Discussions

We are planning on going away for a few weeks and want to turn our household water off. Problem is - we still require water from the hose so our plants/garden can still be watered. Are the two connected? Thanks so much.

I believe that they are connected yes. In the summer there's really no need to turn your water off, as there's no chance of it freezing. You can shut off water at specific points in your home though. At your toilet , any sinks. Hope this helps and enjoy your trip

Yes they're connected.  
 
It's a good idea to turn the water off if you can (is there a water barrel you can fill up?). Even if freezing isn't an issue, there's about a million things that can go wrong while you're gone. Our water main valve stem was leaking last year, so even if we turned off all our fixtures individually water was still coming in!  
 
Maybe give whoever's in charge of watering access to your house? Then they can turn the water off and on as needed. Most insurance policies require you to have someone come in and check the house after a specific amount of time (can vary from 48 hours to 1 week depending on the policy). Check your policy.

They are connected unless you water plants using a well or sandpoint. If you are concerned, you could just shut off the valve on your cold water line feeding your water heater, at least that will eliminate the chance of it springing a leak and flooding your house. It is the most likely thing to go, usually. Also shut off the valves feeding your wash machine, as the hoses are another likely culprit.

you are referring to is just inside the foundation wall on the street side. it shuts off everything to the house from the city main. thats why you see a difference in water usage between summer and winter. no watering of the grass in the winter.  
 
the problem with shutting off the main value, if you have an older home that valve may not have been turned for decades, and they have been know to calcium up over age and when you try to turn them they break off, now you really have a problem.  
 
as the Other poster suggested, turn off your laundry taps and the one leading to the hot water tank and then also turn down the water temp to "vacation" but again depending on how old everything is, just be gentle turning the valves.