There would be no life on earth without it, but are we taking it too much for granted and not doing enough to conserve it? That is the big question, especially since some countries are left high and dry. Water is a valuable resource, but some may be less impressed if they have been a victim of flood damage. So not only is it important, it can be dangerous, too.

Many plants need water every day during the sunny weather but we need to prevent our reservoirs from drying up, so what can we do to help? Many households are having water meters fitted now so saving water is worth it financially, too. There are many ways to recycle our water.

Many of us gardeners, especially those with long gardens (like myself), find it a struggle to carry watering cans back and forth, so we find the best way is to use a sprinkler or hosepipe. A hosepipe or sprinkler can use up to 1,000 litres (220 gallons) of water an hour with little effect on our plants. Interestingly, one can of water will usually hold 10 litres (2 gallons) and would benefit our plants more than a hosepipe. You are probably now thinking that this cannot be right but let's take a sprinkler for example. It is spraying the foliage of your plants but not getting to the source of the plant, which is the roots. These are what need the water as they suck it up through the stem of the plant, then it travels to the leaves and flowers if it has any. Some plants can take a small amount of water through their leaves but the main point is the roots (on most plants).

If you have a greenhouse or any kind of building with guttering, then you could have a water container with a guttering kit. This will catch rain water which can then be used to water your plants. My water container is on a stand and so all I need to do is put the watering can underneath and turn on the tap. I love it and it saves a lot of struggling back to the house to fill up watering cans.

When I worked at a garden centre, we had a huge irrigation tank at the back of the sheds which fed all of the irrigation system for the garden centre, as well as the taps. The irrigation system did not always water the plants enough, mainly because it just touched the foliage. So we had to go around watering manually with a trigger gun attached to the hosepipe. We would have to make sure it was watering underneath the foliage on the surface of the compost, which took quite a bit of water, especially on specimen plants. On numerous occasions the end would shoot off the hosepipe, covering myself and customers (not on purpose, honest!)

Many of the established plants in your garden will not need watering as they spread their roots and find water themselves. I never really water my established plants in the garden, only the ones in pots. Of course, you must water any new plants on a daily basis, especially seedlings and young plants (the vulnerable ones as I say!). However, if you would prefer to give those established plants a drink, then use washing up water. Do not use it on edibles, though, and make sure you use a bio-degradable liquid.

We have had a few weeks of dry weather and our lawn is looking yellow and almost dead! It is tempting to get the hosepipe out and give it a good soaking, but do not let temptation get the better of you, as lawns are great survivors and as soon as there is a good sprinkling of heavy rain it will soon bounce back. If you are ever planting a new lawn then you may want to consider one of the drought tolerant varieties such as Xeris, which should keep much greener through any dry spells. However, with all types of lawn it is recommended to set the blades of the lawn mower to a higher level during spells of warm weather, as this will help keep in some moisture towards the bottom of the grass, as well as reduce the scorching effect of direct sunlight.

Autumn or spring is the best time to improve your soil. If you spend a little time single digging and adding organic matter, it will benefit your plants and save you from watering so much during the summer months. Organic matter usually consists of either compost, well-rotted manure, or leaf mould, although you can add shredded newspaper to the bottom of the trench as well. When preparing my bean trench I always single dig and add wet shredded newspaper to the bottom of the trench before throwing some leaf mould on top. This really benefits my runner beans and it helps conserve moisture when I cannot get down to my plot. Preparing your soil is important, especially with clay soil. You could make your own organic matter by having a compost bin. They are easy to maintain and some councils even provide them for free!

Mulching your plants also helps reduce watering and will cut down on water evaporation. It will keep the ground cool in the summer and warm in the winter, reducing the amount of weeds, too! This is an ideal method for shrubs or herbaceous perennials, or even annuals and vegetables, except you would use a non-permanent mulch for these, such as lawn clippings, leaf mulch, or manure. Plants like shrubs and perennials which are going to stay in the same position for a few years will benefit from a thick layer of bark chips, or even gravel. You could still use non-permanent mulch, especially if money is an issue, as bark chips or gravel can be expensive if you have large areas to cover. I would recommend bark chips in permanent beds. Some people use cocoa shell mulch, too, but I do not like recommending these as they can be dangerous to animals.

