There are no comments up to now.
| Water conservation |
|
By HEATHER BUTLER WATER conservation is the current catch-cry on everyone's lips, and so it should be. We do waste an incredible amount of water on this planet and every little thing we can do to conserve it will make a difference. Of course saying this doesn't mean you should never water your garden, it just means that you should do so appropriately. How much is enough?Well, how long is a piece of string? If you water on all the days the Councils allocate you, you are watering too much. Only newly planted seedlings and shrubs and some specialist plants such as Orchids, need daily watering. All other established tree, shrub and lawn areas only need to be watered well once a week if there is no rain. What is watered well? Well I'm glad you asked! A watering system or sprinkler that doesn't have too fine a spray left on for about one hour. Don't think that you shouldn't water during or after rain either. Often with the soil damp from rainfall, any additional water soaks in more efficiently. You just need to adjust the amount of time you leave the water running for. Keep an eye on the process the first time around. As soon as there is run-off, check how long it was on for when you turn it off so that next time it’s on, you can check it accordingly. A simple map including times on the fridge is a great way to monitor it. Even better if you can get someone else to do it for you! (Plenty of willing hands during school holidays!) Tap timers are fantastic and don't have to be NASA approved to work! The only way water stays efficiently in the soil without evaporating straight away is to mulch, mulch, mulch. Bark, straw or stone and all their variations are your choices. The trick is to be generous. That's it I'm afraid! By putting the mulch on at least 10cm thick you reduce the evaporation rate significantly, help keep the roots cool and encourage the worms to stay closer to the surface where they do the most good. Please don't think that you can't garden over summer because of water restrictions, we just need to garden more wisely. Happy Holidays!
» No Comments
» Post Comment
|