Dealing with the hosepipe ban

To help gardeners cope The north-west has been hit with a hosepipe ban, which started at 06:00 BST this morning (July 9th).

To help gardeners cope, Amateur Gardening magazine has suggested that they get themselves down to their local nursery and invest in one particular product.

"If you have any pots or hanging baskets or containers, you can buy water retaining crystals or gels," explained editor Kris Collins.

"They are in powder form when you buy them and you put them in the compost."

He added that lavender is a good choice for gardeners as it is not only aromatic and attractive, it is very drought tolerant.

Figures from a 2001 Environment Agency study showed that zichan the proportion of domestic water used by Brits for gardening jumps to 70 per cent in summer.