PREPARE NOW FOR WATER CUTS By Clodagh and Dick Handscombe
The worst fear for many gardeners –no water for watering the garden – became a reality very early this year for many gardeners in Alicante, Almeria and Albacete and is a foreboding of what could happen elsewhere even though there were record rainfalls in some areas of Spain during May. And even if there are eventually no problems this year their could be next year! So it’s time we took the storing of rain water and xeriscaping – the art of gardening with the minimum of water - seriously.
FIRSTLY STORE RAIN WATERHow much rain water do you catch in your garden during heavy rainfalls and store for rainless weeks and months? Unfortunately for most readers the answer will be none. It is a great pity that Spanish authorities did not legislate thirty years ago before the beginning of the construction boom that all new houses had to have guttering on at least one side of the roof and a large storage tank in the underbuild or in the garden as houses not on mains water normally had.
For very little extra construction cost there would have then been plenty of water even in the worst years for watering plants, washing cars, topping up pools and keeping lawns green. worrying about what has not happened. Looking at the new long term plan for our village and valley the numbers of houses will at least double in the future and the same elsewhere on the costas and in inland valleys once the current economic crisis is over.
So why not reduce the pain by requiring guttering and water tanks from now on. For those living in houses without guttering and storage tanks it is only a day’s work by a professional contractor to fit guttering and a plastic tank on the average house. If your underbuild is insufficiently high for a tank an outside tank or mini swimming pool would be even quicker to install.
SECONDLY REUSE GREY WATERAll household water except that from toilets can be re-piped through a grease trap, filter and reed bed for watering the garden. Indeed for the hardier plants the reed bed is not necessary. The only requirement is that you use biodegradable eco washing agents such as soap buds.
THIRDLY XERISCAPEXeriscaping is essentially the art of designing or redesigning your garden so that it requires no watering other than the occasional rainfall and the dampening effects of low clouds, sea and river mists, and over night dews.
It can be done for at least half the garden if not all. Just look at the banks alongside the motorways, the verges of country roads, the sides of mountains and mountain tops, cliff faces, and the inland side of sand dunes along the coast.
The following are some practical ideas selected from those in the trilogy of books listed below.
1. Stop planting thirsty plants. There are plenty of possible plants.
Go through the lists and descriptions of plants in Part Four of our two editions of Your Garden in Spain and select from the plants listed with a high drought resistance.
2. Improve the water holding capacity of soils and composts by mixing in more composts and TerraCottem soil improver.
Research in Murcia University demonstrated that irrigation/watering needs can be reduced by upto 50 and even 70 percent by using economic amounts of TerraCottem. If you cannot find it in your local garden centres try
www.happyecogardens.com or
info@terravida.com.
3. Having improved your soil as discussed last week plant only drought resisting plants and trees .Plants and trees that can survive even thrive during hot dry spells. There are plenty listed in Part Four of our book Your Garden in Spain – From planning to planting and maintenance.
4. Plant roots so that they are under rocks where moisture is naturally conserved.
5. Have narrow planting areas surrounded by paths, terraces or stone chippings so that roots can grow under these for shade and stored moisture.
6. Contour the garden so that any rain is channelled to where required and not lost into none planted areas or to neighbouring properties
7. Create semi shaded positions or areas that are only in full sun for part of the day.
8. Take out the thirstiest plants in the garden or replant them where they can be easily watered by gravity from tubs of rain water collected by installing guttering on at least one roof or by running washing up water and washing machine water to the garden. Not theoretically xerigardening but you are not using purchased towns water
9. Create interest in the garden by the use of rocks, coloured chippings or sands, interestingly surfaced paths and terraces, ornaments, groups of pots, interestingly shaped dead dry branches and trunks, agricultural implements, cart wheels, perhaps an old cart etc.
10. Use solid plastic sheeting under the surface finish to move water from one part of the garden to another during rainfall - this is an easy substitute for the large slabs of solid rock that do this in nature, Reduce water evaporation in the same way and by surrounding all plants with natural mulches of small or medium sized rocks or stones, volcanic larva chippings, pebbles, stone chippings etc,
11. Replicate natural features such as dry river beds or ponds, rocky hillsides and crags, sand dunes , pine forests, beaches etc. Remember the impact of raked designs of Japanese sand or pebble gardens.
12. There are many more related ideas in our books and it would also be worth visiting the regional botanical gardens to look at their dry beds and rockeries.
13. If you live on a development with community gardens why not set up a working party of previously enthusiastic gardeners to develop an action plan for the gardens for presentation to the next owners meeting.
With a combination of the actions listed above attractive colourful gardens that need minimum maintenance can be developed on any site. As said in previous columns if you have no soil but only solid rock then resort to building naturally looking raised beds.
* Clodagh and Dicks trilogy of books Your garden in Spain - From planning to planting and maintenance, Growing healthy fruit in Spain and Growing healthy vegetables in Spain can be purchased/ordered from bookshops or conveniently via the publisher Santana’s entirely new user friendly website
www.santanabooks.com or their telephone service (mornings only) 952-48-58-38. When you are in the UK the Royal horticultural Society Bookshop at Wisley gardens has a freephone mail order service on 0845-260-4505. © Clodagh and Dick Handscombe June 2008.
