Cost of watering the garden?

trippy

We have just had a new lawn put down and the gardener has told us to water it for an hour every day (not sure for how long). He has said we don't have a hose pipe ban in our area.

We are very conservative with water as it's a valuable comodity and I'm struggling a bit morally about doing this. I was also wondering how much it costs (we have a water meter) to run a hose for an hour!

I was also wondering if it's possible to run a hose off a water butt. Or do you just use the water to fill a watering can if you want to water the garden with rain water?

woodbutcher_2

Use your old bath water,i do.

Debt_Free_Chick

trippy wrote:

I was also wondering if it's possible to run a hose off a water butt. Or do you just use the water to fill a watering can if you want to water the garden with rain water?

Possibly. It depends on where the butt is positioned, if it's above the level of the lawn and if you have a sufficient head of water. Otherwise, you'll need a submersible water pump and there are a number specifically for use with a water butt. Like this one - but shop around as this was the first one that Google found.

Alternatively, you can set up an irrigation system which will trickle water over the lawn, like this one. Again, shop around .. first one off Google etc ...

HTH

mercurystar999

Does bath water hurt plants? What about washing up water?

trippy

Thanks Debt_Free_Chick. That's very useful. I'll have a look into that.

woodbutcher_2

My bath and washing up water seems to have no adverse effect on my garden.The worms dont like it though.It makes them come to the surface;probably the soap in it.

coolagarry

I agree with the gardenere about running the water for an hour but cannot agree with every day. The one hour gives the water a chance to seep down into the ground but the idea is then to make the roots go down after the water and secure the lawn properly to the ground. If you water every day the roots dont need to travel down.

I would give it a good watering, and only water it again when the grass was seeming to wilt

j1m805

I just bought a water butt from The Garden Factory - https://www.thegardenfactory.co.uk - just need some rain to fill it now!

Coveredinbees!!!!

Why do people lay new lawns in the late spring? If you do it in the autumn the winter rain will do all the watering for you and by the spring it can fend for it's self.

weekendwarrior

mercurystar999 wrote:

Does bath water hurt plants? What about washing up water?

Not got time to look now, but there is a website that recommends using old washing up water on the plants!

I thought it may harm the plants but apparently it does no harm at all!

jockettuk

Coveredinbees!!!! wrote:

Why do people lay new lawns in the late spring? If you do it in the autumn the winter rain will do all the watering for you and by the spring it can fend for it's self.

mabey when funds available