Topic: hose pipe ban !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[waggi]

hi all :D
I heard on the radio that there is a very large chance of there being a hose pipe ban
Doe this affect us fine lottie peeps
will the council switch our taps off
 ??? ??? ??? ???

[David R]

We have a permanent hosepipe ban at ours in Dartford. We do have water tanks so can fill watering cans. I have never known what it is like to have a lotty with hoses so dont worry, you can still manage.

Some guys on our plot manage to never water their crops at all. The theory is that if you dont water when the plants are young, they send down longer roots to find the water themselves. Most people just cosset their plants by watering when they dont really need to; the plants then just get "lazy" and dont go searching for water, then in summer they dont have the necessary root systems to cope through drought.

Must admit though, I water perhaps 3 or 4 times a year so am guilty of cosseting.

[Robert_Brenchley]

If we get one it'll be a disaster for one of my neighbours; he grows veg for show and he waters like mad on a daily basis. I don't water much, most years I'm OK, but last year was a bit of a disaster with the early drought.

[legless]

hope they don't turn the taps off, i don't use a hose but i water with a can when i need to.

[Svea]

3 to 4 times a year isn't exactly 'cosseting' your plants, surely...?
i only water with the watering can (from the cummunal water butt), though we do have a hose on the site that everyone uses. they all look at me like i am mad for refusing to use it. well, most of my transplants are now well established and i think are coping well without watering all too often. i water the seed drills, of course, until stuff starts showing up. then less and less so

i hope that come summer, i can lay back and not worry about watering as much as other people will have to ;)

[tim]

In the main, the growers don't - do they?

[Plottie]

Exactly Tim ...... and I just don't have the time to go down and water regularly, even if I wanted to.  I only water newly planted stuff and only then if it's VERY dry (which is almost never here) and things seem to do just fine.  Certainly the old timers on my site don't water at all and have no problem producing crops so that's good enough for me!

Plottie :)

[slugcatcher]

Hi Matt
didnt think you would need to water up your end, justdrain it from your neighbours lol ;D ::)

Hi Plottie hows things doing on the other side, you are in Preston somewhere arent you? ::)

Ron

[glynthered]

All the old timers on my site only water in new plants and seeds. I have attached 2 water butts to my greenhouse and shed and leave the bucket and can out over night. God then lends a hand!

[ina]

On our lottie complex we are never allowed to use a water hose. I use a watering can for the stuff in the greenhouse, other than that I do just like plottie exept................ the strawberries. Their roots are shallow and as soon as the fruits are forming and growing I water them once a week if there has not been any significant rain.

[Mrs Ava]

Our site has no piped water, and the ditch is becoming more and more shallow.  My water butts still aren't full even after the rain, but I don't tend to water much.  Seed drills, seedlings when transplanted, and then anything that I can be bothered to lug a watering can to.  Spuds, squashes and corns have to fend for themselves, along with the beans and peas.  Salads are one of the few things I water, and the strawbs so we can get good sized fruits for daughter number one.

[tim]

My butts all have a 'bleed-off' from downpipes. Every time it rains, debris is washed into the feed pipe & blocks it. Great design!!

[maz]

We are not allowed to use hoses to water the ground but almost everyone has a hose buried and reaching thier butts. They fill the butts and then use a watering can to do the ground.

That is of course during the day! Sneak down there late at night and they use the hose to do the ground, well some do, we dont.

We also have a time limit on how long you can have your hose connected to fill the butts but people are so chilled about everything that no-one bothers timimg anyone.

[Plottie]

Hi Ron
Things are going just great here in Penwortham ....everything is suddenly taking off and growing like crazy...including the weeds ::)
We've just come back from a week away and I think we'll have to be up there every evening this week to get control of the weed situation again!!
On the plus side we've harvested our first onions  and broccoli this week....I was made up!!
How's Moor Park suiting you?
Plottie

[waggi]

i am now filling the watter buts and well just in case

[RSJK]

The only time I can remember watering crops in the fields when we were market gardeners was the summer of 76, when things became desperate.
My Grandad use to say it was no good watering anything unless you was prepared to water all the while because once you start you have to keep it up.