Water saving tips

malebolge

Hiya
Looks like a lot of areas are going to have a prolonged period of no rain so I thought it might be an idea to share tips for conserving water. My waterbutts are running low and I'm looking for ideas really. This is what I'm doing so far:
- only water by hand, and only water in the evening. Make sure the water goes to the base of the plants, not sprinkled on leaves etc.
- Prioritising my plants. If push comes to shove, I've a list of ones I can sacrifice.
- As far as possible, moved tubs to more shady parts of the garden. This is making a big difference to the amount of water they need.

- Skint myself buying miracle grow water conserving crystals. These are proving really effective so worth the money. I only have tubs and borders mainly, as am restricted to a wheelchair/2 walking sticks. I have a greenhouse too, and am making sure the door is opened.

- Use trays underneath all tubs so water doesn't get wasted draining through them
- I also make sure filling my bird baths is a priority. I love the birds in my garden and they must be suffering too.



I'd love to hear what others are doing to get some tips

Linda32

There is no need to water any plants in the ground apart from edibles.

Nor do you need to water the grass.

DaftyDuck

Got a double sink, or one with one of those mini drainers in the middle? Re-plumb it so one runs to an outside tank, and drain non-soapy water into it. The extra in your kettle, the veg peeling water, the veg boiling water, the run from the hot before it gets hot.... You'll be amazed at the quantity of perfectly good water you have for the garden.

Keep the soapy and greasy water for the original plumbing.

Debbie_Savard

I heard the crystals from new nappies are good for retaining water in in potting mix

Hopeless_Case

malebolge wrote: »

Hiya
Looks like a lot of areas are going to have a prolonged period of no rain so I thought it might be an idea to share tips for conserving water. My waterbutts are running low and I'm looking for ideas really. This is what I'm doing so far:
- only water by hand, and only water in the evening. Make sure the water goes to the base of the plants, not sprinkled on leaves etc.
- Prioritising my plants. If push comes to shove, I've a list of ones I can sacrifice.
- As far as possible, moved tubs to more shady parts of the garden. This is making a big difference to the amount of water they need.

- Skint myself buying miracle grow water conserving crystals. These are proving really effective so worth the money. I only have tubs and borders mainly, as am restricted to a wheelchair/2 walking sticks. I have a greenhouse too, and am making sure the door is opened.

- Use trays underneath all tubs so water doesn't get wasted draining through them
- I also make sure filling my bird baths is a priority. I love the birds in my garden and they must be suffering too.



I'd love to hear what others are doing to get some tips

Check with your water company, I got some water-saving gel free from Severn Trent. I don't know if its a once-only thing, but I asked for 2 packs and got them

This is the link to their products, it'll only be for people in their region but I bet other companies have similar offers

https://www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk/severntrent/free-water-saving-products

Hopeless_Case

I do use my hose in the back garden, but the water pressure from the tap is terrible (takes a few minutes to fill the watering can!) so I don't feel like I'm wasting water and I turn it off as I walk round and just direct it at the base of the plant (tubs, baskets and courgettes and squashes only!). I use my watering can out the front, again just for tubs and baskets

I collect water while the shower is heating up and it does for the houseplants - I do like the idea of moving both indoor and outdoor plants to shadier spots though

malebolge

Hopeless_Case wrote: »

Check with your water company, I got some water-saving gel free from Severn Trent. I don't know if its a once-only thing, but I asked for 2 packs and got them

This is the link to their products, it'll only be for people in their region but I bet other companies have similar offers

https://www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk/severntrent/free-water-saving-products

Checked with United Utilities and they've ran out of stock. They do have toilet flush things but already got them. Really good idea for people to check, though.

Green_hopeful

Use water from the bath or shower for watering non edibles. Plants that have been in the ground for a long time don!!!8217;t need water unless they start to look unhappy. Our apple tree drooped yesterday so I gave it a couple of buckets of shower water. I have a hand siphon pump which I bought ages ago. I have just ordered another because the connector snapped. The new one is only £4.24 on a well known website. I don!!!8217;t know how well it will work. That makes it easy to get the water outside.

Hopeless_Case

Green_hopeful wrote: »

Use water from the bath or shower for watering non edibles. Plants that have been in the ground for a long time don!!!8217;t need water unless they start to look unhappy. Our apple tree drooped yesterday so I gave it a couple of buckets of shower water. I have a hand siphon pump which I bought ages ago. I have just ordered another because the connector snapped. The new one is only £4.24 on a well known website. I don!!!8217;t know how well it will work. That makes it easy to get the water outside.

What's a hand siphon pump please

unrecordings

Like a stirrup pump ?

hioneday

I use a hot water bottle in the winter and got to thinking about the amount of water I throw down the sink in the morning. I am on a meter so every little counts. I now have a kettle specifically for my hot water bottle, I boil the kettle in the evenings and in the morning refill the kettle from the hot water bottle. Just re-use the water over and over again.