Hose pipe bans - questions?

[Catherine]

We look like we will be having a hosepipe ban in the next week and someone on our plot asked us if we, as allotment holders, have permission to use the hosepipes or do we have to use watering cans. I dont know but does anyone else know what the rules are?

[Primrose]

During the last hosepipe ban we had here, our particular water authority ruled on its website that you could use a hosepipe to fill up a water container like a water butt or a watering can. If you check your water authority website if a hosepipe ban is implemented, you will probably find more precise details of what is, and what isn't permitted. However, your allotment society may have specific rules of its own about watering during periods of hosepipe bans.

[Elaine]

Our council Tenancy agreement states that the use of hosepipes is not allowed. We assumed this did not include using one to fill our water butts but our Secretary said we are not even supposed to do that. However, he turns a blind eye to any hosepipe usage and we all use them discreetly.

Since last year, the Council added £5 to our rental for water usage,( the water is turned off from October to March) so, I don't see why we shouldn't use hosepipes in moderation. Naturally, there are some plot holders who abuse it, by having a sprinkler running for hours but on the whole, folks are sensible. We only use a hosepipe to water our crops in extremely dry conditions but we do fill the water butts when needed.
Cheers.

[Catherine]

Dont get me started on water charging. We have two half plots, the next person to us has one full plot the same as our two half plot. He gets charged £8.00 for his we get charged £8.00 per half plot. I dont think this is fair. OUrs if off November to March. I will check our water authority to see if there are any rules.

[peter]

Each of our council sites has metered water and the council pays for the water used.
It's tenants get water in the rental charge, subject to rule of no hosepipes.
The water is provided in cattle troughs with ballcock taps and we use watering cans.
One naughty tenant at a site cut into the supply pipe for a trough near his plot and set up private tap, the started using a sprinkler overnight.
Strangely that sites metered bill was bigger than all the other sites put together!
After that bill the council did some plumbing removal work

[glallotments]

Dont get me started on water charging. We have two half plots, the next person to us has one full plot the same as our two half plot. He gets charged £8.00 for his we get charged £8.00 per half plot. I dont think this is fair. OUrs if off November to March. I will check our water authority to see if there are any rules.

We pay £10 per plot refardless of size/amount of use etc and water is on all through the year. Only the people with livestock use water outside of the growing season though. It is metered. One problem is that when people are cleaning out livestock etc they leave a hosepipe attached to the tap and running which means pressure is minimal for anyone else - the same is true for someone using a hosepipe at full blast or if two people on site are trying to fill a watering can at the same time.

I know sprinklers are not ideal but at least they don't rob the water pressure and it also means that if you use one you don't end up doing nothing but watering. At the moment deciding whether to pick fruit, weed, plant things becoming pot-bound or water things to keep them alive is almost impossible.

Now I'll stand back and wait for the feathers to fly!

[Binky]

Irrespective of a hosepipe ban, I don't think many allotment gardeners know how much metered water costs. We pay 91p per cubic meter (= 1000 litres or 220 gallons). At normal pressure, a hosepipe will use this in about 2 hours. Do the maths!

[Catherine]

If someone else lower down the allotment starts filling a watering can our pressure goes completely down, we have to wait till they stop, if two turn the taps on we have no water.

We have learned to pick our times to water. If we have to water the whole plot it can take an hour, but I dont use a spray head on our hose pipe, I have the water running slowely and hold the end of the pipe at soil level, this means that the water is watering at ground level and not wasting anything, I have found that this has worked for me. You can soak the ground round the plant and not the whole of the bed.

[Johnboy]

Although I do not water my runner beans that regularly I have a manually operated coarse mist spray and the most they ever get is 5 minutes spray. This is only done after a prolonged period on dry days.
I have 160 plants on the go and the job is done in a few minutes and very little water is used. If I were to water using watering cans I would use a great deal more water and would take forever.
I am on a water meter and I think we pay just over £1 a cubic metre and I do not get massive bills.
I water the plants after they are planted out let them do their own thing for several days and suspect that in the time you leave them the roots are searching for their own supply of water. If you water too frequently the plant will come to depend on that and the root system becomes lazy and come a real dry period and you will be fighting for their survival.
JB.

[Catherine]

Good morning Johnboy. My mother in law is a great believer in what you do. She rarely waters her plants and always has a great crop of everything she is growing.

[Compo]

Hmmmm

This is interesting, as of yet there is no ban in Someret, however, I feel like asking for a hosepipe ban on our plots as we are on a meter. I have the same philosophy as Johnboy, minimal watering and a little bit of mist every now and then to help set the pods on the runnners. I water my greenhouse with watering cans from collected rain water. I use the hose every now and then when I am in a rush

Some folk on our allotment are to be seen willy nilly shooting their sprays into the air in the heat of the mid day sun, some of these people are retired too, and too lazy to come on early morning or late at night, they are wasting gallons and creating weak plants as John boy stated earlier. I am fairly sure that the rent will go up this autumn too, when I mentioned a strategy to the chair man he told me people come on to the plots and put sprinklers on in the hours of darkness . I would suggest locking off the stopcock allowing it on from 7am to 9am and again for a few hours in the evening. Ban hose pipes especially sprays. Anyone else have similar problems? I know some of you have widely spaced horse troughs on your plots and we are very lucky, I fear we will lose it.

One very angry

CoMpO

[lizzie]

Don't start me on hosepipes......the ruling on mine and Grockies site are just archaic. Allowed to use a hose to fill butts, but not to water. Using cans f or me is difficult with having a dodgy back and dodgy shoulders too. At least with careful use of a hose you can direct the spray to where it's needed without the problem of sloshing water out of a can because it can't be held properly

[Binky]

We are trying to find a fair way of charging for water. Currently, everyone pays the same. We thought about charging according to the size of plot but it became apparent that plot size bore no relationship to a plotholder's watering regime. Some water morning and night; we have those who, as on Compo's site "are to be seen willy nilly shooting their sprays into the air in the heat of the mid day sun"; others water selectively and sparingly. But at the end of the season, we have to pay the water bill. It is already apparent from our meter readings that the contribution for water that people paid with their rent is not going to cover the bill. Any suggestions?

[Shallot Man]

We did have a few that put the sprinkler on in the evening and came back the next morning to turn it off. We now have a rule that you must be on site at all times you have a sprinkler going.

[Johnboy]

What I find very strange with some people is that they complained in the years that we had too much rain for most of us but they are hell bent on emulating those bad years. WHY?
To water as infrequently as absolutely possible and your plants will search for water on their own. I had to dig a post hole last week and 6 inches below the surface there was plenty of moisture and the deeper I went the more moist it got and at 2 feet it was fine. To prove this I put in a dry concrete mix to firm the post up which is now absolutely solid.
JB.