WATER-WISE WAY TO GO
MAKING A FEW SIMPLE CHANGES AROUND THE HOME CAN HELP PRESERVE THIS PRECIOUS RESOURCE
The theme for National Water Week this year is ‘Water in the Garden’. So let’s think about how we use water in the garden and how we can make a few changes to use less water, save money on water rates and help provide environmental flows to local creeks and waterways to maintain nature’s garden.
Loss of water through evaporation is the main reason plants dry out and do not thrive. Mulch will reduce evaporation, best of all organic mulch adds to the microbial load in the soil profile. Many of these microbes have the ability to hold water, that is why soil high in organic matter stays moist longer.
Inert mulches of rocks and gravel also retain moisture around the root zones of the plants and they do not break down, which provides the benefit of not having to renew the mulch every six months. However, inert mulches do not improve the soil or the microbial population within the soil, where we need those water-holding microbes.
Water loss through taps accidentally left on, leaky hoses, leaky taps and leaky appliances account for a lot of household water wastage. Replacing a leaky hose washer is easy but it’s another step to educate the children, and sometimes gardeners, to remember to turn the hose off when they are finished. Trigger nozzles on hoses are a good solution and a timer on sprinkler taps will turn the tap off. Timers can be purchased from most irrigation supply outlets for less than $50.
Schedule garden watering for early in the morning – plants need water early in the cool of the morning as this sets them up for the heat of the day.
The most economical garden watering system is through lines of poly pipe installed on the outside edge of garden beds facing inward. One hundred and eighty degree sprinklers held on fixed risers can be fixed at two metre spacing. This system gives easy access for maintenance when a sprinkler becomes blocked or damaged, and the irrigation pipe can be seen and kept clear of garden forks.
In my experience drippers through the centre of a garden always pose maintenance problems, they are covered when mulching and often the line is pierced when weeding.
Many plants have different water needs. Therefore, it’s better to group plants of differing water requirements together in separate garden beds. Hardy grasses, once established, will need watering only once a fortnight, if at all. Whereas most flowering plants in summer need a good drink every other day.
The mulching and fertilising requirements for flowering plants can also be different. Surface rooting plants like hibiscus and ixoras require deep organic mulch, while grasses and succulent type plants are happy with a thin layer of inert gravel mulch.
When the council implements water restrictions it is necessary that they be followed. However, some councils, under their water conservation strategies, encourage households to apply for a licence to install grey water recycling for garden use. Though the process is timely and costly, if you are a keen gardener it’s worth the effort. Capturing rainwater in water tanks is also another means of being independent of council water restrictions. Again it’s costly to have installed but a good rainwater tank with a solar pump and pressure tank can provide potable water to the household during a major weather event.
A wicking bed garden system recycles water through capillary action into the soil profile, preventing evaporation. A well-built wicking bed will only need to be topped up with water once a month, this is a self watering, recycling garden system.
Wicking beds are available from some stores, but with the help of a YouTube video it’s an easy weekend job for a handy person.
The productivity of vegetables growing in wicking beds is very high as the plants have limitless access to all the water they need, when they need it.
National Water Week provides us with the opportunity to think about the value of water and appreciate that even though we live in the wettest part of Australia, there are months of low or no rainfall when we must be waterwise.