The Dry Garden

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The Dry Garden

I thought I would continue my series of blogs made up with material from the Cambridge Botanical Gardens. This time I want to show what can be done in our gardens to save water, time & money!

If Climate Change is here to stay then we are told to expect hot, dry summers. If that is the case many of the plants we love will struggle & eventually die. So it’s well to be prepared for what may become very hot, dry summers. So Mediterranean plants will feature more often in our gardens in the coming decades.

Gardening in a Dry Climate

Water is a precious natural resource. All living things depend on it, but water supplies are limited.

Bringing clean water to our taps is costly. The more water we use in our homes, the less is available to the natural environment.

This garden demonstrates how you can create a beautiful space without using precious water.

Thinking about water

To reach your tap, each drop of rainwater is collected from rivers, reservoirs or aquifers (porous rocks that hold water). It is then purified and treated to kill germs before being piped to your home.

In 2000, people in Cambridge used 80,000 cubic metres each day. By 2020, this is expected to increase to 125,000 cubic metres. To avoid water shortages we will need to be more water-wise in our daily lives.

Gardening with your local conditions

Cambridge is one of the driest parts of Great Britain. With only 56cm of rain per year, on average. Cambridge has less rain than Barcelona!

How much water do you use?

Each person in the UK uses 150 litres (Two bathfuls) of water each day on average. Hosepipes and sprinklers though use 450 litres per hour. Water-wise gardening can help us to take considerably less water from the environment.

Gardening is easier when you consider your local climate. Try to grow plants that will thrive in your particular conditions.

This garden is a living experiment in water-wise gardening. We are finding out which plants and techniques work in Cambridge.

Water-wise Gardening

We have imposed a permanent hosepipe ban in the Dry Garden!

Soil preparation, cultivation and choosing the right plants all help to create a beautiful water-wise garden.

Remember, watering less saves time & money, and helps the environment.

Preparing the soil

To prepare this site we dug it over, but did not add any organic matter or fertilizer. We wanted to keep nutrient levels low because then plants grow slowly. This gives us compact, tough plants that are more resistant to drought.

Planting out

Plants need to grow a healthy wider scavenging root system. Autumn & early winter are the best times to plant. Rainfall is relatively high, evaporation is low & plants can establish a good root system before summer.

Lawn or not?

This garden has a paved area instead of a lawn. If you do have a lawn, resist the urge to water it. Grasses are some of the most drought resistant garden plants, as a summer-browned lawn usually recovers.

Cultivated lavenders derive from Mediterranean species. The small, needle-like leaves are a good clue that Lavender is suited to dry conditions. Surprisingly though, even large-leaved plants like the Male Fern can survive droughts if they have well-established roots. The leaves may droop or even dry back, but the plants will soon recover after a dry period.

Mulching

A mulch covers the soil surface. It lets rainwater through, but reduces soil drying. Mulch also helps prevent weeds growing. Here we use gravel & bark chips as mulch.

Some of the plants that can be seen growing in the Dry Garden of the Cambridge Botanical Gardens.

In a day or two I’ll post a second part with many more flowers that were growing in this garden.

• 2 Dec, 2010
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