My Global Garden

Catch the rain

22. August 2010

The South East is exepcting a stormy and wet night with a severe weather warning issued by the Met Office and up to 8cm (3in) of rain expected to fall as well as fears of flash flooding. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/22/severe-weather-southern-england With heavy rainfall it is a good time to think about the value of harvesting some of this precious [...]

Rain arrives but not for Spain

13. July 2010

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The rain finally arrived in the SE of England last night after almost a month of drought. As I sit writing this blog there is a sheet of very heavy rain refreshing all my plants and no doubt bringing sighs of relief from gardeners everywhere. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/7884027/Heatwave-at-an-end-as-rain-arrives.html Heavy rain is great for filling water butts - up [...]

Summer water turns to gold

27. February 2010

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Summer gardening has just taken on a new dimension this week with the announcement by my local water authority that they are going to charge more for mains water during certain months. Southern Water is to be the first utility company to charge extra to supply water to more than a million customers from 1st [...]

Harvest that rain water

9. September 2009

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Water is one of the most important infrastructure issues in the world today. Population growth, environmental concerns, drought conditions and the restriction of sufficiently large fresh waterways close to metropolitan areas have driven the necessity to find alternative solutions. Water availability per person is decreasing (Figure 1), while water withdrawal per person is increasing (Figure 2). [...]

Rainwater harvesting - Indian style

25. May 2009

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If climate change means more monsoon style rain then rainwater harvesting will need to become part of everyday life. This amazing video shot in India sums up the simplicity of rainwater harvesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWnhYIIKY0U We need to harvest rain for our gardens but in India the rain provides food needed to survive. Find more info and where to buy [...]

House sales affected by rainwater?

7. May 2009

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If you want to make your house more attractive to buyers in the current market then try this as an idea: INSTALL A RAIN-WATER HARVESTING SYSTEM According to a UK survey, sponsored by Save the Rain a significant proportion of homeowners (1 in 3) would be more likely to buy a house if a rainwater harvesting system [...]

Sun then rain offers silver lining

27. April 2009

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Yesterday, I visited a glorious garden near Lewes in East Sussex where the blossom on the trees looked simply stunning in the sunshine - it was truly magical as you can see from my photo above.This was the culmination of 10 days of truly spectacular weather with temperatures reaching 19c and literally no rain. Today, I [...]

Rainwater Harvesting means business

15. March 2009

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Thought I would continue with the issue of water conservation as I feel passionately about this subject. The Government has introduced more incentives for businesses to install Rainwater Harvesting systems . The message seems to be working as there are an increasing number of new buildings and rennovations using Rainwater Harvesting as an effective and cost-efficient [...]

Met Office to forecast rain much earlier

18. June 2008

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With the UK at increasing risk of monsoon rainfall due to climate change, the Met Office is channelling a large proportion of its£10 million research programme in 2008 into finding ways of predicting extreme rainfall - this time last year the UK received the largest combined rainfall since records began in 1766. A new computer modelling [...]