SETTING UP A WATERWISE GARDENBy Barry Johnson ©

WHERE DOES IT ALL BEGIN?

A bit like the Martin Luther King principle. You have a dream and that is of a great garden. Let's not turn the dream into a nightmare by heading down the wrong garden path in the first place.

The first thing to consider is; 'Do you want to be a slave to the garden I create?' Fair bet the answer will be 'not on your nelly'.

Common sense has a lot to do with our garden setup. Firstly, we live in hot, dry, Australia and not the lush, verdant regions of Europe etc. Does this mean we better think about planting cactus gardens? If you want one, go ahead but, definitely not for me.

I believe that you can still grow all manner of exotic plants to integrate with your natives if that's what you want. As a landscaper I contend that these plants can be harmoniously blended throughout the garden if they are tastefully and aspectually applied.

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Native & hardy plants The exotic garden

GENESIS - First - Loose the dunny "Or is it a jungle Jim?"

I am still being called upon to create 'exotic' gardens because,that is what many people still want. It's just that a good landscaper's interpretation of 'exotic' and his adaptation talents should have evolved to take into account the climatic times thrust upon us. At any rate, the days of open slather gardens of excess are now behind us and our collective consciousness in now towards waterwise, low maintenance approaches.

START BY BUILDING THE ARK

In actual fact the real starting place is the foundation for the ark and in the case of a 'waterwise' garden, it's the soil itself. With the right advice/help you need to carefully consider the soil structure and drainage of the intended garden. I believe that if you get this important infrastructural detail right, your garden should be right for life, with the right aftercare of course.

Firstly, let's deal with soil structure by asking yourself the question; “What type of soil to I currently have?” Light, medium or heavy ie. sandy, medium/loamy, clay, shale, acid alkaline etc. Correlate this question with; “How do I improve its structural and drainage capabilities?” Solutions like the incorporation of organic compost and quality soils; raising beds and applying gypsum /compost to clay soils etc. are factors to be considered. In flat, poorly drained sites and ones involving clay soils, drainage is vitally important. The implementation of agi/french and grate drains should be investigated and employed However, these should be installed by experts in the field and excess water should be diverted to the stormwater outlets and not into neighbouring properties or, out into the street. These practices only sour neighbourhood relationships or, make you look like a 'water wally' even if your not.

Agi drain

Dry climate-Mediterranean Hamburger with the lot

OOPS! I MISSED THAT BIT

What happens if you've got an established garden and haven't got good soil structure? You may have inherited, created or, just have a tired, hungry, dry garden. Although it is difficult to completely re-structure the existing soil when you have a fully planted out

established garden, it is not impossible to greatly improve its lot over the longer term..

The first thing I have observed over the preceding 10 year drought is that, our soil have become quite hydrophobic ie.Waterproof. The liberal application of wetting agents such as 'Saturaid' assist in reversing this phenomenon. This may require a number of applications to be affective and this is especially important on sloping blocks.

Highly mounded or, domed garden beds are by design, highly inefficient at retaining moisture and allowing water penetration as, the water travels sideways as soon as it hits the ground. As is the case with new garden beds, the incorporation of a blanket of quality, water conserving mulch and its underlying breakdown process will, over time, improve the structure and micro-biotic activity in your soil. Notice I didn't use the commonly used term, water-retaining mulches. Refer to mulches chapter for my qualification. OTHER ELEMENTS OF WATERWISE DESIGN

So you've set up the garden beds and you're standing back admiring all your hard work and thinking like Peggy Lee,”Is that all there is?” The short answer is NO. What about plantscaping and vital ingredient number one, the need for adequate watering. And don't forget the possibly hitherto great unknown, on-going maintenance issues. I'm going to presume you are only going to consider highly efficient drip watering systems and possibly supplementary rainwater tanks and grey water. As drip watering systems have to be gridded out to water your existing plantscaping design, let's look at some design elements and then move on to watering requirements.

THE FUN BIT

The real fun and exciting bit is obviously going to the nursery and running around filling up those trolleys with all manner of plants. Before you do this you need to have a basic plantscape plan to work with. Things to consider here are plants for sun, shade, size, shape, texture, flowers, foliage, evergreen, deciduous, seasonality, hardiness. One can only presume you have designed you garden with plenty of curvy, sweeping garden beds and a minimum of lawn.

This will not only give your garden beds/lawns a much more interesting shape but, will also give you depths of planting so that, you can employ the full three levels of plantscaping, upper, intermediate and lower. Today's lawn choices should be restricted to drought-tolerant, self-repair cultivars such as buffalo, fine couch, native Microlena. Sun versus shade areas will further fine tune your lawn cultivar selection.

I may be a heretic, but I still like to have some component of lawn for the cool, verdant, recreational elements they provide to the design. The demarcation between lawns and garden beds also tends to accentuate the curves and flow of your garden design.

Hopefully, the 50's-60's style of one metre wide garden a beds around the property boundary, with plants looking like little soldiers all in a row have long gone.

A curvaceous design and its inherent changes of direction and depths of planting also provides different climatic zones to allow you to grow a greater range of plants.

If the design of your home is modern and necessitates a more symmetrical approach to design, still try to incorporate enough garden 'rooms' to accommodate elements of the three levels of planting.

Foliage contrasts Colours & textures

Neither does this Well structured garden

Doesn't do it for me

When preparing to select your plants, have a look over your own fence at the general area and ask “Is it predominately native or exotic?” Do you want to be simpatico with your surroundings or, disparate. If you have to have a more exotic garden still try to have a clever blend of exotic and native plants to integrate it into your local environment. Remember, a garden without native plants is a garden without 'soul'.

