Life is a Garden | South Africa |

All you ever need to know about water smart gardening.

• Waxy leaves. A waxy coating helps to prevent moisture loss. Examples: euonymus, kalanchoe and Indian hawthorn.
• Plants with lighter colours on the undersides of their leaves. When stressed, they turn the lighter side upwards to reflect the sun away. Examples: wild olive tree, gazanias, and indigenous buddlejas.
• Sturdy internal structures. Water wise plants have a strong internal skeleton which supports the leaf and prevents wilting during dry spells. Examples: strelitzia, restios, agaves and New Zealand flax.
• Volatile oils in the stomata. This is common in plants and herbs from Mediterranean countries, which experience a hot, dry summer, and is an extra protection against water loss. Examples: rosemary, lavender and sage

3. Reduce your lawn

Think about how much lawn you actually need as lawn is a high water usage feature. Replace your lawn with water wise paving, timber decking, pebbles, gravel or water wise low-growing ground-covering plants. Once you have reduced your lawn area, take into account the following when reshaping your lawn:

• Plan a simple shape. Make your lawn circular or oval rather than curvy - this will 'match' the shape of your lawn sprinkler.
• Plan to harvest water. Before laying the lawn, shape the area to have a slight hollow in the middle - like a shallow saucer - in order to hold rainwater on the lawn.
• Choose the right grass. In the winter rainfall Western Cape region, plant low water usage indigenous buffalo grass. In summer rainfall areas, use water smart indigenous Cynodon species.
• Water efficiently. To encourage deep rooting, irrigate lawns deeply and infrequently. Cut back on watering during winter and let the grass go dormant.

4. Wise up on water features

How to create a water smart water feature:

• Position in a shady or partially shady spot.
• Position in a wind-free spot to save water loss through evaporation.
• The less water movement there is, the less water will be lost. The most water thrifty are millstones, bird baths and still ponds.
• A shallow pond loses more water to evaporation than a deep pond.
• If you choose a fountain, the pond beneath it needs to be one and a half times wider than the height of the fountain to prevent water splashing out of the pond.
• Fountains that produce course droplets rather than sprayers or fountains with a fine spray lose less water.
• Switch off the pump of a fountain or waterfall when you don't actually need to see it.
• Check old concrete ponds regularly for cracks and leaks.

The magic of mulch

Mulch is any substance that can be placed on the surface of the soil around plants in order to keep moisture in the soil. There are three sorts of mulch:

• Organic mulches. These come from plant and animal sources and are the best sort of mulch. Examples are compost, grass cuttings, pine needles, chopped bark, straw, nut shells, peach pips, strawy manure, crushed mealie cobs, and autumn leaves. As they break down, they enrich the soil. Earthworms help organic mulches to break down and enrich the soil.
• Inorganic mulches. These are substances or materials that do not break down and enrich the soil, but help keep moisture in the soil. Examples are plastic sheeting, gravel, pebbles and stones.
• Living mulches. A layer of evergreen and water wise, low growing shrubs, perennials or ground covers can also serve as a mulch.
  - In sun plant agapanthus, aptenia, bulbinella, sour fig, vygies, dymondia, echeveria, erigeron, gazania, osteospermum, othonna, wild garlic, thyme.
  - In shade plant agapanthus, fairy crassula, hen-and-chickens, variegated plectranthus.

Containers are water wise

Gardening in containers is highly water efficient. Here are some tips for success:

• Choose the right pots. Avoid containers that are porous and lose water through evaporation. If you already have porous pots, such as terracotta, apply a sealant or line them with polythene and make sure to leave a hole for drainage.
• Use the correct potting mix. Healthy container-grown plants begin with the right potting mix. Choose one high in organic matter - this will ensure that it holds the water and nutrients necessary for plant growth. Add moisture retaining granules (eg. Saturaid) to the soil to help conserve water.
• Water wisely. When watering pot plants, use a hand-held hose or watering can. Put trays under the containers to collect surplus water, which the plant will draw up as the soil dries out. Place container plants away from direct draughts.
• Group plants. Group containers with sun-loving plants together and group shade-loving plants together.
• Mulch. This will reduce water loss. Keep the mulch about 3cm away from the stems of plants.

