A little water goes a long way
Ialways think that a garden isn’t really a garden without water. With the busy focus on perfect plants, fruit and veg, lawns and hedges, many gardeners can be forgiven for sidestepping notions of elaborate fountainous features among the plants – and yet it seems there’s always something missing if it’s absent. Cool, calm sounds, trickling streams, freshness on a hot, steamy day, reflective surface sunlight, an extra dimension to the life and times of the plot. You might have children or grandchildren to consider, but this is easily remedied – mesh or grill covers can be placed over water when they go in the garden.
Hindered by space? Vast expanses of water simply aren’t needed – bird baths, bee and butterfly drinking fountains, mini ponds, rills, small trickling stone water features and bog gardens need only take up a less than a metre square of space.
Of course, as I’ve mentioned before, any water you add (even saucers of water put out for hedgehogs and birds count) will double or triple the wildlife value of your garden. Talk about a lot of payback for not a lot of effort.
Quite literally, gardens are nothing without water. As summer rolls on without much in the way of any significant downpours (especially where I live), it’s a key time to make your watering more efficient, which will help your bank balance, but crucially it’ll help your plants and your garden wildlife, too.
Every conscientious gardener should have a water butt or two; I’ve even got easy-access buckets and watering cans to hand that I leap outside with and place around the plot whenever a rain shower beckons. These fill up and, as they say, every little helps. Always collect excess tap water from the sink, and use the tumble dryer water collector to empty out into a watering can.
Hose watering is useful for getting around large areas easily, but remember that watering cans are more efficient; more of the
water is directed down to where it needs to be – the roots – while each plant gets a deeper drink, and you can, of course, feed plants better.
Water in the morning or evening so water doesn’t evaporate, and when watering pots and baskets, ensure it’s running out the bottom before you stop. Collect up this water and recycle it, too!