and Cable.

Connectors. IP68 gel-filled for anything buried, resin-filled for anything that will sit in standing water. Not ordinary connector blocks, not tape. Nearly every "the lights have stopped working" call we take is a corroded joint, and it is entirely preventable for a few pounds.

Drainage sleeves under in-ground fittings, festoon lamps in packs because they are consumable, clips, turnbuckles and catenary wire, spikes, warning tape and marker posts.

We keep this collection stocked all year, including through the winter when nothing else is moving. A scheme waiting on a nine-pound pack of connectors is a scheme that isn't finished.