Water wisely

Whether you water by hand, have a manual irrigation system or a fully automatic one, water can be conserved by knowing when, how much and how often to water plants.

Water at the right time

• Water at a cool time of day to reduce evaporation - evening or early morning.
• Water less often in cool weather and more frequently in hot weather.
• Avoid watering on windy days, when evaporation rates are high.
• When good rains fall, stop watering for a few days.
  
  

Water deeply but infrequently
Deep soakings encourage roots to utilise moisture deep in the ground and enable plants to grow better and survive longer periods between waterings. Before watering again, let the top few centimetres of soil dry out.

Manage your irrigation system correctly
Drip irrigation at a plant's roots is the most water efficient method of irrigation. The next most efficient is sprayers with heavy droplets rather than those with a fine spray. Correctly used, an automatically controlled irrigation system will result in the greatest conservation of water. To have one installed contact the Landscape Irrigation Association of South Africa, tel: 011 606 3855, website: www.liasa.co.za to obtain a list of professional registered irrigation contractors.

• Have different drip or spray lines for the different water usage zones in the garden so that they can be irrigated with different watering programmes - high water usage zones need more frequent watering.
• If you have not yet zoned your garden you can nevertheless conserve water by using different spray lines. Plants in shade generally need less water than those in full sun, so have separate spray lines for shady and sunny borders.
• Change the amount of time each spray line supplies water according to whether it is the dry or rainy season in your region.
• If heavy rains have occurred, turn the irrigation off for a couple of days. Modern irrigation controllers have a rain switch, which will automatically deactivate a cycle until watering is required.

Harvest water
Harvesting rainwater involves capturing every drop of rain that falls for use in the garden instead of letting it flow out of the garden. Water harvesting works well in regions which have heavy rainfall or prolonged rainy periods, both of which result in water run-off. Here are some strategies for trapping rainwater.

Construct channels

• Underground pipes or a French drain connected to your drainpipes can carry water to where you want it.
• A dry river bed can serve as both an attractive feature as well as a seasonal water channel.
• A 'green carpet' channel with either lawn or a variety of low-growing ornamental grasses such as mondo, fescue and liriope planted in patterns can also serve as a seasonal water channel.

Landscape with berms and swales

Within the garden and particularly in lawn areas construct low, gentle rises that will direct rainwater from one area of the garden to another. The creation of gentle dips (swales) and rises (berms) in the garden allows for the creation of an undulating landscape that can improve the visual interest in an otherwise flat garden. An undulating landscape also permits the creation of a bog garden in one of the dips. Make sure that the slope and ridge of the constructed swales are gentle enough to ensure that your mower doesn't get damaged and doesn't 'scalp' the lawn.

Harvest water from the driveway

• Angle the paving so that rainwater flows into adjoining beds or grassed areas.
• Construct low swales (mini humps) to redirect rain water in the direction you want it to go.
• If your driveway has curbing, make sure that there are gaps at selected spots to allow water to run into the garden.

Install water tanks

Store rainwater from the roof for later use - a roof of 100m2 will provide 5 000 litres of water from a rainfall of 5mm. Use discarded drums cleaned and painted with anti-corrosion paint. Alternatively, install a 1 000-litre tank and connect it to the gutters. These tanks have outlet pipes to which a hose can be attached. Or consider installing a larger tank buried in the ground. Tanks are available from Jojo Tanks, tel: 013 262 3021, website www.jojotanks.co.za.

Gardening in low rainfall regions

Even in the driest areas you can create a beautiful garden if you are willing to change your expectations of what a garden ought to be. And the new trend towards creating gardens that have an affinity with the local landscape is making locally indigenous plants more popular - these plants are obviously ideally suited to the local climate.

