Top tips for your water wise garden
What ‘s not to love about a water wise garden? It saves water, is drought resistant and requires very little maintenance to look it’s best.
To maximize these benefits follow these easy steps:
Where possible use indigenous plants as they are normally most suitable to cope with conditions of the area.
If considering other plants than indigenous plants, use plants structurally adapted to dryer conditions e.g. succulents, plants with grey or hairy foilage, waxy leaves etc.
Group plants with similar water needs into zones (high, medium and low) in the garden and water these zones separately. Water wise plants can be planted in areas that require low to medium amounts of water and only needs water once a week.
Apply a layer of mulch to keep soil moist for longer.
Adding compost to soil will increase the soil’s organic matter, nutrient level and water holding capacity.
Wetting granules in the soil will help store water in the root zone for longer.
Soil berms can be used to retain soil and moisture on a sloping area, and can be planter up with drought tolerant species e.g. aloes, gazanias and vygies.
By adding rocks to the soil berms it will steady the berms and provide a habitat for lizards etc.
The use of gravel can be used as a permeable medium and can encourage rainwater to slow down and infiltrate the ground.
Use hard landscape materials e.g. decorative logs or features to replace plants in areas that are unsuitable or challenging to grow plants in.
Source: Rand Water, Environmental Management Services Department
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