Water Saving Tips

[skinny_bum]

Grass cuttings!!
I have heard that if you spread them on your veg, not only do you get the goodness from the grass as it breaks down but it can also act as a mulch, thus saving water, is this true?
I have a whole pile of grass at the mo, and my water butts are getting quite low.
So can I use the grass or is it just an old wives tale, and does anyone know of any other water saving advice, homemade mulch etc, I am on a water meter and really don’t want to use water straight from the tap I just see as a massive expensive waste.
Any Ideas would be fab.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear skinny_bum grass cuttings do work as a mulch, but the soil needs to be damp before you put them on.
So you either need to wait until we have some decent rain or watch your water meter ticking on.

Just be careful if they are not your own grass cuttings, as they might still have herbicide on them.

[vivienz]

Hi Skinny Bum,

Watch out for slugs under the clippings as well - they just love it there. Could be a good way to reduce them - collect them from underneath the clippings regularly & dispose of.

Vivien

[skinny_bum]

Great I am on hte right track then with the grass cuttings, now I will have to start spreading them all over the place,

Any one got any other tips with regard to watering thirsty plants. ?

[Primrose]

Water retention crystals are helpful if you only have a limited area to cover but they are quite expensive. However, they do last a whole season.
Another tip I saw on a forum somewhere was to collect lots of old cheap sponges, chop them up into small pieces and dig them into the soil where their water rention properties would help prevent the ground drying out. I haven't tried this out yet but have a bath sponge which is creeping towards the end of its life, so I will try this and recycle it into one of my patio containers to see how it works.

[WigBag]

My first use of grass clippings was much appreciated by the blackbirds, they kept chucking it all over me paths !!