Affinity welcomes careful gardeners

Leading UK gardeners have joined Affinity Water in calling for greater awareness of the best ways to use water in the garden.

National Gardening Week has brought the first rain for more than a month in many parts of the country amid calls for garden centres to be allowed to reopen to prevent millions of unsold plants being destroyed.

Affinity has urged gardeners to consider water resources when designing and tending to gardens as leading national gardens back the company’s call for a water efficiency label for plants.

The importance of gardens to the British public has made headlines this week as MPs cited the mental health benefits gardening offers as a reason for letting them reopen providing social distancing can be in place.

As a national hobby and source of pride for many there is an opportunity for greater education around using water sensibly, which will be one of the themes to this year’s Water Saving Week. Working with the Royal Horticultural Society, Waterwise will teach people about the link between rising temperatures and the amount of water available for gardens.

Jake Rigg, director of corporate affairs and communities at Affinity, said public education is key to how water companies can counter the challenges climate change will present and how gardeners can play a part.

He said that although water resources are in a good position following heavy winter rainfall, it remains important to practice water efficiency in homes and gardens.

“The garden is a great place to save water and the call to action by the Beth Chatto Gardens and now RHS Wisley to label plants is at the forefront of the changes we need to get better at the ways we all use water in the garden.

“National Gardening Week gives all of us a chance to reflect on whether we should be watering our gardens so often and to think about buying dry weather resistant plants when planning our gardens.”

Richard Barley, director of horticulture at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew said it was important not to “demonise the garden” because it needs water, but said gardeners should think about growing conditions when choosing plants.

“People need to understand about intelligent and efficient watering,” said Barley who explained that overwatering such as overnight sprinkler systems that water past capacity add no benefits for the ground or plants.

“Why keep watering and watering when there is no benefit to it? It is about awareness and people being a little bit more educated about what the water is doing in their gardens and what benefit they are getting from it.”

Dr Mark Gush, head of environmental horticulture at RHS Wisley, said gardeners should always put “the right plant, in the right place for the right purpose.”

In support of drought labelling for plants, Gush said: “There are many other eco-system services that can be labelled as well. You can label trees and hedges too, to say if they can help to reduce pollution, or alleviate flooding by taking water out of the soil or act as noise barriers, or to promote biodiversity and remediate soils and take pollutants out. Labels can tell the public of these purposes and services.”

David Ward, garden and nursery director at Beth Chatto gardens in Essex where drought gardening has been proven and developed over the past 30 years, explained why he supported Affinity’s #WhyNotWater campaign. “I particularly support giving a drought resistant rating to plants and that is something we should explore further. Like a fridge with an energy rating, why not buy a plant with a drought rating.  “A” is totally drought resistant “B” is not so resistant, and so on.”

Utility Week’s Mind the Tap campaign examines how we can overturn public apathy about the need to reduce water consumption. Mind the Tap aims to unite the water sector in a common cause, unlock the right messages to connect with consumers and set out clear demands for government.