Water Saving Ideas for Your Garden

Whether you have metered water or not, it’s still important to reduce the amount of water your garden uses. As a finite resource, water conservation is something that all us gardeners should be conscious of.  

To get things moving, we’ve made a list of our own water saving ideas:

• Water early in the morning or late in the evening. This reduces the speed of water evaporation, meaning your plants and not the air receives the benefit.
  
  
• Choose native plants – many of our native trees do not require a lot of water. Select ones that are found the most in your local area, rather than those from different regions.
  
  
• Use mulch – mulch can be made from bark, leaves, newspaper or grass clippings. Place around your plants to reduce the amount of water evaporation, keeping the moisture in the soil which reduces watering requirements.
  
  
• Use drip irrigation – a great way to get water directly to the roots of your plants with minimal evaporation is with drip irrigation.
  
  
• Water collection – whether you install a water tank which is fed by your gutters, or you have a collection of buckets ready to catch the rain, water collection is a definite must-do.
  
  
• Improve the soil – good soil will hold water without becoming waterlogged. Use organic matter such as chopped up leaves, manure and compost to improve the water holding capacity of your soil.
  
  
• Choose drought tolerant plants – succulents, lavender, flax, manuka and agapanthus are all drought tolerant plants for your garden.

With the warnings already in place for a hot dry summer, along with calls to reduce water usage, it may be time to consider rainwater collection. As mentioned above, you can use buckets. But you may want a more permanent and reliable source of rainwater for your garden. The Smarter Homes website has a section on harvesting rainwater, with details on council requirements, choosing the best system for your home, costs and safety information.