How can I water my garden in a drought?

The gardener is well placed to harvest the rainwater that falls onto the house roof, but also the greenhouse roof and any sheds or garden buildings. Providing there is a slope for the water to run off, this can be collected into guttering and directed into storage tanks. This rainwater is ideal for watering your garden plants and often well positioned for some of the less accessible plants on your plot. These days you can invest in underground storage tanks or large water tanks for rainwater that can be used as a reservoir for your garden plants when there is a drought.

The main thing to understand about garden plants is that when they are established, such as trees and shrubs that have been growing in the same place for more than two years should be able to obtain water from the water table as their roots will have already reached down deep in the soil. Established plants rarely need watering in a drought, but they will let you know if they do, so keep a close eye on them and watch out for signs of stress including wilting, discoloured leaves and general malaise. This also applies to most other garden plants.

It’s always a good idea to keep your watering to a minimum when planting any new plants. You can’t allow the root ball to dry out but equally you need to encourage the plant to develop its roots to find it’s own water supply. When drought becomes the norm then you need to choose plants that are more resistant to drought and grow those instead.

Make the water that you use work harder by applying it very early in the morning so that it has time to soak into the soil or compost before the sun gets too hot and evaporate it. Some plants don’t like being too wet overnight and moist soil at night can also encourage slug and snail activity so should be kept to a minimum.

Grey water

Don’t forget you can use a certain amount of wastewater from the home to water your garden. When running the hot tap, collect the cold water until it runs hot and transfer to a watering can outside, this can be used to water any garden plants. Save the washing water from salads and vegetables and use in the same way.

Washing up water that is not very soiled or greasy can also be allowed to cool and used on the garden. If you use natural washing up liquid and detergents then this is even better.

With a bit of clever plumbing you can divert the final rinse water from your washing machine into the garden and divert your bath water in the same way, though it’s not a good idea to use bath water on edible crops and avoid using it if you use masses of fragrant enhanced bath oils and bubble bath.

How can I get my children interested in gardening?

Some children are naturally fascinated by plants and gardening, while others get the habit at school by taking part in gardening projects and after school clubs. If your children have not shown much of an interest so far, don’t despair.

Give your child a pot of plants to nurture, choose something that is hard to kill and will tolerate drought such as a pot of sedums which will flower, have bobbly or succulent leaves and don’t mind a bit of neglect. Pot them into a terracotta pot and give them to your child to nurture outside.

If they have an interest then let them have their own mini plot where they can sow and grow seeds and plants.

Make the garden a fun place to be, somewhere that they can play safely and create all manner of stories and adventures. Create a garden camp for them or add a Wendy house or garden fort that is their special place. Hold garden treasure hunts where they search for something they love in and around the garden. Easter egg hunts are a good one, but you can hide all sorts of things in the garden.

Let them see you enjoying yourself outside, family picnics and games in the garden help them associate the garden with happy things and make it a place that they want to spend some time.

Grow plants that they can pick the fruit from such as espalier or step over apples where the fruit is at their level rather than up high, this shows them where fruit comes from. Strawberries and raspberries are also very easy to grow and great to pick and eat from the plant, but there are vegetables too that can be picked (under supervision) and eaten from the plant such as peas and sugar snaps.

Give your child a garden task to complete, but make it a nice one, maybe picking a vase of flowers for the house for the weekend, or harvesting the raspberries. If they have a pet such as a rabbit or guinea pig, help them to grow special food for it such as lettuce and carrots. When the plants are mature, help them to harvest them and feed them to their pet.

Have a growing competition between a few children and see who can grow the longest bean, the tallest sunflower or make a miniature garden.

Children love growing things but they also need fast results so make sure you have a few projects going at the same time. Choose easy to grow plants and flowers such as sunflowers, nasturtiums and pot marigolds with bright coloured petals and interesting angles. Sunflowers are a good choice, as the bees love to collect the pollen from the middle of the flowers. Children love to see how the sunny faces turn to face the sun and when the flowers are mature you can see the seeds forming. These then make great bird food, or can be saved and sown next year for a new crop, teaching them about the cycle of life and how a seed forms. Nasturtiums are another great flower for attracting bees and insects. The leaves and flowers can be used in salads and the seeds can be pickled and used as capers or saved and sown next year.

Article Posted By : Grow House To know more about the best way to watering and how you can get children interested in gardening visit http://www.growhouse-greenhouses.co.uk/greenhouses.php