Hose pipe bans

middlewife

I'm not a blue badge holder but I've had a shoulder repair and a hip replacement so currently not able to lug watering cans around, I tried to do it one evening as I'm growing veggies and have 2 newly planted trees. 20 half full watering cans put me back on bed rest for 36 hours in constant pain, so really not sure what I'll do when Thames Water inevitably issue a TUB. Many plants are in raised beds and pots so dry out quickly. Anything deep rooted isn't being watered, and certainly not the lawn. I can try buying a trolley to wheel them closer to pots but will still have to tip and lift. The only other alternative I can think of is to use 100 x house plant 2 pint watering cans. Any other sensible suggestions welcome....

Sapindus

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82067171#Comment_82067171

Anglian water give an exemption for newly planted trees and food crops. I've got 36 fruit trees, bushes and rhubarb, many planted this season, so I will get the hose out if I need to. I went round last night and gave a can-full to the things I was most worried about, but my hands are painful this morning.

Be prepared to sacrifice some things. I've stopped watering the potatoes and will just have a smaller earlier crop. I may have to replant the raspberries but I got them in a bit late anyway so hopefully autumn planted will do better. Concentrate on the things that will cost most to replace.

I may have to be cruel to my blackcurrants - they are dropping leaves but there are healthy buds behind so I think this is just a natural tactic on their part, an "early autumn". The rhubarb can probably go the same way - I thought two of them had given up earlier in the year but they came back. Plants want to survive and dropping leaves is something they do to conserve their resources.

Soak infrequently - better to give a gallon to each bush every eight days than a pint every night for everything. Shallow watering encourages shallow roots.

Mulch once you've watered and take out weeds or you're wasting water on them. Although beyond the immediate circle of mulch I think long grass gives a bit of shade and shelter from drying winds.

Enlist a fit person to bring pots closer to the tap and into shade if possible, group them together to limit evaporation.

Think about future plantings with more frequent droughts in mind, and plan to improve the soil with lots of organic matter.

Andy_L

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82067171#Comment_82067171

You don.t have to be a blue bage holder to qualify for the "priority services register" and be exempt from the ban.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82067426#Comment_82067426

Details here - does include interruptions to water suppy

https://www.thepsr.co.uk/

FreeBear

I reckon I'm using more water filling the watering can (via a hose pipe), than I would have done applying directly. However, it gives me the opportunity to add feed to the water.

Andy_L

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82067627#Comment_82067627

Filling a watercan from a hose is a breech of the hosepipe ban. (IIRC there is an exemption for a short length of hose fixed to the tap used to make it easier to fill the watering can)

ie you can fill the watering can if its next to the tap, but you can't fill the can remotely from the tap via a hosepipe

FreeBear

Hose is coiled up next to the tap, and I'm not fitting a short one just to comply with any exemption.

middlewife

Thanks everyone, I've registered for priority services, I still don't consider myself "old" at 63! But everyone seems to want to do falls risk assessments every time I'm in hospital, and the nurse who patched me up at a festival recently asked my age and then immediately told me how awful "getting old" was 😧

It's a problem growing in raised beds on legs and in pots even though I mix water retaining gel with the compost and mulch around the apple tree and roses. Lavenders are fine, but dahlias were not a good choice and I've lost 2 old rose bushes. I think I may have to rethink what I grow, although if I prep for Sahara conditions, we're bound to have the wettest and coldest summer on record next year.....

Jemma01

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82068224#Comment_82068224

Not a very nice nurse! 63 is as old as one makes of it. I have gymrats in their 60s, very fit and strong. Raised bed, chairs, sofas are all choices.

middlewife

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82068242#Comment_82068242

She couldn't have known that I'm also an ex nurse/midwife!!! Age is just a number, put 3 eighty year olds next to each other and see how different they are, anyway, this is dangerously OT! Thanks for all suggestions so far