Garden Designer | Drought Resistant Gardening

For the enthusiastic gardeners amongst us, the hosepipe ban currently affecting an ever-increasing number of regions across the South of England is more than an inconvenience it's a potential disaster.

But do not despair. With a little thought and reorganisation, you can conserve water, minimise drought damage and still ensure you have a summer garden that's the envy of all your neighbours!

How? It's simple...............

1. Improve Moisture Retention in the Soil

Limit evaporation from the soil by mulching soil surfaces. This will significantly improve moisture retention. There are several different types of mulch which can be employed for this purpose:-

a. Organic Mulches

The best organic matter to use would be:

- Animal Manure making sure that it is well rotted.
- Mushroom Compost though this should not be used on very chalky soil or acid loving plants.
- Garden Compost when the texture has turned ‘crumbly'.
- Leaf Mould this compost will suit acid loving plants (recycling garden waste into compost makes one of the cheapest soil conditioners).
- Chipped Bark make sure you buy chipped bark, not chipped wood.

But be careful: when dry and in a strong wind, it tends to blow about the garden!

b. Non Organic Mulches

- Gravel or other Aggregates excellent, long lasting inorganic mulch available in a range of colours, textures and sizes
- Grass cuttings compost with other material first (never compost grass cuttings that have been freshly treated with herbicide).
- Cocoa shells a good, light, porous mulch with small amounts of nutrients
- Rocks, Pebbles & Glass Nuggets are a colourful, efficient alternative to all of the above.

When using an inorganic matter as mulch on the soil, first prepare the site by pegging down a porous membrane on top of the soil. The weight of the inorganic mulch will help anchor anchor the membrane and prevent the gravel or glass nuggets from becoming buried in the soil.

2. Water Butts

Place water butts in the garden in strategic spots where they can catch water from the roof of your home, garage and garden outbuildings. Water butts can be inter-linked using hosepipe to allow the maximum amount of water to be stored.

Call Original Organics for under half price Water Butts including a down-pipe connecter and a watering can on tel. 01884 841515

3. Recycle Domestic Water

Do not use water though that contains bleach or detergent. Bath water can be used so long as you rotate the type of water given in one area. Make sure that the water is not poured directly on to the leaves.

4. Lay a Drought Tolerant Lawn

Grassed areas are the first to suffer from a hosepipe ban. Consider reducing the size of your lawn and possibly replacing it with a Gravel Bed or a lawn made up of thyme or camomile. Alternatively, you could consider hard landscaping.

However, if you're set on keeping your lawn, a turf company in the South of England called Sovereign has developed a Drought Tolerant Grass called Xeris, details of which can be found by following the link.

5. The Hard Landscaping Option

There are a variety of surfaces other than lawn that offer interest and texture in the garden. These include:

(a) Paving leaving a space between the paving stones for creeping plants such as thyme can soften the edges of a hard-paved area. Even in dry weather there is usually sufficient moisture beneath the slabs for the efficient growth of alpines. Leaving out the occasional slab can also provide space for a larger plant to be grown.

(b) Cobbles and Aggregates naturally complement each other as well as do plants and can be easily worked into curving shapes and organic patterns. For added colour contrast, glass blocks can also be introduced in small areas.

(c) Gravel this is by far the easiest surface to lay, although it is better not to lay gravel immediately next to the house, as it is easily trodden indoors.

(d) Decking can easily be accommodated in any garden regardless of levels. Using grooved timber helps to prevent slipping when the surface is wet.

Combining the above in an imaginative way will not only enable you to conserve water, but will also provide an area of garden that needs little maintenance. It will also create a cool area where plants will thrive during spells of dry weather.

For more information about any of the above contact Amanda

6. Planting

There are a number of ways in which planting itself can help reduce the amount of water evaporation from the soil:

(a) Plant more trees- Shade from trees helps to provide cooler pockets of air, whilst the trees themselves create an excellent windbreak to minimise the drying effect of the wind. If your garden occupies a large, windy site, especially near the coast, you could benefit from planting a high hedge or a ‘shelter belt' of trees and shrubs.

(b) Grow Plants in Containers- If you grow a lot of patio plants in containers, grouping them together will enable them to produce their own microclimate. It will also help conserve water, as more is required to water more widely spaced plants. Water-retaining granules incorporated in the compost of hanging Baskets and containers will also help keep the soil moist during dryer weather.

(c) Plant Ground Cover- The use of ground cover planting is another very useful way of helping to retain moisture in the soil. Plants with silver coloured foliage are especially effective in achieving this. The art of good ground cover planting lies in creating drifts of plants, broken by the occasional change of height, shape and colour.

