Who needs a hosepipe? The watering cans worth investing in

In the hot, dry summer of 1976, I was working as a gardening student at Arboretum Kalmthout in Belgium. The temperatures in July were frequently 40°C by lunchtime, so we worked in the early mornings and through the evenings. My job was to drive a tractor pulling a trailer, on to which were placed dustbins full of water drawn from a borehole. These were ferried around the grounds so we could water rare, precious and drought-hating rhododendron and tree species. The owners of the garden were white-faced with apprehension all that month but the stratagem worked and we saved the lot.

Something of that anxiety comes back to me, for my garden is at risk of losing plants from drought. We have had a measly 0.157 inches of rain in this corner of Northamptonshire this month, and no appreciable quantity since 16 March. The effects of high temperatures have been made more damaging by very warm, drying winds. Even a heavy clay soil like mine cannot hold on to its moisture for ever. The water butts ran dry ere long since but I have used a hosepipe only to water highly vulnerable vegetables and soft fruit bushes, for our supply is metered. So comes a reckoning when the banquet’s o’er.

It is dismal to watch the garden become sere and autumnal, with old stalwarts like hellebores collapsing flat on their backs and leaves crisping as if lit with a match. Trees, hedging, shrubs, roses and perennials planted in the past two years are most at risk of dying so I concentrate watering on them. I have cut back flowering herbaceous perennials to their crowns, so that they do not waste energy in seeding, trusting they will survive until substantial rain greens them up once more. I don’t worry about the lawn. Grass is remarkably resilient; just think of a cricket wicket.

I do sympathise with those living in the south where hosepipes will shortly be banned, who will have no choice but to water by hand, for it is dull, arduous work. Nor is it ever easy to gauge how much is needed. My rule of thumb is one and a half gallons (seven litres) a small tree a week.

The task can be made more agreeable if you spend good money on equipment. For me, the ne plus ultra of watering cans are manufactured by Haws (haws.co.uk): of various sizes, from two gallon to four pint, the best are made of galvanised steel with long spouts with a range of ‘roses’ to fit on the end – a coarse rose for watering round shrubs, a fine rose for seedlings. Although they are metal, they are so well balanced that they don’t feel appreciably heavier than plastic ones.

That said, I find myself as often reaching for my ‘Nucan’ (www.miraclewateringcans.co.uk), which is a plastic one and a half gallon watering can with a push button on the handle. Even when the spout is tipped, no water emerges until the button is pressed, so there is no water wastage at all.

South East Water is, apparently, encouraging its customers to snitch on any ban-busting neighbour. I’ve got another idea. Why don’t those customers write to their MP and Ofwat to complain about the 88 million litres lost to leakage every day in the region? We wouldn’t be forced to lug heavy watering cans around the garden so often if water companies did a better job.