Creating waterwise gardens!

The main focus behind creating a water wise garden is to create a garden which is both attractive and thrives with minimal water. Outdoor water use makes up a large percentage of residential water consumption (especially in the summer), and research indicates great savings can be made if water wise gardening techniques are applied. Water wise gardening means thinking about things like watering techniques, mulching, using organic material, plant selection and design.

Your garden plants probably need less water than you think. Watering little and often does not help, as the water does not penetrate deep into the ground and only encourages plants to develop shallow rooting systems (near the soil surface). One good soak during a 10 day period is more beneficial than a light watering daily. You can find out if you need to water by digging a hole, a spades depth and examining the soil, only watering if it feels dry to touch. Water only in the cool of the morning or evening to prevent evaporation, use a watering can (great exercise) or a hand-held hose making sure that the plant gets the water where it needs it not running off. When planting put a saucer shaped dip around the base of the plant so that when you water it pools around the plant. Mulching your garden helps because you stop the soil from drying out in the first place, by evaporation by the wind or sun. A mulch is simply a layer of material placed on the surface to stop weeds from flourishing, prevents water evaporation from the soil improving the condition of the soil. Mulches can be made from various materials, such as bark chips, gravel, pea straw.  For most native plants we would recommend a good bark mulch. The thicker the layer of mulch the more effective it is, with one of 5-10 cm making a huge difference to water retention. Adding plenty organic material will help with water retention in soils, using plenty of compost and also using Sphagnum Moss when planting.  These products all help to hold more moisture in the soil. Design your gardens using dry hardy plants, and use plants that have similar soil and water needs together in the same garden beds. There are a wide range of plants that will survive a dry summer with minimal watering (once established), consider using some  of the following genus, Brachyglottis, Coprosmas, Cordylines, Hebes, Olearias, Pachystegia, Pseudopanax, Sophora, and many more.