Managing without water

19 years ago

I am a new member and disappointed with the general lack of oomph out there.

Have posted on various forums but not much response.

Would love to hear how others are coping with the drought.

I am turning over to natives and succulents. Have had a couple of generous members offer succulent cuttings, but can we start a discussion of sensible gardening in Oz? I have only just realised that I am fighting a losing battle with my "cottage" garden. OK I guess if you have an English climate.

My garden is decrepid! Happy to post photos if it starts a discussion of how not to manage in Oz. I'm in Melbourne, so probably have less problem than many. Any hints out there?

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Comments (3)

gardenlen
19 years ago
g'day valvicoz,

yeh a lot of people might seem to preffer talking about roses or whatever when it comes to the water issue, guess old habits die hard hey chuckle?

for me the only gardening suited to australia is gardens designed using native plants and then not just natives but indemic natives as they are the absolute best to cope with all conditions, plus of cours a native from one place can be a weed in another place.

but we still perservere with our need to grow food plants so we build our gardens accordingly, all our beds are raised beds and we mulch heavily plus we use all our recycled water ie.,. grey from washing dishes [use that regular earth friendly brand] & clothes (soon showers as well)[we make our own laundry detergent, recipe on our page], plus my wee water is used.

we use very little well almost no fresh water on our food plants after they are planted, the only fresh water they will get is rain water.

we have installed a water tank of substantial size [25,000 lt] (no good those small capacity models they just simply won't be effective), we are fitting 44 gallon plastic drums under other downpies and this water can be used for clothes washing, the garden or topping up the pool, we have a tank [1,800 lt]fitted to the pool system to capture and hold back flush or over full water from the pool to be used to top up the pool this tank is currently full, our fresh water tank for home use is holding around 10,000 lt's.

we have 2 out of 5 drums fitted one is full so far.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page
pos02
19 years ago
As suggested earlier, the best way to garden in a particular climate is to use mostly indigenous plants. Your local council should be able to help here. Having said that, you have to be very smart in the way you use these plants. Every garden bed is slightly different to another, and there are often different microclimates within the same garden bed. Once you realise that, it is quite easy to select the right plants. This may seem to limit the choice of plant, but in a variable climate like Australia's, it is the best way to ensure a really nice looking garden. Once these plants establish, they will grow proficiently with minimal watering. I know in the bushcare sites I work on, the plants we put in grow very vigorously, and they are only watered when planted - and we generally get at least 80% success rate.

You have to also remember that it won't always be dry. The rain will come back to normal, and the gardens will then have to cope with wet & humid conditions for extended periods. Only local plants are best suited to the local environment, otherwise you will need to baby them through the tough conditions.
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It also depends on what you are growing. You might want to consider what you are planting and go for things which do not need a lot of water, certainly for ornamentals. Also do you have a lawn and if so do you insist on it being bright green at all times or could you stand for it to be brown part of the year? For vegetables, which can't manage without water, you could be thinking in terms of grey water and rainwater harvesting. Lots of info on this on GW and elsewhere. If you do water, choose a method which doesn't lose by evaporation eg drip or trickle rather than sprinkler. For a few plants hand water with a can rather than soaking the whole garden with a hose. And of course, as kimmsr says, mulch, mulch, mulch and watch what your plants are teling you. My neighbour had a sprinkler going for hours the other day. Most of his garden is paved so he got some nice wet stones and a slightly moist garden. It rained the next three days and the garden didn't need any water in the first place anyway. He was just on autowater mode.
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cherylnsw
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We decided on putting a barrel in, it's not connected to the downpipes yet so we are making do with bucketing shower water out. Just getting the hot water to the shower takes a full bucket of water. We fill the barrel completely twice a week, which then waters the garden via a seeper hose. That plus yesterday's rain has filled the barrel along with a large baby bath. We are planning on putting 2 more barrels outside the bathroom windows to save on carrying full buckets through the house.

It's working well too, I checked the other day by digging a hole in the garden, usually no matter how deep the hole the soil is completely dry but with this I hit damp soil only a couple of inches down.

Managing without water

Comments (3)

gardenlen

pos02

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