Climate change and its effects on our gardens

There are many problems associated with climate change, one of the best known in Australia being drought. This can have a vastly negative impact on ones backyard especially with rising water restrictions. While writing my first blog post, I discovered that my lawn and one tree alone use up about 90% of the water from my garden!! With most of that going to the lawn, not the tree, it’s easy to see where the drought problem is coming from. So I thought it would be a good idea to write a post about climate change, considering whether you’re a gardening professional or just like the occasional potter around, this issue is relevant to everyone.

When planting new plants into a garden, it is often good to consider what plants are naturally adapted to the dry environment. There are many different varieties of plants that are naturally adapted to dry conditions, for example succulents have water storage cells which help them to (obviously) retain water and hence need less watering. Many native plants (particularly native to a certain area) are able to thrive simply because they are used to the conditions in the first place! Remember that the climate in Victoria is always changing and plants have been around a lot longer than us, so there used to itJ. Another way to effectively save water is to simply not water your lawn. Not only does this save water it also saves moving and weeding time J If you can’t stand having a dying lawn but still want to save water, consider laying down some Kikuyu turf. It requires little maintenance and almost no watering. The only downside is that it grows so fast it will need mowing regularly during summer and it may run into your garden in which case just trim it off.

The last and probably the most obvious way to save water is to buy and install some water saving equipment, including drip irrigation, water tanks, mulch and soil enhancers (including water crystals ect). This sort of stuff can be expansive but can greatly reduce the amount of water you use on your garden, and save you money on your bill J