Most people use at least 10 litres of water a day in their garden. On a hot day this can increase to 70 per cent of our homes’ water use.

The mains water that you use to make your grass grow is clean enough to drink. The energy used to treat mains water and to pipe it to your garden has an associated carbon cost - so saving water saves carbon.

What you can do

• Mulch beds and borders and save water and time. Adding a 5-10cm layer of mulch cuts down on evaporation so you need to water less frequently. It also reduces the amount of weeding you’ll need to do! Use home made compost and the nutrients in the compost will help plants thrive.
• Dig in plenty of home made compost to help improve water retention on poor soils.
• Collect rainwater –it’s better for your plants – and free! Water butts are a great first step, but larger tanks with capacities of over 1,000 litres and integrated pumps are also readily available and reasonably priced.
• From an average roof you could collect hundreds of gallons of water in a year – and save money if you are on a water meter!
• Line the sides of porous wooden and terracotta plant containers with sheet plastic to reduce water loss. Remember to leave the bottom of the container unlined to aid natural drainage & add a layer of mulch to the soil surface to reduce evaporation. You could use your home made compost, well-rotted manure, pebbles, gravel or bark chips.
• Give your plants space - large containers generally lose water more slowly than small ones. Don’t be tempted to cram in too many plants – leave space for strong root systems to develop.
• You'd be surprised how well plants will cope if they're not already used to abundant watering. Try halving your normal watering regime.
• Irrigating in the cool of the evening results in minimum evaporation, giving your plants the chance to take up water fully overnight.
• Check if you really need to water by  probing gently to see if it is dry below the soil surface as while this can appear dry, the soil beneath can still be moist.
• A way of checking whether pot plants need watering is to pick them up and weigh them in your hands – if they feel light they may need water, if relatively heavy they still hold some water in the soil.
• Prioritise young, recently transplanted or thirsty plants (such as tomatoes and courgettes). Established plants are better able to cope with dry conditions.
• Use a watering can rather than a sprinkler or hose pipe – it’s more direct and uses far less water.
• Make sure water goes where it is needed – to the roots! Sink an empty plant pot, or the top half of a plastic bottle (with screw cap removed) next to thirsty plants like tomatoes and water directly into this to funnel so that every drop goes straight to root level.
• Infrequent soaking is much more effective than daily light sprinklings of water as  this will encourage roots to delve deeper into the ground seeking moisture and support themselves more easily in times of drought.
• Plant drought- tolerant species: annual summer rainfall has fallen by around 20 per cent since the late 19th century.* Choose plants like lavender, thymes, 'Cistus and Artemisia'.
• If you use biodegradable detergents, you can use the 'greywater' from your washing-up bowl, basin or bath to water trees, shrubs and perennial plantings (but not crops). Avoid very greasy water or any containing household cleaners like bleach, and avoid pouring it on the plant foliage.

* Source the Met Office