Britain in Bloom will get through drought
17 April 2012
Drought may have been declared, but the community gardening groups that are taking part in the RHS Britain in Bloom programme have plenty of strategies to beat the water shortage.
Stephanie Eynon, RHS Community Horticultural Manager, said: ‘We are not aware of any community gardening groups pulling out of Britain in Bloom as a result of the drought. Our volunteers are fantastically resourceful and never short on ideas of ways to overcome drought difficulties.
‘‘Over the weekend, 2,000 gardening groups from all over Britain, sowed 20,000 acres of Wildflower meadow in an initiative that will help replenish some of the 97% of wildflower meadows lost since 1930. Wildflowers are an example of plants that require less watering.’
There are plenty of ways to conserve water and ensure that plants flourish. For example, Julia Rackowe, from Bury in Bloom, said: ‘For our famous hanging baskets, we now use reservoir baskets which have a layer of water at the bottom, so they only have to be watered twice a week compared to once or twice a day as they used to be.’
Linda Cambourne-Paytner, a Stony Stratford in Bloom volunteer uses an aquarium pump for syphoning off her bath water into plastic bottles which she uses to water the local beds.
Jon Wheatley, Chairman of South West in Bloom, said that groups are not being put-off by the drought: ‘Methods we recommend to groups, include collecting water from roofs of houses, and sheds. We also suggest mulching as much as possible.'
Gardeners have a wealth of drought-tolerant plants to choose from.