How can I protect my garden against drought in the future

Here at The Veg Grower Podcast we find ourselves in an area declared officially as being in a drought! For many this is a concern and may well be something we find ourselves in more often. This has got me thinking about what we can do to safeguard ourselves in the future from drought and continue growing food and at home.

Now I have spoken about how we deal with hosepipe bans on a recent podcast. But protecting water is a very different subject. One that I feel the advice in this blog post is possible at the current moment in time. I have often said that I don't understand why in the uk we pump perfectly good drinking water to our house and use it to flush the toilet. Yet we have rain fall on our roof tops which runs straight out down the drains. It seems to me this system is very wasteful of that precious resource.

Set up waterbutts

Most gardeners probably have 1 or 2 waterbutts in there garden. I have 14 of which 4 are still full despite not having any rain in the last 3 months. In our household we only use rainwater for watering our garden and washing our cars. For me this proves that if you can squeeze in another waterbutt somewhere then we need to do it.

Waterbutts can be pretty cheap to buy especially when sales are on. Currently they are in high demand. So it may not be the best time to buy. But once the winter is here they can be pretty reasonable price. That being said some shops my be selling some off cheap. Or your local council or water company might do certain deals on them.

I did however find these waterbutts on Amazon if you are looking right now

I know times are tough for many people right now and some people cant afford a waterbutt. Don't worry any container that will hold on to water will do the job. I have seen old baths or galvanized containers being used. If you happen to be able to get hold of any. These can be used as dipping tanks where a watering can is dipped in to use the water. However the simplest item is an old bin. An old bin as long as it doesn't leak can hold on to a good amount of water. Add a tap and place it on some bricks you have yourself a handmade waterbutt.

Now a lot of waterbutts may not be the prettiest looking item. Some waterbutts have the option of growing flowers to make them look nicer. I also dream of installing an underground storage system under my shed to hold a considerable amount of water.

Most of our waterbutts are attached to sheds. Some are hidden behind shed to make them less unpleasant to the eye. However some of my water butts are not attached to any guttering or down pipes. These I have to pump water too for this I use a waterbutt pump with a hose attached. Very simple way to get water to where its needed.

I would love to know if you have any plans to store as much water as you can for future droughts. let me know in the comments