There are many misconceptions and myths about many 'exotic' plants being drought tender and high water users. Of course, this criteria needs to be investigated and applied to plants considered but, in many cases, the initial setup of of your water wise garden is the key. Plants like roses and camellias have come through the 10 year drought with flying colours.

All young plants, exotic and native need some T.L.C. to get them started. All living things die quickly without water.

With domestic gardens getting smaller, native plant options are being beautifully accommodated by the introduction of 'improved', dwarf, versions of otherwise larger cultivars. However, when you consider plantscaping, always remember seasonality.

You don't want your garden spectacular to peak at the one time eg.only flowering in spring. You should be able to walk around your garden any time of the year enjoying many points of interest. This doesn't have to be restricted to flowers, consider juxtaposing foliage colours, textures and of course group plantings for impact.

One dimensional modern Modern with depths of planting Good small garden design

Acacia Cognata 'Green Mist' Dwarf Eucalyptus 'Summer Red'

STAYIN' ALIVE

So you've planted out the garden, think you've got it pretty right and you've shown it off to the neighbours. What do you reckon comes next? Yes, that's right. How do I keep it alive and stop it from getting the BeeGees? Here, you have four options if you count rain, Maybe, after the current 10 year drought, that should be three. Firstly, let's consider the one you constantly pay for; mains supply. Water is getting costly and prices are constantly being

ratcheted up to deter you from using it. The days of gay abandon, throw water on everything and everywhere spray systems are over. They are totally inefficient, affected by wind, run-off and evaporation. I recommend that you install a self-contained internalised drip watering system, gridded out to your plantscaping. These are designed to sit just under the mulch layer, which protects the drip lines from U.V. degradation. Existing spray systems usually can be retro-fitted with drip watering. Remember, some plants may need more drip runs than others.

Other water sources to seriously consider are installation of rainwater tanks and grey water systems. These are many-faceted elements that need to be professionally addressed. As a general guide, first consider the following:-

● A small tank is only good for a cup of tea. (try thinking at least 4000 litres plus).

● Have you got a big enough roof catchment area to efficiently fill the tank (one millimetre of rain falling on one square metre

of roof area provides about one litre of water). This also needs to be co-related to availability of delivery downpipes and a nearby stormwater drain for overflow dispersal.

● Can you get enough access to get the tank/s to the the site without having to hire a helicopter. Smalled tanks can be banked (interconnected) to give you larger overall storage capacity and easier tank access.

● Availability of mains power to facilitate the connection of a pressure pump to disperse the collected water (with a usable pressure flow) to the garden. Pushing water uphill will also necessitate a more powerful pump.

● Aesthetics of tank apropos garden visuals. Tanks can be horticulturaly screening.

Greywater also has the following points to consider:-

● Is the disposition of the garden practical for the installation of greywater.

● Do you do enough washing to justify its purchase cost and use? eg. Big/small family. Top loaders use a lot more water than front loaders, therefore, more usable greywater.

● Is the laundry/bathroom accessible to pumping the grey to the garden? Remember, some greywater units rely on the washing machine's internal pump to initially get the water to the temporary storage unit. Therefore, only short pumping distances are feasible.

● Similar to rainwater tanks, Practicalities of disbursing and distributing greywater to garden.

● Use of correct greywater-friendly and ultimately garden-friendly detergents.

In addition to the above, a twice annual application of a wetting agent to your garden during the warmer months with also maximise the benefits of any type of water application.

MULCHES

I do not like to use the very fine grade mulches for the following reasons:

● Fine grade mulches can absorb moisture into their own structure hence, absorb and hold passing shower rain.

● Fine grade mulches can also act similar to blotting paper and pull moisture out of soil.

● Fine grade mulches can pack down, become less porous and therefore re-direct water off the garden. This is especially so on sloping garden beds.

● Fine grade mulches can harbour and promulgate destructive fungal spores.● A mulch should also have good weed suppression qualities (remember low

maintenance). Fine grade mulches actually provide a growing medium for weed seeds.

So what do I recommend? For large area applications I would recommend 5-10 mm pine bark mulch because;

● They are from a non-native, farmed, renewable source. ● They are quite porous and do not hold too much moisture in their own right.● They have a reasonably inert and neutral affect on the garden.● They look evenly aesthetic● They provide good weed suppression.

This mulch still requires the addition of occasional organic fertilisers and a seasonal dressing of nitrogenous food such as blood and bone to replace some of the nitrogen lost in their breakdown process. Good gardeners should always fertilise their gardens, I'm sure you don't perform very well without a feed either.

Medium grade pine bark mulch Lucerne mulch

For smaller gardens, lucerne is a great mulch because;

● It actually provides between 18-25% of nitrogen in its breakdown process.● It breathes well so, is very good for veggie, bulb and herbaceous plant areas.● It doesn't last anywhere as long as pine bark but, does breakdown quicker and

beautifully into the sub-soil.● It too is a non-native, re-newable man-made resource.●

There are many other worthwhile, variations on the theme of mulches available so just check with your supplier or nursery but, don't let price be your only purchase criteria.

Remember, if you can't do it yourself, engage the services of an experienced professional landscaper

Similarly, going from ground zero to having a garden will require ongoing maintenance by you or, a garden maintenance professional. Don't forget to factor in future timeouts by you to appreciate and explore your private Idaho with your family.

Time for the hammock

If you can get it