With a summer El Nino looking increasingly likely, it’s time to assess the garden. We need to think about how we’ll get through the next few months and also what we can do to make it easier to maintain in the long term.
Never forget that a dry climate has a lot going for it. Plants grow fast and flourish in sunshine, lack of moisture means little likelihood of fungal diseases, and there are fewer weeds.
If you’re battling a spring invasion of thistles, dandelions and marshmallows, remember how much worse they’d be if we’d had a wet winter.
Plants grow fast and flourish in sunshine, lack of moisture means little likelihood of fungal diseases, and there are fewer weeds...a dry climate poses challenges, but challenges exist to be overcome.
A dry climate poses challenges, but challenges exist to be overcome.
In the short term, the best way to help plants survive this summer is to mulch the whole garden. Organic mulches prevent the ground from overheating, break down into humus which encourages earthworms, and stop too many weeds germinating and desiccating the soil.
They also look a heap nicer than scorched earth. With hay desperately needed for stock, gardeners need to be creative.
I never have enough compost let alone rotted manure, so I use any waste garden material I can find: fallen leaves, annual weeds, which I try to grab before they flower and set seed, grass clippings and slashings, even soft prunings, every little helps.
Mulches continually break down so must be kept replenished. If all else fails, packaged sugar cane mulch ($1.90 per square metre at 5 centimetre depth) and more expensive pea straw ($3.25 for similar cover and depth) both do a good job.
Looking long term, one way of making your garden easier to look after in a drought is to adopt Heather Hartshorne’s system of zoning it according to water requirements (Plants for Dry Gardens, 1995).
Zone 1 is the outside boundary where you grow tough trees and big shrubs that only need watering until established. You can also use Zone 1 plants to divide your garden into separate areas to make it seem bigger.
Zone 2 lies within Zone 1 and is for medium and small shrubs, tough perennials like euphorbias, salvias, daylilies, sedums and catmint (Nepeta), self-seeding annuals like forget-me-nots and love-in-a-mist, and bulbs.
Properly mulched, ideally Zone 2 should need watering once every ten days. Zone 3 is your outdoor room for your thirstiest plants: fuchsias, hydrangeas, anything with big leaves.
Use pots in groups, the bigger the better and plant according to your water supply. I truly believe gardens are vital to people on the land in a drought. A small courtyard looking onto a lawn and a shady tree can be a lifesaver after a hard day.
A garden honestly needn’t cost much, it’s great for your physical and mental health and helps you sleep. Above all, you always have something to look forward to.
Heads Up: Millthorpe Garden Ramble (www.millthorpevillage.com.au/) takes place November 3 and 4 from 10am to 4pm. There are 10 gardens $25 or $5 per garden. Children free. Plant stalls, food, wine and boutique shopping. Details Lyndall Harrison 0419 431 785.
