Water-wise gardening

Water-wise gardening

At times of plentiful rain, we don’t think about water shortages, but with memories of last summer’s lack of rain, it makes more sense than ever to become a water-wise gardener now. Financially, you’ll save money if on a water meter; looking at the bigger environmental picture, it reduces use of a valuable resource; and time-wise, you won’t spend hours attached to the business end of a hose pipe.

For gardens with free-draining soil or in raised beds and containers, choose plants that are naturally tolerant of drought and your garden will look fantastic even when there’s no rain for weeks on end. Plants have evolved to deal with lack of water in a variety of ways, like thick, waxy foliage; leaves that are narrow and needle-like or covered in fine hairs; or silvery and light-reflecting. Some plants contain essential oils which evaporate as protection from fierce summer sun, like cistus, rosemary and lavender, creating the gorgeous fragrance of the Mediterranean maquis. Plan your plantings with a blend of foliage and flowers: create the ‘bones’ of a garden with strong structural foliage such as elaeagnus, bay, rosemary, myrtle and box, which look good all year and make a beautiful contrast to colourful flowers. On the patio, improve drought tolerance by planting in large pots (small ones dry out incredibly fast) and group containers close together so they shade each other.

As climate change takes hold, drought interspersed with heavy rain is likely to become a frequent occurrence, which has led to an upsurge of interest in ‘rain gardens’. Designed to gather and reuse every drop that falls, this type of garden incorporates features such as green roofs to minimise runoff; rainwater storage and reuse systems; permeable paving; and low-lying ‘swales’ or water-holding planted areas that are intended to be seasonally dry, along with permanent pools. Planning for extremes means you have a much better chance of being able to sit back and enjoy your summer garden, rather than being a slave to the watering can.You can’t beat getting nature on your side.

Seasonal jobs

• Deciduous ornamental grasses keep their structure for the first half of winter but are now looking distinctly tatty. Cut back almost to ground level and, if plants have formed large clumps, make a note to divide come April.
• Perennials that bloom later in the year can be lifted and divided now, where plants are sufficiently large. Replenish the soil with compost and slowrelease fertilizer and replant at the same depth as previously.
• Sowing the first seeds is one of the most cheering milestones of the season, meaning spring is on its way. In an unheated greenhouse, polytunnel or cold frame, sow hardy veg like leeks, Swiss chard, beetroot, winter lettuce and salad leaves, in modular trays for easy transplanting.
• Outside, plant garlic, onion sets and shallots. Plant with the tips just below the soil so there’s less likelihood of birds hoicking them out again.

Looking good

Winter-blooming shrubs with fragrant flowers are a real delight of the season, sending out wafts of perfume to cheer the dullest of days. Amongst my favourites are Daphne odora, Lonicera fragrantissima, sweet box (Sarcococca) and Viburnum bodnantense.

Evergreen shrubs really come into their own in the second half of winter. While variegated and coloured foliage adds extra interest, the lustre of green leaves alone is beautifully structural. As well as shrubs and conifers, there are ‘wintergreen’ perennials and ferns like Sisyrinchium striatrum and hart’s tongue fern that form low-growing clumps of foliage.

Many of the South West’s gardens are famous for spring-blooming ericaceous (lime-hating) plants, which start their magnificent pageant of bloom in late winter with shrubs including pieris, camellias, and the earliest rhodendrons.

Our native primrose is blooming early this year – the first flowers appeared in my garden in December – and by late winter will create gorgeous carpets of creamy white blooms, especially where they self-seed.

Favourite plant

Many Hellebore species and hybrids bloom in late winter and these (mainly) easy and shade-tolerant perennials are ideal to bring colour to awkward spots under shrubs and trees, or to interplant between larger plants in borders. They’ll often self-seed too, so you can eventually create carpets of colour for no extra cost. And the blooms are an excellent source of food for bees and other insects emerging early from hibernation.

Sue’s top tips

Thrifty:Set up water butts (or any other large container) to collect rain water – better for your plants and reduces your water bill. South West Water offers a variety of keenly priced butts and accessories: www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk

Wildlife: Birds need a source of fresh water all year round: for drinking, and to keep their feathers clean and weather-proof. Any container like a large pot, saucer or an upturned dustbin lid will do – doesn’t have to be a smart bird bath. Do change the water every couple of days and scrub it out with plain hot water (no detergents) once a week, to avoid spreading disease.

‘Green’: If you garden on a slope (pretty common, as Devon isn’t renowned for being flat), design your garden to conserve topsoil in heavy rain. Cover sloping ground with a tapestry of ground cover plants, and terrace steep slopes into beds – slightly lower at the back than the front, so water is held and seeps through the soil.

Time saving: Set up an irrigation system for pots, window boxes, and particularly hanging baskets which dry out super-fast in hot weather. There’s a good range of watering kits for patios, plus you can add a timer to make your system fully automatic.

Sue Fisher is a garden designer and writer based on the Bere Peninsula: Tel 01822 841895, Email suefisher@talktalk.net, website and gardening blog: www.suefishergardens.co.uk