Keeping Your Garden Alive In A Hosepipe Ban

On the rare occasion that UK temperatures force us to witness a hosepipe ban

, we have no choice but to abide as flouting the (seemingly pointless) ban can land you in serious trouble. We are forced to forget a few luxuries such as washing our cars, filling swimming pools or, as the name suggests, using a hosepipe. But leaving your well tended garden to suffer the wrath of a heartless drought seems like a big waste of a lot of time, effort and money.

Rather than anarchy, there are some simple solutions to keeping our gardens alive; the ban excludes the use of water inside the house so maybe consider recycling bathwater, washing up and so on, this water is fine to use for your garden and, assuming you stay clean, provide you with sufficient water.

To transfer the water from a sink to a garden you could either siphon it using your now redundant hosepipe, or if you want to avoid a mouthful of soapy water, you could connect the hose to the external waste water pipe.

The best time to water your plants and lawn is early in the morning or late in the evening as it will reduce water loss, watering in middle of the day will result in evaporation before the water reaches the plant's roots. If watering your lawn is not a good enough reason to get up early then fill small flower pots with water and insert them in the soil then cover them, this will allow the water to penetrate to the roots before evaporating.

Don't waste water by watering between plants as this will encourage weeds and not act as a benefit, they will also draw valuable water from the ground so remove them when they appear. Do not cut your lawn as short in order to trap moisture in the morning, it will also reduce evaporation and keep weeds away.

Group small plants in pots together and place them in trays of water to help them survive hot days. You can also use biodegradable gel crystals in your planters which can reduce the need for watering from several to just twice a day.

by: Tom Doerr.

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