If you are on a hosepipe ban, are you complying?

[FindingMeno]

Just curious really - if you are, will you continue to, whatever, even if it decimates everything? Is your garden small or big?

For transparency, I am ( grumpily) complying, but don't know what state the garden will be in before long, which makes me very sad. My garden is mid sized I would say.

We are complying. We had no water supply for 5 days a few years ago because something happened to the water station that supplies our area and they cut off the water completely whilst they fixed it. By the time I got home from work and realised that the water was shut off it was too late to do anything. My neighbour told me that the local pick up point had a 1 hour queue and even then you only got given 2 litres pp (might have been 4 not sure - it wasn't much anyway) & the people had to be in the car with you or they refused to give you the water for the other people in the household so I tried the shops instead but everywhere had run out of bottled water. It was awful. Nursery closed because they had no water, luckily school was open (they were supplied by a different station) so DD could use a toilet normally at least, & showered at the swimming pool. I had a water butt with water in it that I used to flush the toilet, and 4 litres of water in the fridge. In the end DH managed to buy some water from a shop a 40 minute drive away. DH & I drank as little as we could to save it for the kids and pasta was off the menu, we had no idea when supply would return. It's left me a bit scared of running out again so I am complying. Our lawn has turned to straw and the rhododendrons are dead (we moved house recently and there is no water butt here). I've been watering the apple tree with grey water from the kitchen when I can, but that's about it. I only have one watering can, I did try to water the garden at first but it was difficult I'm not very fit & the kids kept trying to take the watering can off me to "help" spilling it on the patio or fighting over it🤦‍♀️ so now it's just the apple tree getting water. I've been having dreams about rain!

Yes, watering with cans, currently still from water butts but they’re nearly empty.
i have bought some of the eco washing sheets so planning to use grey water from the washing machine.

We are but our neighbour is not.
He is very elderly though. Not sure he is aware.
His son is due to visit tomorrow, maybe he will think twice.
I would not upset the old man though. His veggies are his pride and joy.

If he is in an area served by Thames Water @MadameEtourdie he can use a hosepipe for his crops. This is also probably the case in many other areas so he may not be breaking any rules.

If he’s very elderly he could be on the priority services list.

I am complying though my courgettes are suffering as I’m watering with a can and tbh it takes a long time

at the end of our road is a massive water leak - I’m talking biblical proportions. Knee deep in water and it’s been going for ages so I have to say the whole thing feels a bit like a pisstake!

That’s two words.

And of course I am complying, because I’m not a selfish twat.

I'm pretty sure in our area you can still use the hose for veg if it's not practical to use a watering can (Anglian water)

There are bigger fish to fry than a hosepipe. I actually think I use more water when I use my watering can. Certainly no less.

I’m sure the hose pipe ban is more about stopping people pressure washing their decks and continually filling paddling pools than gardeners doing watering. But some gardeners would have the sprinkler on for hours and soak all their beds twice a day. It’s got to be blanket to be easy to understand and comply, but it then catches those that would be sensible.

Saint Boris’s partygate was the final nail in the coffin for people respecting dictats from people earn millions (literally in some cases) more than they do. Will he go to prison for lying to Parliament, when ordinary people can be imprisoned for lying about who was driving a speeding car?

Why should we accept “officialdom” when those at the top do not? MPs fiddle their expenses, prime ministers (two in particular) lie to the public, politicians who commit crimes don’t go to prison, billionaires don’t pay tax, etc.

I’ve got koi and goldfish - haven’t used a de chlorinator in 4 yrs. all still well and healthy - and I have a lot of evaporation during this weather as well as the loss from filter cleaning 🤷‍♀️

I’ve got a Oase filter which has to be backwashed to be cleaned every week - so we capture that in a large wheelie bin and use that dirty water to water the plants in pots.

I was talking to someone last week at a social event who proudly told me that she was using a hosepipe - I confess I judged her harshly for that. We’ve been taking out shrubs that have died / are on the way out and clearing space - working out what does thrive in these conditions and will plant more of those.

We are certainly thinking about what we will grow on our allotment next year.

Peas, broad beans and strawberries really suffered in June. Not helped by us being away for a couple of weeks. Not just the lack of water but also intense heat. We are thinking of how we can shade our strawberries.

French beans are doing okay as we get a lot of crop off a small number of plants. Courgettes, gherkins and squash are okay. We plant those into the previous year's compost covered in black plastic sheet (same pieces of plastic been in use for years). The black plastic encourages the compost to breakdown and also keeps moisture in. We then water through the planting holes.

It's not just a question of what you grow but also how you grow.

GnomeDePlume,my garden is really suffering and it's now depressing me! I grew tomatoes and peppers from seed, starting in January as I always do. Tomatoes have put on a lot of growth, but hardly any flowers. Just now picking. Normally they would be ready for our wedding anniversary mid July. French beans almost over, cucumbers,I'm picking today and removing the plants. Even the blackberry bushes are dieing off. Strawberries look dead, the only thing that looks happy is the grapevine.. Apples have almost all fallen before they are ready. Pears are tiny and not very many.

@Nannyfannybanny we also grow a lot from seed which has brought its own problems. I noticed a lot of 'shrinkflation' in terms of the number of seeds in packets this year.

Similar problems as you with apples and pears though the plums and cherry plums are looking okay for now.

Blackberries are a real mix. Some big and juicy and others small and hard. But they all go in the juicer for blackberry jelly making.

It's our second year of growing melons in the polytunnel. These were a revelation last year so I have hopes for this year.