Hosepipe use

It really annoys me too. The water company here is renowned for being slack about repairing the many leaks in their own pipeworks so to tell us to be more conservative with our use of water feels like they are sticking two fingers up at the people who pay their wages!

Never water my grass, only my plants. Saves me mowing.

Our son was born in January 1976 and I have pics of him as a baby, lying on the lawn , under an Apple tree and the grass was a crispy yellow.
I remember that our daughter went to play school one morning, in June of that year, dressed in a little kilt and jumper. When I collected her at lunchtime I had to scrabble around to find shorts and T -shirt that still fitted. And that was how the weather stayed for week after week! OK, we had a hosepipe ban, but we managed, and eventually it rained and all came back to normal.
And the same will happen this year! Just enjoy the sun,
!!
One of our nephews is a dairy farmer and his take on it is, OK, it’s challenging, difficult at times, but I wouldn’t be doing anything else! (And that’s coming from someone who doesn’t have a farming background!)

I'm a bit of a lawn fanatic, no weeds, no moss, neat edgings etc but I never water it. It's all brown now but it will recover. It's the veg that are the worry, they're no bigger than when I planted them out and the rasps, although plentiful, are very small. We're on a water meter so do I have a bath or do I water the veg??!!

My lawn has been largely overtaken by buttercups and clover - pretty but not green. Actually the clover is greener than the grass which is straw like.
I don't particularly love the lawn anyway and in the future I'm hoping to getting rid of it and putting paving and gravel down with low growing plants which I hope will look after themselves. It may of course end up looking worse.

In 1976 when we had similar weather for quite a few weeks here in Devon, the grass in all the gardens and fields was white. As soon as it started raining everything turned green again. Don't worry about your lawn and don't waste water on it, we may need it!

We have a 3,000 litre rain harvest tank buried beneath lawn, which we use for watering during the summer and flushing toilets in the winter.

It took about 5 days to install, including re-turfing lawn. Worth every penny. Husband is a bit 'lawn obsessed' , we do have shrubbery and bee, butterfly and bird friendly planting.

Perhaps the water companies should put their own houses in order by sorting out leaks and burst pipes, before they ask the general public not to use the water that they pay for. I agree that it is a vital resource, but you would not buy a meal in a restaurant and not eat it. ( sorry for the analogy, I am looking after DGS whilst trying to type)

Don't worry about the lawn it'll soon come back green again and just as good once the summer heat stops and it rains again.
But don't get me started on the water companies ; water shortages piffle. grrrr
My busy lizzies have given up the ghost in this heat though and pots now in shady part of the garden!

Interesting information about grass on this thread. I have stopped wastering my lawn as it made no difference to the brown bits and now I know why.

We-have 9 water buts w use the down pipes to preserve because it does not stake long drain the buts for the small veggies patch. so one else said population under stress .more houses more shopping centers etc. so every home should try to conserve.I think its in Stafford they are building a hug under cover reservoir .
which ever party is power we must invest in more reservoirs because it doesn't take long to use this valuable resource.I have relatives in Australia when their is a shortage . they ban hosepipe car washing all types etc .in the UK people buy loads of bottled water where do they think that comes from and its in plastic bottles ??we see people jet washing cars, their drives etc Education is requirement especially the younger generation.
I feel for the farmers who have to produce more food
Sweden is surrounded sea water so it recycles 98% of its water the waste turned into gas to run buses.

The grass can go brown--it will recover as soon as it rains--but I shall keep watering the tubs and my vegetable garden as long as I'm allowed. I well remember the summer of '76 when the grass was so dry that it crackled when walked on. Do you remember that they appointed a Minister for Drought---and almost immediately it started raining!

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I don't have any grass to think about but do have lots of pots to care for daily.
This fuschia hanging basket was made up from 3 wee sad specimens that I over wintered from last year, they are a little behind those in the garden centres but in a week or two it will be a riot as long as it gets a drink every night and a feed once a week. Our little front garden as you can see is of different low growing shrubs. No big urgency for water there.
However the pots and baskets do need their nightly drink.

Listened to a water co. rep this morning explain it is not a shortage of water causing the "shortage" it is due to us all using more water than usual e.g. gardens, pools, washing. There is enough water but due to the rate it is being depleted in the pipes which start from huge diameter you can drive through right down the ones most likely to be in our street about 6" diameter they can only force so much water through the gradually decreasing size of pipes. Use more and the rate of refill basically will slow down, hence folk are thinking there is a shortage.

Relative lives in south east England. In April he told me a carpet fitter said the company was busier laying astraturf then laying carpets nowadays. Looks like the way folk are going. Grass for me everytime.

I don't have a lawn now but when we did we never watered it, grass is very resilient & recovers with the rain. I live in Devon & down here our water bills are very high (as they are in Cornwall) but I am careful in what I use, good excuse not to clean the car. I do water my pots & any new plants that I put into the garden but not too much or they won't put their roots down looking for water.

There was a lady on BBC News this morning explaining that it's not a water shortage but the water treatment plants can't keep up with the demand. They are simply asking us to think carefully about our water use & not to waste it.

Frankly, I couldn't care less about my lawns, I am just enjoying not having to mow the blasted things. Any detergent free water is used for the vegetable garden. If the flower garden dies, well they will bloom again next year.

I make sure there is drinking water for the hedgehogs, and water for the frogs in my garden.

Why do we have such an obsession with grass? It will grow again no matter how dry it gets, but how about planting something wildlife friendly? In my area there are fields full of grass - no animals, no crops - where the natural vegetation has obviously been cleared in the past for some purpose, now forgotten. And areas of woodland which have been 'gardened' for no other purpose than to say 'this belongs to me'. These large sterile areas of grass will still be there when we're long gone but the wildlife will have disappeared. What a shame we must have our perfect lawns.

My Dil has just been to bring me some shopping.
Her neighbour has said he doesn't intend to stop watering, "he pays for his water" we obviously all get it for free.

Our not outer, of course. We haven’t got any inner ones.

The dry lawns are our fault. This year we are paying a lawn company to bring outer lawns up to scratch... The year we bought a hose licence, it started to to rain the next day and carried on all summer. Should I buy a new patio set to break the drought?

Yes kazzer -might be easy but not good for wild life! Sorry!

Just laid Astro turf, best thing ever, easy to vacuum!

And meanwhile, broken pipes and leaks leave thousands of gallons wasted.

Nooo of course it isn't! Remember 1976? The grass in our local, beautiful park turned to Weetabix and a lot wore away leaving bare soil. Within a couple of weeks of 'normal' British weather it was back to lush green. I do remember a helpful Government official telling people they should pour concrete over their gardens; what that would have done for the glorious appearance of this country's gardens, and the environment, I cannot imagine. One of the tabloids sent a ready mix concrete lorry to said minister's house; funnily enough he didn't take them up on their offer of a vista of grey over his back garden.

This is not the end of your lawn. It is always remarkable just how quickly the lawn, and the rest of the garden recovers when rain arrives.

During the long hot dry spell in 1976 everything looked like clay and dead until the rain changed it all back to normal. Just enjoy all this good weather while we can.

I don’t have a lawn, more a children’s play ground. Two pedal cars, a huge climbing frame, a swing seat, a kiddie basketball stand, tractor, wheelbarrow and ‘lawnmower’, a sandpit and two parasols. And washing lines crisscrossing down the garden. The rest of the garden is growing vegetables which I fully intend to carry on watering as long as this hot spell lasts.