Hosepipe ban

yup .... as a bona fide gardener, I can use a hosepipe in any of my client's gardens ...

when I am done watering, the homeowner is not allowed to use the hose (only a gardener who invoices and gets paid may use a hosepipe as it is a service to clients)

that currently applies to Anglian water, so best check with your water supplier, as they may have different rules

 

Thankyou *dim*, I will now not feel too bad should I find the need to use my own hose during the summer.
Obviously the situation is not that dire, bearing in mind you could waste gallons watering a clients grass,With a sprinkler even, but I cannot water my veg.

As I keep saying the whole thing is a joke and should be treated as such until we are all in the same boat.

ie, can a garden be watered with a hose or not? end of story.

 

Pete .... there is a whole lot more to the situation

as a full time landscaper/gardener, and with a hosepipe ban, I loose my liveliehood, as jobs get cancelled (who will have their gardens landscaped if they cannot water the plants?)

there has been an outcry from professional landscapers who face jobs being cancelled, resulting in laying off staff

so, they have made concessions (well, at least Anglian water has) .... guys who wash cars and use zillions of gallons of water are allowed to continue trading, so they had to look at landscapers aswell (cars don't die if they are dirty)

and even worse, garden centres will loose millions this year, as most people have put plans on hold

so .... if you don't want to carry watering buckets to and fro, check your local gumtree site for a gardener .... dig in your pockets and pay him to water your plants once or twice a week with your hose (but check with your water provider if the rules are the same as Anglian water)

 

thank god we've got a borehole on my estate but to please you poor fellow gardeners who haven't got one the main control panel has blown up karma sucks

 

So its not really a shortage of water.???
More a shortage of gardeners, ....and if I pay its OK for them to water my garden??

This is totally wrong, if we dont have enough water to "waste" on gardens, then does it really matter who is doing it?
A gardener puts the plants in and does the landscaping, if he cant water, (with a hose), that is up to the client.

*dim* the day I dig in my pocket to get some prat who pushes a mower to water my garden will be the day they the put me 6ft under.

 

well, bottom line .... you have some choices

pay me to water your garden with your hose (so go on! .... treat yourself!.. special price for you!)

or water it yourself carrying watering cans (combine that with a good diet and multivitamins and you will have good excercise and become healthy as the hosepipe ban may be till next year)

or use your hose, and your neighbour will grass you .... you end up being bad friends (talked about in your village) ... and may end up getting a £1000 fine and your photo on the front page of your local newspaper

or .... complain to the European Union ....

so, choice is yours

 

Oh well that's the options then?

I dont think my neighbours give a toss.
I bet most dont even know there is a ban.

I have rarely watered my veg with a hose, I just use it to fill buts on the allotment.
So unless it continues to be dry, I doubt I will need it much.
Am I right in thinking nobody has ever been prosecuted for using a hosepipe during a ban?

I bet the carwash is still operating down my way.
These places, along with anyone else that uses excessive water in their daily buisness should actually be paying a special tax to cover the massive amount of water they use daily.
If things are as bad as they say they are.

 

then what's the big issue if it does not effect you?

at least, the guys who are concerned with watering new turf etc (there was a thread this week on this forum) .... now have an alternative option

there are old full time gardeners who advertise on sites such as gumtree, or at local post offices, and who charge less than a tenner an hour ....

hire those guys to water if it gets to the stage where it is crucial ....

so, in a nutshell .... there is another option

 

I think the point that would get up my nose more than anything - if I was in a Hosepipe ban area - would be that I pay a gardener (or joe the plumber, or billy the barber) who will supply an invoice so that I can pay for him to:-
a. use my hosepipe
b. use my water
c. use my money to pay for the petrol to go to his next victim/customer
d. go to the Caribbean in the off season - which I couldn't afford, following all his invoices!

Have I covered it all?

 

life sucks sometimes .... but at least you have choices ....

 

I suppose by arranging it with a neighbour anybody could split the £10/hour cost of employing a gardener to stand near the boundary with a hosepipe in each hand giving both gardens a good soaking for only £5/hour each.

 

I wonder how long it will be before some people get the idea of setting up 'hosepipe holding' garden watering businesses, employing @ National Minimum Wage, dropping off/picking up employees and leafleting advertising their new business venture. Another sideline for all those home cleaning services ventures perhaps.

 

I'm already working on that ..... and my wife already runs a home/commercial cleaning business



but jokes aside, most of my clients have fairly smallish established gardens that can be easily watered with watering cans ....

I very much doubt that some will bother watering though, as they phone me even when they buy 1 tray of pansies, and they expect me to drive all the way there just to plant them

I will also revert to fertilizing lawns with foliar feeds using products such as seaweed/fish extract .... there is also a foliar feed product that only contains nitrogen (27%)

but I will still need to water the lawns by hose from time to time if I use these products