A PRECIOUS COMMODITY (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

A PRECIOUS COMMODITY

8:51pm Sunday 27th June 2010

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As sure as night follows day a spell of hot weather brings warnings of hosepipe bans. It’s a fact of a gardener’s life. But this is something we should all take very, very seriously. Water is a precious commodity and it is in all our interests to use it wisely everywhere, in our homes, our gardens and in the workplace – every drop counts.

There is quite a lot we gardeners can do to help overcome the effects of drought. By improving the soil structure of our plots we can help the soil retain moisture. Dig in generous amounts of bulky organic matter, either spent mushroom compost, garden compost or well rotted manure, they will all do a good job.

The effects of evaporation can be lessened by spreading a deep mulch over the soil in spring. And here there are any number of materials you can use including chipped or composted bark, garden compost, well rotted manure or gravel. On an allotment where appearance isn’t so important you could use old carpet or black plastic. On the plus side rainwater is free so it makes sense to collect and store it when it does pour down. This can be done by fitting water-butts to your drain pipes and having guttering fitted to your garden shed and greenhouse leading to a water barrel. You could be surprised just how much water can be collected from quite small outhouses. For your own comfort try to site water butts in the shade and fit with a cover or lid of some sort. This should prevent any possible problems with mosquitoes. Grey water (water that has already been used in your home for bathing or washing) can be stored in a separate container or used straight onto the garden, but don’t use any that contains a lot of soap or detergent. Water from the dishwasher is not suitable because of the high salt content.

When it comes to choosing which plants to grow there are quite a few which can survive with little or no watering even in dry conditions. These include lavender, hardy geraniums, sedum, thyme, both vinca major and vinca minor, sage, nepeta, cosmos, lavatera and nigella. Vegetables that cope well in dry conditions include parsnips, Jerusalem artichokes and rhubarb. Lawns have to be tough and to help them survive periods of drought allow the grass to grow longer. Not only is longer grass more resilient in dry spells a denser ground cover is provided and in turn this helps to cut down water evaporation in the heat of the sun.

When you do water the golden rule is that an occasional soaking is better than frequent light sprinklings. The latter encourages the plants to form shallow roots instead of growing deeper in an effort to find moisture. Keep weeds under control, they are greedy for moisture and nutrients. The single most wasteful item of garden watering is the sprinkler so discipline yourself not to use it and finally, give all new plants, shrubs and trees a thorough soaking before they are planted and keep their roots well watered until they are established.