Water Conservation Gardening

In preparation for Hosepipe Bans I'd appreciate any thoughts you may have on how to keep plants alive

If you want to have a winge about the water companies then please do that in this other thread, so we can keep this one constructive and positive
http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/hosepipe-ban.41378/

1. Store rainwater

I am buying an additional 10 cu.m. of rainwater storage. Of course it would have been better to do ages ago so it would be full by now, but I'm reasonably confident that even some modest rain will fill them.

It would probably help if you know how much water you need. I have a meter, and I read it every week so I have the benefit of being able to compare winter and summer usage which tells me that I use about 40 - 60 cu.M more in the Summer.

I have found some local weather stations (plenty of amateur ones on wunderground.com but you might be better with historical records from a met office one, or an airport / RAF station if you have one nearby).

Surface area of your roof x rainfall for each month will give you an idea of what you could expect to harvest. Assume you will only get 50% of it into a container, and don't just total up the Winter rainfall as your starting amount as that will be bigger than your water butts! (if not you've got more than you need!)

I'm figuring that with 10 cu.M. of storage I should be able to provide 60 cu.M. of garden watering (but it would help if they were full right now, rather than being delivered empty ...)

IBC's are about £40 each, they hold 1 cu.M. / 1,000 Litres / 220 gallons = 100 watering cans. They are very unsightly! so need to be disguised in some way.

Bit of a useless statistic, but in the Guardian it said "24,000 litres can be collected from the average roof" - so that would fill 24 IBCs or 2,400 watering cans!

Some water companies offer subsidised deals on water butts (best to get in quick, stock will be going more quickly than normal I expect)

Fill the watering cans after you finish watering. You will have tomorrow's water in the cans and if it rains tonight there is that bit more space in your water butt

2. No sprinklers

Use far too much water

Martin Baggs, Thames Water's chief executive. "A garden sprinkler uses as much water in an hour as a family of four uses in a day"

"5% of water use is via residential hosepipes" [citation Scottish Water]

3. Install seep-hose and drip-irrigation

Not sure seep-hose will be allowed in a Ban? My water board does allow Drip Irrigation [but a pressure reducer is required, although that is normal for drip irrigation] in this Ban, check your water company's website for what exceptions you have. Looking at the States it seems quite common for the use of drip / trickle irrigation to be mandatory because it is so much more efficient.

I have got some on the shelf I've been meaning to fit for years, one thing that has put me off is if my hard water will cake the small aperture up. A good inline filter (even for mains water) is apparently essential, much more important for self-collected rain water.

Personally I like the idea of the plants being water automatically rather than me standing there with a hose for hours during the Summer.

4 . Mulch

Keeps the water in the soil. It will also stop quite a lot of rainwater reaching the plant though ... so best applied when the ground is moist (so sooner, rather than later, and immediately after a good downpour, if we get one, would be best)

Mulching the tops of tubs & containers with gravel will also help, and maybe move them out of the hottest sun.

Keep the weeds down. That will stop the plants competing with the weeds for moisture.

5. Greywater

Capture what water you can. Very much depends on your plumbing I suspect. Bathwater, dishwater, etc. (i.e. containing soap) should not be harmful if applied to the soil. Some detergents (containing Phosphate) are worse than others. Keep the water off the leaves which might be damaged, and you might prefer to use on Ornamentals rather than Fruit and Veg. Do not store the water - it is better used straight away so that the organisms in the soil can work on the soap etc. (I think this is how a septic tank works anyway, the foul water enters a tank allow any particles to sink (and they are pumped out and taken away by tanker periodically), the dirty water then goes into conventionally land drains and soak into the soil, when the bacteria break them down)

6. Conserve

I haven't flushed the loo when I have a pee for years (it gets flushed at other times though ) Mostly I go outside and Pee on the compost heap, or a plant.

We share bathwater - the family has never seemed to mind. Showers, although probably not power showers, should use less than a bath if you don't spend all day in there. In '76 people stood in a large tray / bucket to catch the shower water so they could then take it out to the plants ...

Old fashioned cisterns could have a brick (or similar) placed in the cistern to reduce the amount of water used on each flush.

If you've got a dripping tap / overflow that is dropping GET IT FIXED! I've got an isolator tap, in an underground spur to an outdoor tap by the greenhouse, that has cracked. I discovered it when I did my weekly meter read yesterday. The water is not pouring out, as such, but I used 10 cu.M. more than usual last week!

Don't leave the tap running whilst you brush your teeth

Make sure the washing machine, and dishwasher, are run with a full load.

No car washing, or any other non-essential usage for washing patios etc. When there isn't a hosepipe ban wash the car with a bucket, and/or park it somewhere where the water will run onto lawn / flower beds

Only enough water in the kettle for the drink(s) you are making. Conserves electricity too ...

We need to change our habits, "In Britain we use an average of 150 litres per day whereas in Germany and France they use 125 and 110 litres per person per day." [Citation Waterwise]

7. Watering Vegetables

I don't know what to suggest for watering them. I have always watered mine for a watering can, so never used more water than necessary. Its the only time I have a close inspection of the plants, so I have never considered using automated irrigation, but drip irrigation must be totally impractical for crops that have different spacing etc each season / "batch"?

I have seen "watering tape" that has a small slot at measured distances along the tape, which I suppose could coincide with plant spacing in rows, but it wouldn't suit me. Anyone tried it?

