Water-Saving Tips for Summer

We can’t moan about this year’s summer. Like most of the UK, we’ve been enjoying the sunny weather at Forever Green Lawns and doesn’t it make a pleasant change? The only danger we can see is there being too much sun. Although we’re not there yet, the country could be plunged into drought conditions, which often means a hose pipe ban. We’re a long way off that yet. But since 6% of our water consumption is used in the garden, it doesn’t do any harm to think about saving water over the summer. Follow these tips and try your hand at rain-water harvesting. Use a water butt to harvest rainwater. This is a really effective use for water that would be wasted otherwise. Divert rainwater from the roof of your home and collect this inside a butt, whatever you harvest can be used for watering the plants. 5000 homes in the UK use rainwater harvesting- so the real question is why aren’t you? Water butts vary in size from smaller 95 litre tubs to giant 700 litre tanks, place a few under the downpipes at your property and have waste water on tap. Tip 2- Be mindful of the Water you're Using It may sound obvious, but people often don’t realise how much water they waste and could potentially save. Only use water butt water for the plants that need it the most. Saplings, freshly planted fauna and plants in containers require the most amount of water. Place well-established plants with large roots at the bottom of your list, as they’re tougher than they look. Tip 3- Use Tubs and Buckets We know its obvious, bu if you know there’s going to be a heavy downpour of rain leave buckets and tubs out in the garden. This way, you’ll have a supply of water to fall back on once the weather starts to improve. Transfer the liquid into a watering can and you’re good to go with free water in the garden. Tip 4 Cut back on sprinklers If you use them, try to limit the number of times you use a sprinkler system around the borders of your garden. If you feel sprinklers are a must, a better solution is to use a trickle system or a drip watering solution as they are also known. Automatic drip watering solutions are up to 90% more efficient than sprays or sprinklers, they use a pressure reducing valve that is coupled to a timer and place water, drip by drip, directly onto the soil. Tip 5 Lay an artificial lawn Stop squandering time trying to keep your lawn lush over the summer, lay an artificial lawn and you don’t have to worry about wasting water. Our lawns look beautiful at Forever Green and we regularly receive comments about how green and gorgeous they are. Harvest water by all means just save it for other areas around your garden, why waste water on a lawn when you don’t have to?