Half of suburban water use is in the garden, although if you look at the green bush surrounds we live amongst it’s obvious you can create a beautiful, rewarding garden that requires minimum water, and with rainwater tanks, the installation of ponds or reusing greywater, you could even create a garden that collects water for later use.
Although we are fortunate to not currently be in the midst of a drought, we were a short while ago. We’d like to open the year, and during a season when we may all be a little more water conscious, with a few ideas into how you can have a great garden without water waste.
Reducing your water use and creating a water wise garden focuses on a few vital elements:
A) Plant water saving plants - natives mostly, but also some beautiful cacti or potted plants!
B) Design for low water use - plants that don't require much water, such as some natives and cacti an be grouped together, choose your watering times
C) Collect water - install a rain water tank
D) Reduce water loss - mulch, deepen your soil depth, plant more trees that can provide a canopy of shade, stop water runoff
E) Be wise about water - use methods to introduce water deeper into your soil and straight to the plant roots
Plant water saving plantsA bushwalk shows you our natural surrounds have plants that are low to the ground holding it together, native grasses, bushes and shrubs of a medium height that provide cover and food for native animals and birds, and trees of medium to tall range that provide cool leafy arbours and further homes for native animals.
The best part about introducing some natives into your garden is all the native insects and animals they will bring - visit Australian National Botanic Gardens' website for an extensive resource for native plants - a few suggestions for our area run below.
Ground Covers: Creeping Boobialla, Grevillea poorinda 'Royal Mantle', Purple Coral Pea, Snow In Summer, Common Everlasting
Small Shrubs/Grasses (to 1m): Correa 'Dusky Bells', 'Miniature' or 'Dwarf' Twiggy Baeckia, Spiny-Headed Mat Rush
Medium Shrubs (over 1m): Coastal Rosemary, Long-leaf Waxflower
Tall Shrubs (over 2m): Banksia ‘Giant Candles’, Grevillea, Scarlet or Lemon Bottlebrush, Coastal wattles
Trees: Black She-Oak, Coast Banksia, Crepe Myrtle, and of course three we're well known for in Pittwater; Spotted Gums, Swamp Mahogany and those beautiful red trunked Angophoras
Design for low water use
By grouping plants with similar thirst you can reduce your water use because you don’t have to water the whole garden just to cater for the most thirsty plants. Water the thirsty ones when they need it, and the others less often.
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Covering the ground with a living “coat” of layers of plants at different levels you will reduce evaporation, create a more consistent ground temperature in summer and winter, and create a more healthy environment for other living creatures (such as insects, frogs, birds and lizards) that generally assist with plant health. Native peas, taller grevilleas and all those lovely banksias that will provide beautiful flowers year round are a great boon for any Pittwater garden.
Keep yourself and your garden under a green wing!: You will have noticed the big difference in temperature when you are in the shade of trees, compared with being out in the open sun on lawn or bare ground. Tree shade is always going to be more dense and cooler than pergola or verandah shade from roofs but you can add some extras in to double that shade in outdoor used areas - plant out a long flowerpot with a low hedge to create a barrier or install some shadecloths - visit: Shade Sails And Watering
As some plants require full sun (vegetables for instance), you need to carefully plan the location of taller plants to the south of shorter ones that need full sun.
Reduce water loss
Water is lost in two ways; runoff and evaporation.
With the prevalence of concrete and paved driveways comes a green slippery growth that you have to scrub off annually or even sooner to stop people slipping and falling. There are now a great range of pavers and tiles you can apply slip-preventatives to and even non-toxic treatments for when the green does build up - a good yard broom with stiff bristles and a regular sweep will reduce the times when you do have to 'water the cement'. To reduce and reuse water when you do have to do a clean of paved or cemented areas, try and direct the water used onto your garden or lawn areas (not if you have used chemicals to clean as this will kill plants).
A few tips and tricks can be found in a previous page: Stop Winter Rain Lawn Loss and Soil Erosion on Slopes
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Water that does land on the soil should soak into it quickly and deeply so it will be available to plants and not lost to the sun and wind. To create topsoil with good drainage you’ll need to break down clumpy, solid soil (such as clay) with an additive such as “GroundBreaker”; and dig in large amounts of compost. Organic material added to the soil will improve water absorption straight away, but most importantly, it will encourage populations of worms and other subsoil creatures that will do even more for soil drainage and plant nutrition over the long term.
Create the deepest possible topsoil, and continue to compost waste from your garden and kitchen to replenish the soil on an ongoing basis. Nature reduces evaporation by covering the soil with plants, plant litter, or preferably both. You should do the same. Regardless of how closely plants are spaced, cover the soil with about 75mm of mulch. Many materials can be used, including compost, leaves, wood chip, bark, straw, coconut or sugarcane fibre, or even pebbles. The purpose of this layer is to insulate the soil from the sun and wind, but it fulfils many other functions, including providing a habitat for many creatures that again provide nourishment for plants.
Collect water
Installing a rainwater tank forms part of the requirements for all new homes for good reason - older homes may not have these water saving
The roof of your house isn’t the only rain-collector available to you. The ground itself receives the same amount of rain, so think about how much water the soil can absorb, and how you can drain pathways and paving into the garden beds and lawns.
The average household produces 400 litres of greywater per day. If you can use it all to replace drinking water that you would have used for watering plants you could save around 140 thousand litres of drinking water every year. Greywater is the waste water from showers, baths, spas, hand basins, laundry tubs, washing machines, dishwashers and kitchen sinks (although kitchen water is generally too contaminated to be reused).
Another way to collect water is to install a pond or water feature that, when it rains, runs over into your garden via directed channels or pipes. These too can be directed to a rainwater tank to water summer vegetables. For other ideas on installing ponds and water features for that soothing sound of water visit: Garden Ponds for Attracting Birdlife, Dragonflies and for the Soothing Sounds of Water
Be wise about water
Water on the surface of soil will evaporate before plants can make use of it, so using methods of introducing water deeper into the soil will reduce water use and benefit the plants in your garden. When renewing gardens and lawns consider installing perforated agricultural pipe (ag pipe for short) to use as a deep watering system as well as drainage. You can connect these pipes to your stormwater system in a variety of ways, depending on your home’s specific situation. For example, you might want to connect them to the overflow pipe from your water tank, so the tank fills first, then water flows deep into the ground, then water flows to the stormwater drains. This is a throwback to when stormwater drains once did send rainwater down into “rubble” pits in the ground to disperse over time and probably time we returned to not wasting a single drop. Be aware these pipes can become invaded and choked by tree roots and may need replacing every few years.
You can also water deep down with your hose by using a “Water Spike”. It is simply a long metal tube with a hose connection. As you push down on the spike, with the water running, it easily penetrates deeply into the soil.
A better use for plastic: Cut the bottoms off plastic drink bottles, remove the lids, and bury them at least half-way down in the soil next to a plant. Fill the bottle when you water the garden and this little reservoir will trickle-feed the plant for 24 hours or more. Even easier, buy a set of watering spikes and attach the bottles to them.
Spray and sprinkler irrigation systems waste water by atomising it so that much of it is evaporated before it even reaches the ground – especially on hot or windy days. Make sure you choose your watering times to suit the season - early in the morning and a half hour before dusk in Summer will work best. You can also install drip irrigators and completely cover them with mulch.
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