Three Steps To Becoming A Water Warrior

Responsible water usage is multifaceted: we’ve broken it down into three steps to make it easy.

You might assume that the beautiful open gardens on the pages of this magazine all require a river of water to keep them at their peak. Actually, many of them have been planted and are managed with responsible water use at heart. These tips will help you to plan your own show garden without emptying lakes to keep them alive.

1. Reuse Water

Water is a finite resource, so use it more than once.

Grey water – don’t pour water down the drain. Water from baths, showers and the laundry can be used in the garden.

Cooking water – when you’ve boiled veg in the kitchen, strain the veg and use the cooled water in your garden – it’s full of nutrients.

Harvest rainwater – all that water falling on your roof should be harvested, saved and used during dry spells.

2. Plant With Water In Mind

Choose the right plants and you won’t have to worry as much about water.

Hydrozone – grouping plants according to their water use, known as hydrozoning, is a smart and efficient approach in gardening that can help conserve water.

Choose succulents – succulents have been designed by nature to survive long dry spells. Embrace this with a succulent garden. There are hundreds of spectacular options including aloes, spekbooms, echeverias, crassulas, sedums, Haworthiopsis, vygies and so many more.

Keep it hardy – tough, hardy plants give clues with their appearance. Grey or silver foliage helps them to reflect light, keep cool and use less water. Hairs on leaves or a waxy coating also reduce evaporation. Many waterwise plants have square stems that increase the surface area for better water absorption.

3. Save Water

There are a number of things that you can do to use water more efficiently.

Mulch – bare soil loses water to evaporation. Apply a thin layer of mulch (like compost, straw, lawn clippings, leaf mould, nut shells, bark chips) to reduce evaporation, regulate the soil temperature, suppress thirsty weeds and to finish off the appearance.

Polymer crystals – this technology has had a real impact on gardening. Polymer crystals can absorb huge quantities of water and release it slowly to plants. Add them to containers, hanging baskets or in planting holes in your garden.

Prepare the soil – you can never add too much compost to a garden. Organic matter such as compost and manure improve the water holding capacity of soil and prevents runoff.

Water at the right time – it is generally best to water areas like vegetable gardens in the early morning, as this allows plants to absorb water before the heat of the day sets in.

For more information visit www.lifeisagarden.co.za