Conserving water in the garden
By Fiona Wagner • Bankrate.com
Not long after moving to his century home perched high up on a hill, Allen Steihl discovered he hated cutting the
lawn. It's wasn't so much the grass he disliked: it was chasing his lawn mower down the steep slope toward the sidewalk. An avid
gardener for 15 years, Steihl had a clear vision for his new garden.
"I wanted a design that made the property almost maintenance-free,
reliant on harvested rainwater and okay if I left it for a week
or two (to travel)," he says.
Over six years, the Georgetown, Ont., resident stripped away all of his grass and replaced it with an award-winning
terraced garden design featuring handsome retaining walls constructed with stones he hand-chiseled himself, pea gravel pathways,
embedded lighting and an eclectic mix of drought-tolerant plants including winter cactus, irises, wild vines, tulips (300 of them),
trees and mixed groundcover.
Thanks to generous helpings of mulch, the soil around his plants stays moist for up to four weeks with no rain. He's
strategically placed thirsty Japanese Maples at the base of his downspouts to reduce watering time, and while Steihl uses six rain
barrels to collect water, he finds he only uses them when he's getting new plants established.
Maintenance is easy. Before work, he deadheads spent blooms, picks the odd weed and turns over the soil, leaving him
lots of time to devote to his hobbies -- long bike rides, touring in his Mazda Miata and renovating his 110-year-old house.
Beautiful as it is, Steihl's water-efficient garden design is not the norm. In fact, Canadians' outdoor water
consumption accounts for almost 50 percent of our water usage during the summertime -- totalling 200,000 litres of water per
household every year.
According to Environment Canada,
a single lawn sprinkler spraying 19 litres per minute uses 50 percent more water in just one hour than a combination of 10 toilet
flushes, two five-minute showers, two dishwasher loads and a full load of clothes!
Municipal water usage doubles during the summertime as people water lawns, wash cars and fill pools. It's no surprise,
then, that summertime water bans and restrictions are occurring more frequently.
"Gardening is becoming an increasing issue because it's getting more and more popular," says Christopher Hilkene,
president of the Clean Water Foundation. "It's the second most
popular outdoor activity. If everybody is doing water-intensive gardening, it's putting a strain on the water supply and the
capacity to deliver."
Read on to find out how you can create an easy- to-care-for garden that's good for your water bill
and the environment.
Xeriscaping
The term Xeriscaping, coined about 30 years ago in Denver, Colo.,
describes a water-efficient approach to gardening that uses drought-tolerant
plants adapted to the local climate. A healthier, well-suited garden
means less water but also fewer fertilizers and pesticides.
Rest assured, this doesn't mean you're stuck landscaping with cactus varieties. You can make your garden as exotic
and beautiful as you like -- just follow the seven basic principles of Xeriscaping:
|
