Christmas tree shortage

Ireland could be facing a shortage of Christmas trees this December after the long dry summer hit commercial crops hard.

Growers reported they had lost about a third of their plants after record temperatures and a shortage of rainfall which led to a three-month hosepipe ban in Northern Ireland. Many are writing off this season and having to replant. Other countries are reporting similar difficulties too: Britain and Australia say harvests are lower than normal and in Belgium, the largest Christmas tree producing region in Europe, growers have lost 10-15% of stock.

Meanwhile, the European Drought Observatory has reported that Ireland is one of the countries ‘most significantly’ impacted by this summer’s drought. In Dublin, the amount of rainfall was 54% lower than at the same time last year, and after the hottest June in 175 years both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland imposed their first hosepipe ban in decades. Although these have now been lifted after some welcome rain returned last month, Irish Water warns that the extra pressure on water supplies could mean groundwater levels may take months to recover and is asking customers to continue using water carefully to conserve supplies.

A recent report by Irish Water found the average person uses 129 litres of water a day – yet over half those surveyed underestimated how much water they use. Here are just a few measures they suggest gardeners can take to use water wisely:

• Use a rose head watering can instead of a hose and aim for the roots, not the leaves
• Water plants in early morning or late evening to avoid water being lost to evaporation
• Use a water butt to harvest rainwater from gutters instead of using water from the tap
• Add mulch, from compost to bark or even straw to the soil’s surface to hold in the water