In Your Garden |
updated: 20/09/07 |
With an ongoing drought affecting water supplies on the Central Coast and around Australia, external use of town water may currently be heavily restricted or banned altogether.
For further information on current water restrictions, please contact your local Council. By following a few simple tips and using alternate water sources, you can still maintain your garden during the drought.
- Planting
- Mulching
- Watering
- Recycling
- Getting Expert Advice
- Gardening with Children
- Knowing your Local Water Restrictions
Planting
When planting, dig plants into the ground leaving a trench of about 50mm around the base of the plant to make sure water funnels down to the roots.
You should also consider:
- Buying plants that are drought tolerant and suited to our local climate so your garden will require less watering. Look out for plants at your local nursery that carry labels such as Water Miser™.
- Conditioning your soil by adding a soil wetting agent or water saving crystals.
- You could also add compost to the top 10–15cm of soil to help improve water penetration.
- Grouping plants with similar watering needs to ensure drought tolerant plants are not over-watered.
Mulching
Mulching can prevent up to 70% of water loss by evaporation on hot days. It also prevents excessive run-off, restricts weeds that will compete with your plants for water and keeps the soil from becoming too hot.
When mulching you should also consider:
- Using an organic mulch (eg. woodchips, chipped tree waste and sugar cane mulch) as this will add valuable nutrients to the soil as it rots down.
- Spreading mulch over the entire planted area, approximately 50mm – 100 mm deep, leaving the planting trench free to avoid collar rot.
- Topping up mulch twice a year in autumn and spring.
- Never raking up or turning mulch over, as this will damage the fine feeder roots that develop between the mulch and the soil.
Mulch isn’t just for garden beds, it can also be used in pot plants, on veggie patches and around the base of trees. Although you should be careful when mulching around native plants, as some species will not tolerate certain types of mulch.
See your local nursery for further information.
Watering
Water restrictions may ban outdoor watering with the town water supply, therefore you may need to look into alternate water supplies such as rainwater tanks, bore water, recycled water and grey water re-use systems. When watering you should consider:
- Most plants don’t need watering every day, once a week will usually do. Deeper, less frequent watering will encourage deeper root growth and greater tolerance to dry spells.
- Always check your soil first to see if it is dry and only water when your garden needs it. You can do this by digging down a couple of centimetres in the soil.
- You should also water the base of plants only, not the leaves or flowers.
- You can also use watering spikes to get water down to the roots.
- When establishing new plants, they may need more regular watering for up to six weeks, so ask for advice when purchasing.
- When watering with grey water use a watering can to encourage even distribution and avoid surface pooling.
Recycling
Many everyday items around your home can be recycled for use in your garden. Newspapers, cardboard or old paper can be soaked with water and used as mulch, or you could try using cold ash from your fireplace.
You can also use empty plastic bottles for watering your plants, just remove the lid, rinse out then cut off the base. Place upside down in your soil and fill with water.
Another effective way to get water to your root zone is to use a short piece of hose inserted into the soil, with an old funnel in the top.
Getting Expert Advice
With many traditional plants not suited to the Australian climate, drought tolerant varieties make great sense as they need less watering and quickly adapt to drier conditions.
Local nurseries are a great source of information on drought tolerant plants, mulches, soil wetting agents and planting and watering techniques.
Many local nurseries now also provide information and supplies for landscaping, water recycling and irrigation.
So if you are concerned about caring for your garden during the drought, visit your local nursery for some expert advice.
Gardening with Children
Most kids love playing with water, but we don’t want them wasting it! Why not teach them how to water a plant properly and let them water with you.
There are also many quick growing, easy to maintain plants that are great for child friendly garden beds, ask your local nursery for advice.
Teaching children water efficient practices around the home helps them to value our water supply and will help to ensure a clean and healthy water supply for future generations.
Knowing your Local Water Restrictions
Water restrictions are put in place to reduce the amount of water used by residents and businesses during times of drought to help ease pressure on the local water supply.
For a copy of the current water restrictions for the Central Coast, please contact your local Council or check your local paper.
Click here to download a copy of the info sheet above in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf).
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