When you are creating a new bed, it is important to design it so that all of the plants that need the most water are together. This will reduce the area of watering that you need to cover and will cut down on the amount of water needed. Also, make sure the beds are as level as possible, otherwise most of the water will drain off into the edges, causing the plants to need more.

I enjoy my pots on the patio, as they look nice, but they obviously need more water than the garden at times. During the last couple of years of planting them up, I used water storage crystals which store moisture and reduce the need for watering so much. They can also be used in hanging baskets, to help them from drying out during the summer.

Almost everybody enjoys a bath or shower. It is surprising, though, how much water each can use. Now I am not suggesting that you stand out in the rain with your soap, but there are ways you can save the water used. The first is to have a plumber re-route your pipe to the garden or water container, but this can be expensive and some councils do not allow it. There is, however, a pump device purely for reusing grey water. It attaches onto a hose which can be routed through a window either straight into the garden or into a water container. This does mean if you have a shower, then putting a plug in to collect the water will be needed. Many people save their water from a bath or shower now as it is useful for reusing in the garden. If this is a bit too excessive for you, then there are lots of other ways to help reduce water usage.

Apart from the useful tips mentioned above, there is a cheap method of reducing watering those plants. Save your drinks bottles and if you cut the bottom off and bury the bottle well into the ground next to a plant or tree, you can then pour water into the bottle and this will ensure the water gets directly to the roots. This will not only keep the roots cool in the summer, but it will save watering. You can also use the same method in your pots. There are many councils using this method when planting new trees in the streets, except they use a piece of drainage piping, which does the same thing as the bottle trick.

However, it is always worth noting that with some plants they do not need a lot of water, especially if you have prepared the ground as described above. Under-watering is better than over-watering, as this causes the roots to rot. Look at your plants and if they look like they are wilting then check the soil and give them a drink. It is all about staying in tune with your plants, trying to determine their needs by paying close attention to their leaves and flowers.

It is not just on your plants and flower beds that you can save water . Little things like using a broom instead of a hosepipe to clean the drive and pathway can all help in conserving water. Some of us may keep fish and when cleaning them out use the water out of the tank on your plants. Surprisingly, used fish tank water contains nutrients which benefit our plants.

Some gardens have drip systems installed, which is an excellent way of watering your garden with minimal water waste. There are a number of different systems on the market and they are especially useful if you go away on holiday, as some of them have little computerised devices which give you a range of options and automatic timing set-ups. There are also simple drip bags available now, which you fill with water and it filters through the plastic tubing into the little drip connectors, which lasts a few days. These are commonly used on indoor tomatoes and vegetables, which need water on a daily basis.

I can always remember visiting a specialist plant nursery a few years ago.They had drip systems and automatic irrigation in almost all of their nursery. We were taken into the automatic watering control room and I was astonished to find computers where they were all controlled. They could literally adjust anything and find out any faults from drip systems that were not performing. There were lights around the control room indicating what was working and when and even little camera devices to check each area was being watered and there were no faults. That was some expensive kit but it did the job with very few problems and ensured water was being conserved to its full capacity.

If you do ever decide to install an automatic watering device, I recommend that you buy a decent connector that goes onto the tap. I say this, as many a time the pressure built up at the system at the place where I used to work, and literally blew, causing water to flood the place. Not only did it waste a lot of water, it ran downhill into a supermarket located by the garden centre. They were not happy at having their fruit floating in the water!

Apart from these tips for your garden, there are lots of other things that you can do inside your home to help save water. As I said previously, many households are having water meters fitted now and this may benefit some and hopefully make people take more care over how much water they use. We have not gone over to metered yet, but we still try to do all we can to save water.

The problem is, the last few days have been very hot and I drink lots of water on these days which could dry the reservoirs up!!!

Happy gardening.

Nigel's Gardening Hints and Tips
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