Water Saving TipsConserving Water in Your GardenUse some of these water saving tips to help with water conservation in your garden.Water Conservation Facts:In Canada we use 326 liters of water a day each – the second highest consumers in the world. This also puts us at 65% higher than the other 28 countries examined. This embarrassing statistic can be changed by reducing our water consumption drastically.Good habits to cut back on waste in our dwellings can be as simple as doing laundry or using a dishwasher only when full, reducing the length of showers and the number of baths which are wasteful. There are many ways to conserve water in the house, but what about in the garden? Here are some Water Saving Tips for the GardenInstall a timer on watering devices such as drip irrigation, or a rain gauge to shut the water off completely if it rains. Don’t plant a lawn with turf grass – use a grass specifically bred for low water consumption; use Buffalo grass or plant a hardy groundcover such as thyme to make a lawn substitute in a beautiful thyme lawn. The benefits of these kinds of plants are much more than just lower water use – they are hardy and low growing, so don’t require much mowing either. Use a water capture system to salvage water off roofs – the water can be used for washing cars, watering plants or for a garden pond. The amount of water falling from a green roof is cut by about two thirds, and the amount that does run off is considerably slowed to ease the burden on storm sewers and drainage systems. Install a water capture system such as rain barrels, which can then be used to feed a drip irrigation system. Gravity fed water from a cistern or other water salvage system will save money too, as there is no electricity involved. Planting a xeric garden and using drought tolerant plants and xeriscape design techniques will save water, especially if they are mulched and planted in soil amended with compost. Use some Permaculture design ideas by grouping the plants in niches; those with higher water requirements closer to the water source, tapering to those plants that require little to no additional irrigation further away. This would be the ideal place to plant some of my favorite plants that require much less water than the average garden plants – in fact, once established, they prefer a dry well drained soil and can live quite happily on what mother nature doles out in the way of rainfall, fog, and snowmelt. Some of the best choices of low water plants are Sempervivum, Jovibarba and Sedum. A simple mulch bed can reuse greywater from laundry or showers, eliminating the need to use fresh water on these areas. For more water saving tips, look at this list of 100 Water Saving Tips.
go to Drought Smart Plants home page
|
Sustainable Gardening
The Unbroken Circle in an Organic Garden
Learning how sustainable gardening all meshes together in a fascinating and miraculous web is all consuming for those of us that like to see how things work.
Click on the pictures to explore...
Raising some backyard chickens for eggs and compost, learning how to make compost tea, and composting are all useful skills.
Follow the composting instructions and these useful composting tips for the best compost ever.
Solarization is an easy way to harness the suns power. See how your sustainable your garden can be.
Like Drought Smart Plants
on Facebook:
