Water is essential to growing plants, but it must be used wisely. There are numerous water-saving strategies available that can reduce your garden’s dependence on traditional sources and make your gardening efforts more sustainable.
Mulch the Garden: Organic mulch reduces water evaporation, suppresses weed growth and enhances soil moisture retention. When selecting organic mulch such as straw or wood chips for this task, its nutrients will quickly dissipate into your soil over time, enriching its ecosystem with essential vitamins.
Mulching around vegetables and berry beds not only provides frost protection and reduced erosion, but is also an economical way to save on irrigation. Instead of using sprinklers in your vegetable garden, water deeply and less frequently to promote deep root development while also limiting evaporation loss.
Group plants with similar water requirements together, such as vegetables and berries or flowers and shrubs. This will enable you to plan an appropriate watering schedule and avoid overwatering; frequent irrigation of one area each day could cause its roots to become desiccated, hindering their ability to absorb or store moisture. Watering first thing in the morning allows time for soil absorbtion before heat of day evaporates it away.
Maintaining healthy soil requires periodic assessment to ascertain whether additional water needs exist. Overwatering can cause root rot and fungal diseases. Furthermore, regularly check irrigation systems and hoses for leaks or broken parts that waste both time and money.
Know Your Climate: Understanding your local climate plays an essential part in how much water will be needed by your garden. In dry climates, for instance, more irrigation may be required than wet ones. To get an accurate reading on exactly how much to water at any one time, use a soil moisture meter that gives accurate readings so you don’t overwater or underwater your plants.
Plant Native Species: Utilizing indigenous or naturalised species will help conserve water by adapting to the local soil and climate – especially succulents and cacti which have evolved to withstand dry conditions.
If you don’t already have an irrigation system in place, investing in a rain barrel or installing gutters to collect rainwater may save money on watering bills and reduce pollution into rivers and oceans. A rain barrel also makes an excellent storage unit should an emergency or power outage arises – perfect!