Last April Alison B wrote that 2021 was the driest spring on record. This year, 2022, seems to have been even drier and Met Office records for Manston (the nearest weather station to us) confirm this:
2021 Jan-April rainfall = 171.3mm
2022 Jan-April rainfall = 67.8mm

The Met Office and RHS predict that we are likely to experience wetter winters and drier summers in the future. However this year, our British weather being as unpredictable as ever, we have also had a dry winter (100.2mm)! A dry winter followed by a dry summer would be a double whammy, raising the spectre of a dreaded hosepipe ban.

The RHS recommends that, in the future, gardens in this part of the country should have underground water storage tanks installed, to capture winter rainfall. This would be very expensive and Marden gardeners, being a resourceful lot, are already coming up with other ways to use water wisely - by maximising storage capacity and targetting our watering. Here are some of our solutions:

BIG BUTTS

TARGETTED WATERING TO THE ROOTS

So we have some solutions to lack of rainfall, not to mention saving water by mulching, watering early or late to reduce evaporation and even reusing grey water by siphoning out your bath water! Any other ideas? Please tell us about them in the comments box below.