Hosepipe ban and veggie patch - what will you do?

[Chopstheduck]

I dont remember hearing anything about a hosepipe ban last summer and was happily using a sprinkler to water my veggie patch. It will take HOURS to water it by hand every day. What do others do?

We've got a fair bit in the water butt so will use that with a hose at least to start with, then it'll have to be by hand, although I do remember a few years ago it being said that you can fill a watering can from a hosepipe then water the plants with the can if your nearest tap was some distance away. I'm not too sure if that is technically in the rules though.

Oh I will have to look into that, thanks! We don't have a water butt, and with how little rain we are getting I'm not sure it would have helped much neither.

Water butt, water from the condenser dryer, old bath/shower water. 'Grey' water is great in these situations - unless you take a massive bubble bath, you can use the water from your bath to fill your butt (the water one I mean :o). Also, keeping a bucket in the bottom of your shower is a really good way to conserve/reuse water.

And let's not forget the wonder that is mulch! A really well mulched bed will retain moisture loads better.

Oh god, sorry, this is reading like one of the crappy short articles I write for websites, am in the zone. You get my point though I hope

Lol! How do I do mulch? Tumble drier is great idea, never thought of that! Don't do baths in pur house, unfortunately.

Mrsmagnolia,Thanks will bear that in mind. Last year I was growing in grow bags, so I prob won't need so much water now I have a proper patch, hadn't really thought about that.

I do the same as MrsMagnolia and things grow fine (plus I have more free time then my allotment neighbours who insist on watering).

chops if you have showers could you still either put the plug in the bath to catch the water, or as someone suggested up thread, put a bucket in the shower to catch the water.

I believe gravel or mulch will seal in lots of the moisture so it doesn't need watering so much.

I find I need far less water now I have a tiny veg patch compared to when I grew things in pots. The plants can take a minimal amount of watering in hot weather, not like pots when everything keels over in a day or so.

I tip washing up bowl water on there and I usually dishwash stuff so it's not gallons of the stuff. Also have a water butt which I use sparingly and tie up so the kids can't run it out.

I water by hand with rainwater collected in one of our 3 waterbuts. When the buts run short we use DS's bath water, salad rinse water, dregs from school waterbottles etc before resorting to the garden tap.
My neighbour with a BIG veg patch has a 5000l water store fed from the house roof, & uses an electric pump and sprinkler at night.

Ideally I could really use a water butt. Thing is, we are in rented property and I think I would have to cut the downpipes to install one?

I may ask the LL if she minds. we're on a 5 year contract in any case, so it prob is worth doing. I haven't actually told her that a chunk of her garden is now dug over but then I thought I'd either leave it for the next tenant, or turf it if necess.

This might be a really daft question but for those of you who use bath water, how do you transfer it to the garden. Do you simply use a bucket to scoop it out? I was trying to convince DH it was a good idea but he's not keen. We recently put new beige carpet in, the thought of traipsing up & down the stairs with buckets of water didn't seem to resonate with him!

I've ordered one of these wasn't from there and was £5 less so worth looking around.

Thanks, I'll have a look around for a cheaper one but at least I know there a solution.

I think quite a few people are not aware that you can use a hose pipe to fill watering cans.

You can't use the hose directly on your garden- or to wash a car- but you can fill buckets from an inside or outside tap and then use that water.

This is so people don't do silly things like putting a sprinkler on theri lawb for 24/7- but it should be perfectly possible to keep the average garden and veg plot ticking over- might take longer to water but you can use water!

Er, I spoke to Veolia and the lady said that you most definitely cannot fill a watering can from a hosepipe, so that was out!

We applied for an exception for my son, who is disabled. He is now allowed to use a hosepipe! So it will be his job to water my veggies using the gun attachment over the summer.