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If your lawn has gone from green to straw-coloured over the past few weeks, you're not imagining things. Northamptonshire has officially entered drought status following the driest July in 190 years, and Anglian Water customers across the region remain under a hosepipe ban. It's one of the driest summers Northampton has seen in living memory — and it's changing what "normal" garden maintenance looks like.
At NkanzaJKB LTD, we've been fielding a lot of calls about crispy lawns, wilting borders, and whether it's even worth planting anything right now. Here's what's actually happening, and what you can do about it.
Why Things Are So Dry Right Now
This isn't just a hot summer — it's a genuinely exceptional one. Months of prolonged dry weather, warm temperatures, and three successive heatwaves have pushed reservoir levels down and left rivers and groundwater struggling to keep up. Reservoir levels across England have fallen to 69%, with river flows and groundwater levels continuing to decline. Anglian Water's hosepipe ban — their first in 14 years — has been in force since mid-July and covers Northampton along with the rest of the East of England.
In short: this isn't a "wait it out" situation. It's worth adjusting how you care for your garden for the rest of the season.
What You Can and Can't Do Under the Hosepipe Ban
The ban covers watering gardens with a hosepipe, filling paddling pools, and washing cars or patios with one. But you're not left without options — watering cans and buckets are generally permitted because they allow water to be directed more carefully, which is actually no bad thing for your garden anyway. Targeted watering wastes far less than a sprinkler ever did.
Keeping Your Garden Alive Through a Drought
1. Water smart, not often. Early morning or late evening watering (before 9am or after 6pm) cuts down on evaporation loss. A deep watering twice a week with a can beats a light sprinkle every day — it encourages roots to grow deeper and become more drought-resilient.
2. Prioritise what matters most. Lawns are remarkably good at bouncing back from drought — they go dormant and brown, but usually recover once rain returns. Save your limited watering capacity for trees, shrubs, and anything newly planted in the last 12 months, which don't have the root depth to cope on their own.
3. Mulch everything you can. A layer of bark chip, compost, or even grass clippings around your borders locks moisture into the soil and can cut evaporation significantly. If you haven't mulched this year, now's the time.
4. Hold off on new planting where possible. Anything planted now will need consistent watering to establish — which is hard to manage responsibly under a hosepipe ban. If planting can wait until autumn, it's worth the patience.
5. Raise your mower blades. Cutting your lawn shorter stresses it further during dry spells. Letting the grass grow a little longer helps it retain moisture and shade its own roots.
6. Check for water butts and grey water options. Bath water, washing-up water (once cooled, and free of harsh chemicals), and rainwater butts are all fair game and can make a real difference to how much you're able to keep going.
We're Here to Help
Whether it's adjusting your regular maintenance schedule, mulching your beds, or advising on what's worth saving versus what will recover on its own, NkanzaJKB LTD is keeping a close eye on how this drought is affecting gardens across Northampton — and adapting our approach accordingly.
Get in touch if you'd like a hand keeping your garden in shape through the rest of this dry spell.
NkanzaJKB LTD
Property maintenance & handyman services, Northampton
🌐 www.nkanzajkbltd.co.uk
📧 info@nkanzajkbltd.co.uk
