We are almost at the end of July. I have been away for a week, leaving my garden in capable hands, but in that short time, our village has been put on drought measures (reduced supply, only use mains water for personal hygiene, no outdoor cleaning, pool topping up, car washing etc.). And then the temperature hit 37°c.

I’ve come home to a very sickly-looking food forest. You can hear the plants calling out for water. Leaves are browning or dropped. Every, single one of my beautiful sapling willows has died. Fruits have shrivelled, dropped off or they’ve started to become ‘sundried’ on the plant before they’ve even matured.

I posted about this on one of my communities on permies.com and received some lovely messages of hope from people who had been here and had recovered. I also received a blog post from a member, which read quite like the ones I’ve written about water in the garden, and I realised that even though the advice is sound for general times, it’s not enough when things get really hard water-wise, like they are now.

So this is the extreme version.

You are probably already ‘water aware’ if you’re reading this, but this is an opportunity to become more so. The absolute basics are… “Where is the water coming from?”, and, “Where is the water going?”

Where is the water coming from?

Let’s look at primary sources first.

For most of us, the majority of water comes from the mains system. You might also have rainwater stored (although those supplies will be heavily depleted if you haven’t had rain recently). We can buy in water, either in large quantities for storage on our properties, or in smaller quantities, like bottled water from the supermarket. You might have access to a water source, like a stream, or lake, although these are likely to be reduced if a drought has been announced, and there may be restrictions on taking water from common sources.

What about secondary sources? This is water that has already been used for something but has the potential to be reused in a different way. There are a lot of these, so a list might be easier!

• shower water; you can save the water while it’s heating up for a shower, but you can also stand in a trug whilst showering!

• washing machines can be diverted to expel onto your garden or into a storage container

• Kitchen sinks and dishwashers can have the grey water diverted to be reused on your garden

• Urine! This has been used as a compost accelerator and way of irrigating since the beginning of humans, but now many people have an ‘ick’ response to the idea. It’s worth thinking it through as it has the potential to be a sustainable supply and could keep things alive in an emergency drought situation.

• rain; depending upon where you live, it’s either expected to harvest rainfall via guttering or alternatively it’s illegal, so that’s something to check! A well-designed rain catchment system can maximise the yield from even the shortest of showers, and give you security from drought. Unfortunately, you need a lot of space to capture and store enough in the rainy times, to keep you going through the dry season, but every little helps.

• sundry sources; this might incorporate the dregs of a tea or coffee pot, pet water bowls that need renewing with fresh water, water from cooking, water from handwashing or teeth cleaning.

Where is the water going?

The first, and, in my opinion, most important, is for us and any animals we care for to stay hydrated.

I generally try hard to use as little plastic as possible, so we have a water filter fitted to our tap. But when the water coming from the mains is dirty, potentially unsafe, or is non-existent, then needs must! I buy 8-litre bottles of water, as they are the largest available, and use them with extreme care. The plastic bottles will be used for water storage, possibly made into bricks for garden structures, or repurposed as cloches when we’ve finished with them. As soon as we can return to our excellent water filter tap, we will!

Next is becoming aware of how much water each of our daily activities uses. Waterwise has some useful statistics and water-saving strategies, so it might be worth looking at your own household’s way of using water, so you know where adjustments can be made.

Read up on garden-friendly tactics to reduce the need for watering. This blog of mine looks at ways to reduce watering needs, and this one looks at the technique of chop and drop to add mulch to the soil to hold in moisture.

Accept that there will be losses. This is a hard one. I’m particularly sad about my willow that I’ve been nurturing for months. But, if this is going to be how it is as the future heats up, then the plants that survive now, will become the stars of the garden moving forwards. My papaya, mango, carob, honeysuckle, the succulents and cactuses, all are growing well with almost no irrigation, and I will be propagating these to use more.

Minimise your pots. I love pots of plants, and in a place where they can be naturally irrigated daily, all the way through the summer, they are well worth the effort. But in a baking climate, with searing temperatures and no hope of water, having lots of pots is unsustainable without an adequate water supply, pots of plants cannot thrive.