(d) Use Windbreaks- It is not only trees and shrubs that can be useful in slowing down the wind and reducing moisture loss in the garden. More immediate remedies are things like woven willow panels, trellising and baffle fencing, all of which provide instant, effective help in combating the drying process when erected in the right places. For long term windbreaks, evergreen hedges such as holly or deciduous hedges such as hawthorn are an excellent choice.

(e) Terracing- In sloping gardens, water quickly drains away, leaving slim opportunity for the soil to absorb any moisture. Terracing provides a flat surface to help contain and conserve water supplies. Terracing can be constructed in various ways, one of which is to use sleepers.

As a Garden Designer all these things need to be taken into account and planned for. Remember no water equals sure disaster.

 

Flower Gardens and Container Gardens

Growing a garden in one’s home can be considered both an art and a science. Of course, you want to use attractive plants and flowers to beautify your home. However, you must also know how to care for these plants. It may be helpful if you know which plants thrive during which seasons, and in what climates they are most suited. With this, you can maintain the beauty of your garden.

If you have a backyard, then you have all the freedom to grow a garden. If you do not have enough space in your home, you can opt for a container garden instead. This type of gardening doesn’t use up much space but can add the same natural beauty ideal for your home.

A container garden is composed of plants grown exclusively in containers instead of planting them on the ground.

Ceramic pots are often used as containers, although those made of plastic are also used. Window boxes are also commonly used. One benefit of container gardening is you can grow plants even if the soil or climate is not fit for them.

Another advantage of container gardening is the lesser risk of soil-borne diseases. Weed problems can also be eliminated. Thus, your plants are better protected. Container plants are mobile; this gives you more control over the amount of sunlight the plants receives, and you can regulate the temperature and moisture they absorb. If you want some container gardens ideas for beginners, you can research on what kinds of plants you can use.

For certified container garden design ideas, you can use herbs, flowers, cacti, and even small trees.

If you are a homeowner who has a yard, you can grow more kinds of plants. You can even have structures built to support the plants. If you want beauty, color, and fragrance in your garden, then you can cultivate vibrant flowers.

To help you come up with guaranteed flower garden design ideas, you can gather information about different varieties. You can use fragrant perennials, such as the Erysimum, which is commonly known as wallflowers. This plant’s  flowers have shades of purple, red, and deep maroon, to name a few. The bloom time of Erysimum is from early spring to early summer. There are many other varieties, and they can all enhance the visual appeal of your garden.

Flower Garden

A garden is a space set aside, usually in the outdoors for display of plants, flowers or vegetables. A garden can also be for relaxation and enjoyment especially if it has well manicured grass and bushes. The design depends on the desired needs and the landscape shape. This may be done by the owner or professionally by garden designers. The art of gardening dates back to renaissance period with people like the French, English and the Japanese having different designs corresponding to their culture. Most of the renaissance gardens were developed in ruling families such as queens or kings and rich families.

Garden can support different purposes and thus will have different names. A vegetable garden just like the name suggests is used to grow vegetables for home use or for sale. Vegetable gardens are also known as kitchen gardens. Vegetable gardens often are also used to grow fruits, herbs and flowers.

An exclusive flower garden is one where flowers are grown for decorative purposes. A rock garden is a type of garden that features use of rocks and stones extensively. It is also known as an alpine garden. The plants grown on rock garden are those native to rocky areas. These are normally small species plants that cover or creep on the rocks.

Garden furniture

Gardens can often contain furniture especially if they are used for relaxation and enjoyment. Garden furniture may be made from natural material or plastic that depicts the natural look. These can be garden chairs, tables, benches, beds, sinks and garden shed. The garden shed is a structure used to store garden tools. The garden furniture should be of durable material and one that is easy to clean.

Other accessories are also found in the garden such as swings and umbrellas.

Garden plants

Garden plants can be perennial, annual, climbers or those that live for a few months then wither off. Care is required for these plants because they can be attacked by diseases and parasites. Plants chosen to be planted in the garden should be selected carefully to make sure poisonous varieties are not selected. Toxic plants may be dangerous especially if children and pets will be using the gardens. Some of the garden plants may have useful properties such as medicinal value, cosmetic or even as food products. Some of the garden plants are flowers such as; camellia, lavender, azalea, hibiscus, peony, the weigelia and the cyads. These flowers can be used as Christmas decorations. Garden trees examples include; olive tree, laurel, mimosa, cedar of Lebanon, hackberry, maple, the plum, silver fir, lime, cypress and the poplar tree. These trees can be used as ornamental or as hedges of the garden. They vary depending on the climate of the region therefore one needs to know which tree will best thrive in a specificclimate.

To keep the garden top-notch, frequent pruning is required. Various gardening tools will help perform this duty. There are tools for digging up the soil, mowing, for pruning and sweeping any dirt from the garden. Maintaining the garden may also need constant irrigation to keep the plants alive.