Many plants are much tougher than you think and will go for quite long periods without additional watering. This also has the effect of training your plants to be more sustainable. Less frequent watering forces roots down to find water, making the plants less reliant on surface water and better able to stand hot, dry days. Also, check the four-day forecast at the Bureau of Meteorology. If there's rain in the forecast, let the rain do your watering for you.

How much to water? A significant number of garden plants are drought tolerant and, even in drought conditions, will not need additional watering once established. You might think of old abandoned homesteads in the bush where established plants have survived for decades. With your existing plants we suggest you experiment with watering less and then not at all and observe them for signs of stress, including wilting and leaf fall. A list of popular and effective drought tolerant plants is available here on savewater.com.au.

Think about what this means for manual and automatic watering systems. Does your entire garden need watering? Can you zone plants that need more or less water into areas so you can focus watering on the areas that really need it?

Those plants that start to wilt on a hot day like hydrangeas, how important are they to your garden? Could you prune them early this year and reduce water use? Could they be replaced with drought tolerant plants this autumn that will have a similar appearance and style?