What is the best way to save water in your garden?

As the harsh summer draws nearer, with tough and often increased water restrictions, Australians have many ways to ensure their gardens make it through the season.





How do you get your garden through the harsh summer weather?


What do you do to make sure your garden survives?

What is the best way to save water in your garden?
great question!





We diverted our pipes from the washing machine and shower to the garden as alot of people have done during the drought. we also changed the shower head to a water saving one. I wash the kids in the bath together (unless one is really dirty), using one bath of water instead of 2. I also went and brought a water effecient front loader washing machine.





We also bought a huge water tank to catch as much rain as we can for garden use and washing cars (not that we do that much!) etc.





I also do little things like, when changing the dogs water I will tip it on my garden rather than just down the sink. Me and the kids sometimes go out and do a rain dance.....lol... it has never worked!!


I hate the thought of such a beautiful country like Australia, having brown dead gardens because of the drought so You need to use every drop you can and not waste one.
Reply:1. have replaced lawns with prostrate native plants, %26amp; bird attracting shrubs.(netted to keep cats out)


2. Have dug pit %26amp; filled with blue-metal to achieve a "soak" to encourage tree roots to head for there %26amp; not the house.Under the "soak" has been made worm friendly with appropriate aeration, matting, %26amp; plastic food pipe running to the surface for dropping food scraps to worm level.


3.front of house is bright %26amp; colourful yet has not been watered for months (using more ground cover + cacti as feature).I seem to have run out of space to add any more!
Reply:To start with, plant natives to your area, or plants that do well in your type of environment.





Use a thick good quality mulch to conserve water, and when planting use a good water crystal in the soil.





When running a shower, catch the cold water in a bucket as you wait for the hot water to come through. Also have buckets to catch run off in the shower, and use these buckets on the garden.





If you're really keen, save the rinse water from each washing load and re-use it to wash the next load. When you've finished all your washing, use the final rinse water to put on the garden.





Water in the evening so that the water has a chance to soak in before the sun comes up.





If you have the money, install rainwater tanks. Oh... and here's a fun rhyme for the toilet... if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down!





When rinsing things like coffee and tea cups, tip the rinse water into a bucket and use it on the garden. If you're washing vegetables, use a plastic container in the sink, then pour off the wash water into the garden.





If none of this appeals, simply call the local concretor and get the lot covered in cement. Then use a broom, not the hose to keep it all clean!
Reply:Use mulch and collect rain water, but keep it covered so mosquitoes can't breed there.
Reply:My garden is the forest outside my house, and it lives year round regardless of what I do. I just have to make sure it stays protects.
Reply:The answer is simple..........Concrete...lol. maybe some astroturf!!!!
Reply:CEMENT IT!
Reply:You can save water in your garden by putting it in a screw cap jar. That way none evaporates.
Reply:i recon that if u turn off da tap wen u brush ya teeth and if u wash ur hair in the bath or sumthing then if u wash ya car on the grass


thats how we save water


cheers
Reply:We bought a 500 litre tank, %26amp; pump all the laundry water into it. We had a very good garden all last summer, %26amp; still have! We grew vegetables, herbs, flowers %26amp; shrubs, %26amp; are now awaiting the new seasons crop of vegies, have sweet peas,anemones, ranunculis, pansies, petunias etc in flower. The grey water also keeps my daughter's tropical plants %26amp; ferns going strong as well as being used to wash the paths %26amp; pergola. I know it is banned by some councils, but it's worth finding out if your's allows it, also the proper detergents to use
Reply:Collect as much water as you can from the washing machine when it spin dries, the dishwasher (you have to connect a hose at the back) when it rinses, and if a bucket fits in your shower, you can use the excess from there, too. It all adds up and can maintain many different plants and grass for yonks. The detergent is good for detering insects, too. I wouldn't use that water on a vegie patch, though.
Reply:I use humus mixed in with the top soil and a garden compost blend in the veggie garden, with lots of mulch. Also catch as much rain water as possible.
Reply:When doing your laundry use your "grey water" to water the garden with. This will save using water from the tap and emptying the supplies in our Dams that we need.
Reply:Recycling water wherever possible - even if it only seems like a small addition.





