Water Conservation in the Yard

Often you don’t appreciate something until it’s gone! That can really be true with water. Taken for granted when it is plentiful, its importance is truly appreciated in garden once it becomes scarce. If you find yourself in a drought, there are some things you can do to help conserve water and make best use of what you have available.

If you have not already mulched your plants, do it! Mulch will help limit amount of water that evaporates from soil. While organic mulches such as grass clippings or wood chips are preferable since they add organic matter to soil, plastic mulches are useful in limiting evaporation from soil. They can be laid between rows in vegetable garden and will help limit moisture loss; however, they also will limit infiltration. Place your water where it will do most good. Sprinklers are very inefficient for getting water to roots of your plants. Much of water lands on leaves and evaporates before reaching ground. A slow gentle watering at base of plants, allowing water to soak into soil, will be most efficient. Water those plants needing it most. Newly planted trees, shrubs, and flowers with limited roots systems will most likely suffer first from drought conditions. Give these plants priority if water is scarce. Well-established plants, especially those native to area, are likely to withstand drought conditions with limited damage.

Wildlife Gardener

Gardening for wildlife has become quite a passion for me, although I only have a small urban garden I have still managed to fit a fair amount of bird and insect friendly flowers and plants in. Since reading an article about decline in popular species of birds such as sparrows, blackbirds and thrushes I decided to do my bit to help my local bird population by purchasing two seed feeders, a nut feeder, a bird table and a small bird bath I was ready and waiting for my new feathered visitors, which up to that point was few and far between. After a couple of weeks of patiently waiting and watching I was beginning to loose hope, only odd sparrow turned up every other day, though still I waited. After fourth week success, it seemed that word had spread and dozens of sparrows flocked to my garden, amongst them birds that I had never seen in my garden such as Blue Tits, Great Tits and Green Finches. I have found Blackbirds are a lot more common now, along with two grey squirrels which constantly argue over feeders! The success inspired my enthusiasm and I browsed on internet to find some plants and shrubs that I could use in my garden which would be beneficial to wildlife with a little help I started to redesign my garden. As I only have a small space trees and large shrubs were out of question, though there seemed plenty of information to help choose right plant for right position, which believe me being a complete amateur gardener I needed all help I could get!