All year round you can consider your garden as a hotspot for using water. Fortunately, this also means it’s a great secret weapon in saving water too – especially in the summer months.
Before we dive into how to save water in the garden, the very first thing we need to encourage is for you to buy yourself a water butt. These very handy items will help your garden to thrive throughout the driest months without wasting any water. Water butts are sometimes known as rainwater collectors, but in reality, they’re just a big pot with an open lid and a spout at the bottom. Allowing rainwater to fall in and for you to pour it out.
By installing a water butt you’ll have constant access to rainwater – and yes, even during the summer months, because it still rains in the summer. In fact, in recent years we’ve seen some of the wettest summers for decades as well as the highest temperatures.
Beyond the water butt there are a few more things you can do to save water in the garden, take a look.
Being mindful of what your garden needs
t’s far too tempting to see a brown patch of lawn and instantly start throwing water on it. But did you know that this is your grass going into hibernation, not dying? When nutrients aren’t readily available on the surface, you grass will dive down deep into the soil, extending its roots, in order to find what it needs.
If you choose to leave your grass alone when it goes brown, it will come back stronger. The same can be said for cutting it. By allowing it to grow a little longer upwards, it will do the same going into the soil.
In fact, there are many ways to improve your lawns health by leaving it alone. There’s certainly a balancing act but for the sake of your water consumption – ditch the sprinkler and let your lawn get stronger. And in a worst case scenario, use the water butt.
Functional flowerbeds to save water
Your flowerbeds are possibly the highlight of your garden. They’re beautifully tended to, carefully selected and let’s face it, they nicest thing to look at besides any ornaments you’ve place in there. So we understand why tending to them is crucial for your garden to remain beautiful in the summer months. But that doesn’t mean you need to get the hosepipe out and spray them each weekend.
If you’re starting to venture out into the garden at the weekend, we urge you to take a look at rearranging the flowers in your flowerbed.
Native plants and shrubs thrive in UK gardens because they require such little maintenance. The less they need tending to, the more water you can save. You’ll be surprised to learn that your water butt could even become redundant in a functional flowerbed as the UK weather is all the native plants and shrubs need.
Knowing when you need to water your garden
We’ve already touched on the fact that there will be times when you need to water your garden. After all, if they British weather was so constant and reliable, we wouldn’t ever have the need to conserve it! Alas, we are not so lucky. There will be times when we need to water the garden. While we can use the water butt for the water, it’s still easy to use too much (or even too little). This is where self-watering devices come in.
Self-watering devices sounds fancy, but you can even make your own by upcycling an old plastic water bottle. Self-watering devices allow all plants, trees, shrubs and bushes in your garden to get nutrients when they need it. Unlike humans, our greenery is glutinous to a point where it will continue to consume water just for the sake of it. They take what they need and that’s it. It means that by installing a self-watering device, you can be accurate about the amount of water-butt-water you’re using in the garden.
You see, it doesn’t take much to save garden in your water. A little bit of knowledge around your plants and lawn, a water butt, and a couple of self-watering devices and you’re there! Feeling confident about saving water in your garden now? Good. We can’t wait to hear how you get on with it.
