GARDENERS are being asked to butt in as the lack of recent rainfall has caused gardens to dry up.
South East Water is asking residents to install water butts to capture rain as it falls. Although the lockdown period has been one of the driest spells on record, the wet stuff has started to fall out of the sky again over the past week.
And the water company says that the average rainfall in the South East means that there’s enough of the wet stuff to fill each butt up to 450 times a year.
The water can be used for a variety of jobs in addition to keeping thirsty plants alive during the hotter weather we have been experiencing.
And along with washing cars, it can be used to fill ponds, clean gutters of winter debris or wash down garden furniture and patios.
Douglas Whitfield, operations director at South East Water, said: “With some welcome rain forecast we can look forward to water butts filling up again.
“It is well known that plants thrive on rainwater but the water can be used for chores outside too.
“Using the contents of a water butt doesn’t take water from the ground or rivers and it doesn’t need treating or pumping, so no energy has been used in its supply.”
Gardeners heading out to buy their plants are being asked to select ones that need less watering by looking for the full sun on the plants’ labels or by checking out a list of plants on the Royal Horticultural Society’s website rhs.org.uk.
