BROWN BROWN GRASS OF HOME..!
Gardeners told: Don’t sprinkle
BROWN is the new green as a parched lawn shows you are environmentally savvy.
The Royal Horticultural Society is for the first time urging people not to sprinkle mains water on lawns to keep them green in summer.
It recommends allowing grass to go brown to help prevent water shortages and protect wildlife in rivers at risk of drying up.
The recommendation comes after Britain experienced the fourth wettest May on record.
RHS garden water scientist Janet Manning said: “If we’re to get serious about saving water then not using mains water on lawns in the summer is one of the first steps.
“Lawn watering can use as much water in an hour as one person would use in a week.
“By raising the mower blades, choosing the right grass varieties and caring for the soil that the lawn is planted in, a natural grass lawn will recover after a hot dry spell of weather, and if it doesn’t it may well have done you a favour.
“You now have the opportunity to choose a better solution for your garden that can cope with the changing climate.’’
Janet said many people underestimate how much water they use in daily life, not realising the national average is 142 litres per person.
Shortages
The Environment Agency has warned England faces water shortages within 25 years unless behaviour changes.
Chief executive Sir James Bevan said in 2019 that wasting water should be as “socially unacceptable” as blowing smoke in the face of a baby or “throwing plastic bags into the sea”.
The RHS and Cranfield University have teamed up to launch the website mains2rains.uk where gardeners can pledge to adopt watersaving measures.
They include installing water butts, placing drip trays under pots and adding mulch around plants.