Our climate crisis isn’t improving, so we need to consider how we can adapt our lifestyles to keep our water usage to a minimum.
Our gardens are one area that has to learn to survive on less water. With a little forethought, here are three areas where we can make significant changes:
1. Reducing water usage with our lawns
Lawns are generally the most significant users of water in the garden. A brown, dead lawn doesn't appeal to many homeowners. When constructing a lawn, you need to consider the type of lawn you are going to install, and how much water it will require.
Every different lawn type has its own advantages and disadvantages. Get the message now - there is no single lawn species that will be drought-tolerant, green all year round, non-invasive, weed suppressive, hardwearing and inexpensive.
Your lawn options can be briefly summarised as follows:
Cool climate lawns such as Fescue and Ryegrass varieties make for very attractive lawns. These types of lawns are losing popularity because they struggle to survive drought periods or a summer without irrigation. They are available as seed or instant turf, but you will need to have access to a good water source, such as a bore to sustain these varieties, and they should never ever be mown short.
Warm-season lawns such as Couch and Kikuyu varieties are drought tolerant but will stop growing over winter and lose their green colour. These lawns are generally best constructed using instant turf and will tolerate shorter mowing heights. Kikuyu has invasive runners that can invade your garden beds so you will need a good, deep, concrete garden edging to keep it contained.
Although the initial installation cost can be high, artificial lawns are gaining in popularity and are providing a solution for people who like green grass all year round without the maintenance. These lawns require no watering or mowing and are great for children to play on, dogs love laying on it, as well as making a great outdoor entertaining surface. Numerous suppliers have appeared on the market lately with some very 'lifelike' and good quality 'fake' grass products.
2. Drought-proofing your garden beds
Garden beds are easier to drought-proof than lawns. The right choice of plants and a well-constructed garden can easily survive with no water apart from what falls from the sky.
Some key points to consider are:
The lay of the land - if your garden is situated on an embankment a lot of rainwater will simply run off before soaking in. In this situation, you need to consider contouring the ground to collect the water and flow it to the required areas.
Soil type will determine how drought-proof your garden is. Sandy soils will not hold moisture and soils that are heavy clay will become waterlogged, so it is important to get the mix just right. Adding good quality compost will benefit any soil type.
Mulching your garden is vital to hold moisture and prevent weed growth. The ideal thickness to apply mulch is 75mm, but in most cases, you will need to apply a 100mm depth initially, which will then settle down to the required 75mm. A thin layer of mulch is useless, and if you are going to make an effort to do it, do it properly and don’t skimp. A tip is to ensure the soil in your garden is moist before mulching as the mulch will then retain that moisture. Using a mulch that benefits the soil biota is ideal.
3. Selecting the right plants for your garden
An obvious solution to drought-proofing your garden is in the plant selection. You don’t have to be limited to natives or cacti types of plants though.
Roses are extremely drought tolerant and most gardeners water these plants unnecessarily.
Box hedges are another example of a plant that will survive on little water once established, often these plants perform poorly because of over-watering.
In fact, a lot of gardeners simply water their gardens because they presume it needs water, not because it actually does. It pays to stick a shovel in the dirt and see for yourself if it really requires watering — just because the sun has dried the surface doesn't mean that the soil under the mulch is not still sufficiently moist.
A well-established garden can survive surprisingly extended periods without water, and if a plant dies due to lack of water, perhaps it wasn't really the right type of plant for your garden. Sub-out the casualties for drought-tolerant species and your garden — and the planet — will thank you.