How to be water-wise Visit the Plant pages on the Home Page for pictures and descriptions of more inspirational climate change p
Posted Oct 04 2009 11:11pm
Water-wise gardens are the key to successful climate change gardening as incidents of drought become more common. There has been very little rain in SE England during April/May which is when many plants are desperately in need of a good soaking as they put on their growth spurt.
HER ARE SOME SIMPLE SUMMER WATERING TIPS:
*Buy a water butt (or two) and if you have planted borders around the house, consider disconnecting your drainpipes so that rainfall will irrigate them directly.
* Water plants thoroughly once a week, to encourage them to send out deep roots. Plants with shallow roots will wilt and die after only a few days of drought, whereas plants with a strong, deep root system will be happy for weeks.
* Don’t use sprinklers - they cause huge amounts of water to be lost by evaporation .
* Never water in the middle of the day - as much as 30 per cent of the water used to irrigate gardens is lost to evaporation.
*Try to water at night, when temperatures are normally cooler and winds calmer.
* Try planting a gravel garden which needs minimum water supply, looks very attractive, is low maintenance and will offer a very wide choice of beautiful plants - Visit the web-site of the doyenne of drought gardening, Beth Chatto, who has a unique nursery in Essex - http://www.bethchatto.co.uk/
* Choose other plants that need less regular watering such as palms, cordylines, oleanders, agapanthas and the fabulous Echinacea which thrives in drought and looks good all summer:
Visit the Plant pages on the Home Page for pictures and descriptions of more inspirational climate change plants.
Water-wise gardens are the key to successful climate change gardening as incidents of drought become more common. There has been very little rain in SE England during April/May which is when many plants are desperately in need of a good soaking as they put on their growth spurt.
HER ARE SOME SIMPLE SUMMER WATERING TIPS:
*Buy a water butt (or two) and if you have planted borders around the house, consider disconnecting your drainpipes so that rainfall will irrigate them directly.
* Water plants thoroughly once a week, to encourage them to send out deep roots. Plants with shallow roots will wilt and die after only a few days of drought, whereas plants with a strong, deep root system will be happy for weeks.
* Don’t use sprinklers - they cause huge amounts of water to be lost by evaporation .
* Never water in the middle of the day - as much as 30 per cent of the water used to irrigate gardens is lost to evaporation.
*Try to water at night, when temperatures are normally cooler and winds calmer.
* Try planting a gravel garden which needs minimum water supply, looks very attractive, is low maintenance and will offer a very wide choice of beautiful plants - Visit the web-site of the doyenne of drought gardening, Beth Chatto, who has a unique nursery in Essex - http://www.bethchatto.co.uk/
* Choose other plants that need less regular watering such as palms, cordylines, oleanders, agapanthas and the fabulous Echinacea which thrives in drought and looks good all summer:
Visit the Plant pages on the Home Page for pictures and descriptions of more inspirational climate change plants.