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Water – Wise garden

By Sereba Agiobu-Kemmer
02 January 2016   |   2:30 am
IT’S that time of the year again, the dry season when the harmattan’s dusty dry hazy cloud covers everything and the days are baking hot. It’s that time again when water becomes the essential elixir in the garden. The plentiful rains are past, and the fiery dry harmattan sun beats down relentlessly scorching plants, lawns,…
Mulching improves soil, gives garden a neat appearance, reduces watering and weeding protects plant roots from extreme temperatures.

Mulching improves soil, gives garden a neat appearance, reduces watering and weeding protects plant roots from extreme temperatures.

IT’S that time of the year again, the dry season when the harmattan’s dusty dry hazy cloud covers everything and the days are baking hot. It’s that time again when water becomes the essential elixir in the garden.

The plentiful rains are past, and the fiery dry harmattan sun beats down relentlessly scorching plants, lawns, and trees.

You water off course but is it enough? Is it at the right time? Why is it so hard to keep everything from drying out?
The first things you can do to protect your plants actually happens long before the dry season. Always be sure to prepare the soil before you plant, since bed that’s been enriched with organic matter will hold water better than a sandy, gravely soil. Plant in prepared beds. Plants that go into beds of prepared soil, instead of individual planting holes, will grow large, spreading root systems. The larger a plants root system, the less water it takes to sustain it. The same holds for lawns.

Lawns planted on a six to eight inch layer of good loam will grow a strong, deep root system that will help it survive dry periods.

Organic matter

Many gardeners don’t realize the benefits of building humus in the soil. Organic matter absorbs many times its own weight in water which is then available for plant growth. It provides many benefits: clay soils with added organic matter will accept water more quickly and organically amended sandy soils hold water longer, and don’t need to be watered frequently.

One of the easiest ways to add organic matter is to add compost that breaks down to humus. This has amazing potential to hold moisture, nutrients and build soil health. It has a buffering effect against drought and plant stresses too.

Mulch

You can also use mulch to help save water. Many gardeners mulch their planting beds to hold in moisture and moderate soil temperature, but they neglect the annuals and containers. Mulching goes a long way in reducing the amounts of water these thirsty plants need, so don’t forget them when you mulch your beds.
Much of the country is now in the grip of a dry spell and scarcity of water in many areas in causing havoc to our gardens and not all plants are up to the challenge. What can one do?

Whether or not you are on water restrictions, water is a precious resource and the cost is rising all the time. We can all tread a little lighter on the planet by taking a few moment to re-evaluate our garden design and watering habits to eliminate inefficient practices that waste water – and reap the benefits at the same time.

Here are some useful tips for you to conserve and manage water efficiently, save and put money in your pocket and garden more sustainably.

Mulch: Up to 70 per cent of water can evaporate from the soil on a hot day if you don’t have mulch as protective layer on top. Mulch is one of the best moisture – holding strategies you can employ. It prevents evaporation from the soil and helps suppress water – thieving weeds trying to elbow their way to the fountain and growing. Avoid fine mulches that tend to clump and become water repellant. Instead use coarse mulch which allows water/rain to move down through to the soil. Bark chips mulch is much coarser, holds moisture well and allows water to drain easily to soil below. Avoid mulches like fresh grass clippings that mat and stop water filtering through. A depth of 3-5cm in a pot (depending on the size) and even deeper 8-10cm in a garden bed is ideal.

Watering

Water potted plants in the afternoon and the rest of the garden in the morning. Research found that watering container plants after 12.00pm and during the afternoon, significantly out performed plants grown with early morning irrigation. So watering container plants in the afternoon may lead to healthier, stronger growing plants compared to container plants watered early in the morning.

The optimal watering time for the rest of the garden is early morning before the temperatures begin to rise, winds are lower and there is less evaporation. Morning water gives the plants a good supply of water to face the heat of the day. Avoid evening watering especially on foliage as night time temperatures are in adequate to dry moisture on the leaves which can encourage some fungal pathogens to establish. However, any time plants start to show stress is the time to water them – even if this is in the heat of the day.

Harvest water – Save and reuse water whenever you can:

Install a water tank rather than wasting rainwater, to maximize roof runoff water and re-direct it for use on your garden. Slimline tank and water harvesting systems for even the tiniest of spaces, are available.
Save cooled water from cooking vegetable to water your garden. Reuse the valuable nutrients rather than tossing them down the drain.

Re-use fish tank water when you clean your fish tank, use the ‘old’ nitrogen and phosphorus rich water on your plants.
Use a composting system – whether you make or buy a worm casting farm or mini compost system, you will add valuable water saving resource in your garden. Worm casting and compost hold moisture in your soil and help retain nutrients where they are needed.

Choosing Plant Containers

Different materials heat up quickly or lose moisture due to porosity. For example metals heat up quickly so raised galvanized garden beds and metal containers will draw moisture out of the soil and these gardens will need more watering. This is a major consideration in a hot climate. Clay pots such as unglazed terracotta also lose moisture through their porous surface and the soil will dry out faster than glazed pots. If you have to have that metal or terracotta container, then consider using them as cache pot (an outer decorative pot) and put a smaller less porous pot inside to retain vital moisture.

Avoid excessive watering.

Over watering is one of the deadly sins in a garden! Not only does it waste water, but you can kill your plants with kindness and cause them to become lazy only growing roots near the surface, which make them vulnerable to drought stress.

This bad habit leaches valuable nutrients from the soil (costing you money to replace them); causes loss of oxygen in the soil pore spaces increasing chance of root rot and other diseases from suffocation, and wastes precious resource.
Use a moisture meter

This inexpensive tool is one of the most useful tools you can use in your garden to help reduce wasting water where it is not required. The probe inserted into the soil will take the guesswork out of how much water your plants need.

It provides with accurate reading. 10-30 per cent moisture indicates soil is too DRY and needs water, 40-70 per cent means soil is MOIST, so no action is required; and a reading of 80-100 per cent means your soil is too WET so avoid watering. Alternatively use a screwdriver or chopstip as a soil probe to test soil moisture.

If it goes easily, don’t water if it won’t budge then grab a water can A watering can is also a good way to make sure you only water as much as you need.

There are myriad methods to deliver water to the garden. Some gardens are small enough to water by hand. The large size of others or lack of time may require more elaborate arrangements, including sprinklers, soaker hoses, or drip irrigation systems. You have to balance your commitment with the needs of the plants and the results you expect.

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