8. Water in the evening

Watering in the heat of the day will mean that more evaporates compared to watering in the evening.

9. Water thoroughly

Not to do with conserving water specifically, but a through watering, so the water soaks down to the roots, is much better than a little-and-often policy as that causes the plants to make roots near the surface, as there is never any water lower down, and then those same roots get baked in the sun and the plant wilts - so it then needs another "quick sprinkle".

I water the planting holes before I plant my veg out (even in the Spring when the soil is moist) and then I don't need to water again for at least a week. I also plant in a slight saucer-shaped dip - so that when I water them later the water runs towards the plant / roots, rather than away from it. I have flower pots "buried" next to my Courgettes and Squash and I water into the pots - so that it takes a few minutes to percolate into the soil, and goes right to the base of the plants with none wasted by surface evaporation. (And for trees I plant with a circle of perforated drainage pipe around the rootball and one end turned-up to the surface, and I water the plant via that pipe - again, straight to the roots). A 2L pop bottle, with the bottom cut off, stood with the top downwards, in the soil (stick a can in and through the spout into the soil, to stop it toppling over) will do as a fill & irrigate device.

perhaps standing pots in a tray of water, rather than watering the pots and some/most of the water then running out to waste, is preferable? I have done that sometimes but it takes longer than just watering the pots (although, the pots become much more thoroughly wet, so probably then need watering at a longer interval)

 

add miracle grow moisture control compost to your planting hole or pots

http://www.lovethegarden.com/product-details/miracle-gro-moisture-control-compost

or this one:


or, you can make a similar blend yourself, by adding the stuff used to line hanging baskets to your normal compost .... cut it with a scissors into small pieces ... this acts as a sponge and holds moisture and will eventually become compost .... it's made of coconut shell fibres (coir)... you can buy a bag for as little as £4 and a little goes a long way
http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ADFA_enGB466GB466&q=coco fibre&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&ion=1&biw=1024&bih=540&wrapid=tlif133178340931210&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=12821865917874151332&sa=X&ei=OGdhT8GHJoja8AOVqqDPBw&ved=0CFUQ8wIwAA#

it is also available in brick form or in mat form (similar to what is used in hanging baskets) .... but soak it in fresh water before using, so as to remove any salts (if present)

also start making your own compost .... but look closely at a wormery or the bokashi system as it takes a lot quicker to produce quality compost versus the old fashioned compost bin method ....

I am looking closely at a wormery system with trays and may purchase the setup in a few weeks time

 

I am also looking for a company who is best in providing the top soil for the proper growth of plant if you have any information for this please share with me.

 

Even if you have one that isn't waterproof you can use one of these I've seen (not used myself) at Greenfingers.com who sell them for £9.99 (but are out of stock at the moment). H2GO Collapsible Water Carrier 80ltr:




I use mulch extensively to cut down on weeding & watering and even a 600 x 600mm mat around courgette plants or a 600 - 900mm wide strip along the line of a row of tomatoes will make a difference.

 

Theres loads of these on ebay, just sreach H2GO, I think they are a cracking idea, think i might well get one .

 

Lots of good stuff Shiney, thanks.

I have some stupidly small urns. They appear quite large, but are mostly lip (the actual "soil" volume is tiny). I put a pot in those, as you describe, but the largest I can use is a 3" and TBH the urns always look mediocre to me. What I should do is stop being a tight-git and buy some decent sized ones. Perhaps if I get all tooled up for drip irrigation this summer I'll pop one of those in and disguise it up the back. Be interesting to see if a more constant irrigation works better.

I was impressed with this when I came to your open day. I was put off by the different planting distances of the things I plant - I start everything off in pots, so I have (for example) 4 cauli plants every 2 weeks to plant out. There are other things in that rotation bed with same spacing, so I could perhaps have everything from one end at (say) 2' spacing and from the other end at 18" ... any ideas? (Perhaps you are more of a "whole row" man?)

I've seen them advertised before and thought how useful they would be. I'm really sceptical that £10 is going to last any length of time, and be made of a robust material. I suppose I should try one, it ain't going to break the bank. If anyone has one I'd love to hear what you think please

 

Excellent! I can spend the rest of the day writing a computer program to calculate the optimum hole spacing for any crop!

 

Spoil-sport ... I've even made the coffee and everything in readiness for writing the computer program ...

 

Kristen, very good idea for a thread. Lots of information. Though we have no hosepipe ban here I still have used quite drought resistant plants on my sunniest driest border (changed some plants around last autumn). So I will have to see how the plants get on (salvia sclarea, lambs ears, aster ericoides, red valerian, perovskia, vipers bugloss, sedum types).
So everyone creating new borders or buying new plants could opt for plants with low water consumption.
Yea and I have always wanted to put a brick in my toilet and always forgot again. Maybe I will manage finally
I have also thought about using bathwater etc ,just have to get a barrel. Thought of getting it down into the garden with a simple hose from the bathtub. But its true, the water might not be fit for storage. I could maybe attach one of those nozzle-guns and could water directly. Saves getting a barrel (we've got no space in the garden anyway).

 

Water-butt pump might help - drain to water butt (including from the downpipes perhaps) and then hook the hose up to the pump.

Hoselock do quite a nice one I think, dunno if its pricey though - and no doubt all sorts of other brands available.