I´m worried about the amount of water I´m using in the garden.

I have created areas with rocks to cover part of the lawn. I have planted succulent, so that they do not need water, or only very little water, in summer. I have cut down 30% on the water consumption.

Water scarcity is a huge problem in some countries that they need to innovate ways on how to conserve it. In our country, people have large buckets or containers to filter rain water during rainy season which will then be consumed during dry season. This way, people do not need to use huge amount of water from pipes.

We put fishing nets ( you can buy it by the yard or better the old discarded ones that you can just ask) spread and stretched above our garden. We wet the nets when we water the garden, it cools longer, water evaporates longer and the nets serves as mild shade.

If water is scarce it is important that it is not used just to keep lawns greens. There is currently a severe problem in Cape town (South Africa) where selfish people in the more affluent areas are keeping their gardens watered and swimming pools filled while other parts of the city are having to rely on water that is brought in by tanker and distributed via standpipies. In the UK, should there be a water shortage, the use of hosepipes for gardens and washing cars is banned. We water our garden from water butts that are filled from rainwater collected off the roof of our shed. During dry spells the two large butts usually keep us going until the next rain comes along.

My mother modified her garden quite a lot in order to reduce the amount of water she was needing. She also had rainwater tanks where water from the roof could be collected when it rained.

I have two rainwater tanks here, and so far, I have been using the water from there to water our gardens. Took me a lot of time however.

We are having a drought here, too, and I dread this coming summer. I love to grow vegetables, so even if the lawn suffers, I will do what I can to keep the gardens watered. One thing that really helps is mulch because it keeps water from evaporating. I intend to use more than ever this year. Another thing for me is to choose one area and water it with waste water from the house. I keep a bowl under the kitchen faucet to catch water that would otherwise be wasted and whenever it's full, I put it in a watering can and when that gets full, I water that one part of the garden. There isn't enough to do it all, but it helps to not have to water that area. I got a rain barrel for Mother's Day last year but didn't get a chance to use it much last year. I will this year (if it rains!). Maybe a combination of methods would work well for you.

I tend to not water my garden enough and my plants don't survive Do you have a container to collect run off from the roof you can use to water your plants?

I don't have a yard so no issues. However, there are rules for those who do.