For example, letting water from cooking (ie steaming or boiling vegetables) cool and using it on potplants,
Reply:I find that singing to plants makes them happier.
Reply:Open a Butt Account.
Reply:If you can afford it purchase a large rain water storage tank from your local hardware store. The tank can be installed to connect with your down pipe to catch as much rain water as possible. In the meantime, any water used for washing, etc, can be kept, put into buckets and used on the garden as well.
Reply:Don Burke did an interesting experiment on one of his shows ages ago...from memory they had lots of different sections of garden bed with different additives - wetting crystals, different mulches and manures, and different ways of delivering the water etc. The idea was to discover how to use the least water for the best outcome. The final thumbs up went to horse poo dug into the soil - it made the soil like a sponge, and caused it to hold the moisture much longer than the others...and of course, mulch and mulch - it keeps moisture in the soil in just the same way that a jumper keeps warmth in your body i.e. stops it evaporating, therefore you don't have to keep replacing it.
Reply:there are many ways you can save water in your garden. you could use grey water (water from your washing machine or that you washed the dishes in) to water your garden. you could put a bucket in your shower and when it gets full empty it into your garden %26amp; use fertiliser that doesn't need all that much water. you can also buy some pellet looking things and put them into your indoor plants and they slowly release moisture into the soil and they last for ages
Reply:get a water butt.
Reply:water at dusk and only when needed
Reply:I installed 2 rain barrels to harvest rainwater from my roof to water my garden. these worked extremely well.


also, I mulch heavily and add more grass clippings when mowing the yard.
Reply:We seem to be getting a fair bit of rain where we live (South West Sydney) so we have put downpipes from our outdoor patio area and roof onto our lawn and garden so the water isn't wasted down the drain.


We have bought weed-mat which we have around all our garden beds - 1. not having weeds, the plants don't have any competition for their moisture and 2. no weeding to do!!


we covered the weed mat with mulch (sugar cane mulch) to keep any moisture in the soil as much as possible.


We have simple little drip irrigation system that has a timer on it to drip on the allowable days /hours - our garden is all heat tolerant plants and always seems to manage really well through summer.
Reply:I like the idea of making my garden functional...hence I've got a large veggie patch as opposed to an ornamental garden.





I've never used soil wetting agents as I believe in keeping chemicals of any sort outta the garden wherever I can...esp as I eat my own produce!





Use a thick layer of a good quality garden mulch and water at night using a drip, soak or similar watering system set on a timer.





Compost all garden waste, veggie scraps etc and recycle this back onto the garden as fertiliser. Get a worm farm going in there if you can :)





If you must have an ornamental garden, consider using native plants or succulents...and reduce the size of your lawn (where you practically can) as these can potentially chew up a lot of water.





I'm not opposed to using grey water from the laundry or kitchen sink on my garden...but again dont do this very often as I prefer to keep chemical free and dont want to introduce detergent residues.





I'm also very much in favour of EVERY household retrofitting a suitable size rainwater tank as an alternate source to mains tap water.





Cheers :)
Reply:Several ways are to be considered :





if you stock water in a pool cover it up with plastic sheeting to hamper evaporation.





When you decide what plants you'll put in mix compost with soil, fill up your drill with it and when you come to watering the compost (humus) will act as a sponge and swell up. Compost which is buried does not evaporate readily. Do this and then mulch the ground with grass mowings, hay, leaves... vegetable matter p. Water the mulch as this will make it stick flat to the soil and reduce evaporation even further.


You can cover the soil with white plastic sheeting between rows of plants. do not use clear or black plastic, White reflects light into space ( John Dewar's principle )


Use porous pipes made of reconditionned worn motor car tyres linked up to a water tank for watering just on the line. Do this at dusk when evaporation is at its lowest.





gérard huguenin, Toulouse, France.
Reply:Mulch Mulch and more Mulch and lay it on thick as this will also kill any weeds that were trying to come up. Sugar Cane Mulch is one of the most popular. I just use my lawn mower clippings as it saves having to take it to the dump.
Reply:you know, when it snows, it's dead. when it's the begining of spring, than you have to regrow it. in the summer you can let it die on you, or you can keep on watering it intell it looks good. it depends how long you let the water on. small lawn...35 min. regular lawn...1 hr. large lawn. ...2 hrs.
Reply:put a bucket in the shower to collect the water and then use it to water the garden. like wise when washing dishes, laundry etc.
Reply:My mum had this idea - keep a bucket in the laundry trough under the tap to catch hand washing water; then when its full tip it onto a dry part of the garden.
Reply:use leess water
Reply:My partner and I have a compost bin and we use the compost under the mulch. We also have a bucket in the shower with us so it collects any wated water, we put this water directly onto our plants.(along with water which is caught in our rain water tank. We use watersaving products on our lawn and garden, we also only have native Western Australian plants in our garden.