Check your priorities

Crops, pots and anything undercover risks drying out

IF spring stays dry and there is little rain through summer, gardeners will have to start prioritising where they use their water.

If you are growing fruit and vegetables, they need plenty of water for healthy growth, flowering and to swell the developing fruits.

A thorough soaking once or twice a week is better than regular sprinkles that don’t penetrate deeply, and grey water is fine for fruit and veg as long as it isn’t full of food debris that could encourage germs and vermin.

The greenhouse is another flashpoint, as growbags are shallow and if you have two or three tomato, aubergine, squash or cucumber plants in each one, they will soon drink up all the remaining moisture.

When it is very hot, you may even find yourself watering twice a day, which will work its way through your reserves so, again, use grey water and don’t forget to add a high potassium liquid feed at least once a week.

One way of mitigating the situation is to use bottle drippers. These are plastic or pottery nozzles that fit onto bottles filled with water and feed. Insert the nozzles into the compost and they will provide a regulated supply of moisture directly to the plants’ roots.