Planning tips

• It is the way in which the garden is laid out, and the how textures and colours are combined that makes a garden interesting.
• Use materials such as rocks, pebbles, paving, wood, concrete, wattle branchlet screens, and decorated walls to create texture.
• Many low water usage plants have fascinating shapes, and can be used as focal points or accent plants. Small-leafed plants can be used as contrast between the more sculptural plants.
• Rely on foliage colour rather than flower colour.
• Plan shady, sheltered places for people and plants.
• Replace lawn with gravel, stamped earth, wooden decking, paving, or areas of low water usage plants.
• Grow plants that need special care or extra watering in containers.

Plants for dry, cold gardens

• Exotic plants. Callistemon, olive, yucca (trees); agave, ceanothus, cistus, echium, rosemary, westringia (shrubs); echeveria, sedum (ground covers).
• Indigenous plants. Wild olive, mountain cabbage tree, karee, sweet thorn acacia, jacket plum, shepherd's tree (trees); bitter aloe, tilt-head aloe, pork bush, Karoo gold, lion's ear, red ruspolia, broom karee, purple broom, cancer bush, strelitzia, Crassula arborescens (shrubs); aptenia, bulbine, some vygies (ground covers).

Gardening with brak water

When gardening with brak water, there are certain rules to bear in mind to prevent a build-up of salts in the soil, thereby rendering it infertile.

Reduce the build-up of salts

• Improve soil drainage by planting in raised beds, so that any excess water can drain away. Where raised beds are built with bricks or stone, leave drainage holes at the base.
• Plant trees and shrubs in 1m x 1m x 1m square holes filled with a good topsoil, mixed with masses of compost.
• Don't allow brak water to touch the foliage of plants.
• Drip irrigation is better than overhead sprayers.
• Reduce the amount of brak water plants receive. This can be done by applying a 5-8cm thick mulch which will halve the amount of water the plants require.
• Use compost and not manure as a fertiliser as manure makes the soil even more brak.
• Only use fertilisers as recommended as fertiliser residue can cause a build-up of salts.
• Use perennials instead of annuals to reduce watering and salt build-up.
• Choose low water usage plants.

Brak-tolerant plants

• Trees: Italian cypress, bottlebrush, wild olive, karee, Tamarix hispida.
• Shrubs: Acanthus, bottlebrush, euonymus, lemon verbena, common myrtle, escallonia, oleander (plant only the permitted cultivars), plumbago, pomegranate, Cape honeysuckle.
• Climbers: Wisteria.
• Perennials and bulbs: Amaryllis belladonna, chrysanthemum daisies, euryops, gazania gaillardia, St Joseph's lily, tulbaghia, yucca, and most spring-flowering bulbs
• Ground covers: Aptenia, sour fig and Osteospermum jucundum.

Create windbreaks

Wind will rapidly dry out a garden. Hot, dry winds that occur in summer are the most drying of all. In order to conserve water in wind-prone regions, windbreaks are an absolute necessity.

Tips for windbreaks

• Site your windbreak on the side of the garden from which the wind comes.
• A windbreak can consist of a group of wind-resistant trees and shrubs. Evergreens protect the garden from both summer and winter winds.
• A staggered height, wide planting of mixed trees and shrubs is recommended.
• Walls, wooden screens and shadecloth can be used for windbreaks. A non-solid windbreak is best.

Plants for windbreaks in cold dry regions

• Conifers: Cupressus arizonica var. glabra, Cupressocyparis leylandii, Cupressocyparis 'Castlewellan Gold'.
• Evergreen indigenous trees: Ouhout, false olive, Kei apple, wild peach, karee, mountain karee.
• Evergreen indigenous shrubs: Sagewood, weeping sage, lemon thorn, dogwood, bladdernut, sand olive, guarri, common spike thorn.

Succulent ground covers

Low water usage plant material can be used as ground covers instead of lawn, especially on awkward slopes. Succulents are water smart plants that often offer a spectacular display of seasonal blooms. The following are frost resistant:

• Indigenous: Aptenia, Aloe grandidentata, sour fig, pig's ear, Crassula expansa, many Delospermum, Lampranthus and Ruschia species, stalked bulbine, othonna.
• Exotic: Many echeverias, sedums and sempervivums.