There is a variety of materials you can use to mulch your garden. To some extent, which material you use is a matter of personal preference - which do you think looks best in your garden?

However, there are reasons for and against certain mulch materials that are worth considering.

One form of mulch is the use of rocks or pebbles - commonly white stones are spread on a garden bed, but other colours and styles are increasingly in availability and popularity.

A distinct advantage of using rocks is that water will trickles around the sides of the rock and move onto the soil below, whereas some organic mulches absorb some of the rain and prevent it reaching the soil straight away. Water will also condense on the rock surfaces and again trickle down to the soil.

Rocks do not break down like organic mulches (they do break down, but it will take a lot, lot longer!) so you will not have to replenish your mulch anywhere near as often as for other mulches.

A major disadvantage to rock mulches is that the rocks can get in the way when you are gardening. To add a new plant, for instance, you would need to push aside the rocks far enough to dig the hole and pile the dirt; leave too many rocks near the hole and you will loose mulch into the hole. Of course, other mulch can also get in the hole but as it can improve the soil this isn’t such a nuisance.

The rocks will also end up across your lawn to be thrown up by a lawn mower, or just generally played with and thrown by your children.

When new, a rock mulch looks very neat and even pretty. After a while, the rocks can become dirty and less well distributed (especially if you have children and/or pets!) so consider the long term look as well before deciding.

If you like the look and don’t want to mulch or garden often, a rock mulch may be a good choice for you.

Posted: November 29th, 2007 under gardening.
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To give your plants a slow but steady source of water, you can make your own drip watering systems. These can sustain your garden if you are going away for a few days or for plants that need watering more often that your restrictions or time will allow.

Simply collect some plastic drink bottles (bottles from milk, soft drink, sauces, cordials, etc) and make a few small holes in the bottom (these form air holes later).

 Dig a small hole next to or between your plants.

Fill the container with water and tip it upside down into the hole.

This way, water will also reach the root area and encourage deeper growth.

For longer trips away, do the same thing but cut off the bottom of the container altogether. Keep a lid on the container but put nail holes in it to slow down the water flow from the bottle. Each time it rains or the garden is watered, the containers are refilled.

The same concept can be achieved with tin cans, old buckets, pieces of pipe and so on - use whatever is handy. You may even be able to find somethign that looks quirky and attractive in your garden as well as practical!

Posted: November 28th, 2007 under gardening, green products.
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Stage 3a restrictions came into force on 1 August 2007 for all of Melbourne.

You can find the complete list of restrictions at www.ourwater.vic.gov.au

Note that these restrictions are in place until at least 30 June 2008 and there are water patrols in our streets checking we are following the rules.Did you know that breaking the rules will get you a warning notice? Breaking that notice not only leads to potential fines ($429.15 under stage 3a) but may also mean the water supply to your home is restricted.

Posted: November 27th, 2007 under general, saving water.
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For one reason or another, we often want to add new plants to our gardens. During the drought however, many of us are reluctant to put in plants that will die for lack of water.

Obviously, your choice of plants is different if you expect little rain and water compared to someone living in a wet area, so choose plants that are likely to survive dry climates. That doesn’t mean you can’t grow vegetables, fruits or flowers, however, not does everything have to be native to Australia.

So here are some quick tips for helping your new plants survive and thrive…

• prepare the soil beforehand - mix in compost, aerate the soil and add some water absorbing crystals 
• only plant when it is likely to rain, and you can expect a reasonable amount of rain for the next few months (so now may not be a good time unless you have a huge water storage available)
• group plants together so they can hep protect each other from water loss - this includes avoiding straight lines with rows of soil in between
• plan your garden so that plants needing more water (such as vegetables) are together and closest to the house so if you need to carry out cooking or drinking water, you won’t have as far to carry it
• water deeply after planting (and for the following waters) to encourage the plants to grow and establish good roots
• feed them well for the first few months, too, to encourage growth
• mulch them well as soon as they are planted, and maintain the mulch over the months

Encouraging good growth straight away will develop a strong and healthy plant, a plant better able to withstand tough conditions later on.

Posted: November 26th, 2007 under gardening.
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“There was a little bit of rain last night and we have a big roof, but how much water fell on our roof that we could have collected?”

Well, first you would need to know how much rain actually fell. You can find out by listening to the news or checking with the weather bureau, but this will often be the amount of rain that fell somewhere near you rather than what fell in your exact area. Alternatively, you can use a rain gauge in your own yard to measure rainfall.

Then you need to determine the actual area of your roof - and luckily you only need to do that once! Your house plans are probably the easiest way to do this, but you may be able to estimate the roof area if you know the square metres of your home (be careful if you have a two storey home, though!)

Then, for every square metre of roof area you can expect to collect about 1 litre of water for each millimetre of rain fall.

So if it rained 8ml last night, 8 litres of rain fell on each square metre of roof. If your roof is 10 square metres, you could have harvested 80 litres!

With that much water, it becomes clear why harvesting water can be so important - even water off a garage or shed can make a difference to how much watering you can do over summer.

Posted: November 23rd, 2007 under collecting water.
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We all remember the rows of drinking fountains at school - and still see them regularly if we go to schools as teachers, students or parents.

Unfortunately, drinking taps like that are not very efficient - a lot of water is lost each time someone has a drink. Having cups instead wouldn’t really help - kids would still spill it or pour out what they didn’t finish and then the cups would have to be washed, etc.

So many schools now put ice-cream containers underneath the drinking taps or run the trough into a bucket instead of the storm water system. The collected water can then be used to water the school gardens or oval.

Of course, these systems only have value if someone actually pours the collected water onto a garden or oval! I always empty the ice-cream containers when I walk past them at my kids’ school - do you ever empty such containers?

If someone is rostered to do this task it will (hopefully) be done regulalry but it may mean some lost water if the container fills before they get to empty it. So perhaps it is best to train the children themselves - “if you see the container is at least half full, carry it to a plant and water it!” This sort of behaviour should be part fo what they are learning anyway.

How is drinking water waste dealt with at schools near you?

Posted: November 22nd, 2007 under saving water.
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With the drought on everyone’s mind, many people are reluctant to plant fruit trees in case they won’t be able to water them enough.

Obviously, growing fruit at home has multiple advantages - its cheaper, the fruit has a smaller footprint (i.e. there is no transportation or production cost to the environment), you know the fruit is chemical free and you have a beautiful tree to look at and for shade.

So can we still plant and grow fruit trees in the drought?

Yes, we can. I once heard Jackie French talk about her orchard of hundreds of trees which she hasn’t watered in years yet still produces huge amounts of fruit - and temperatures reach the high 40s where she lives.

So how can you grow fruit with minimal water? Start with preparing your soil - lots of compost and aeration will hold more moisture than compacted old soil. Adding water saving crystals is also a good idea (although I don’t think Jackie does that.) Then mulch the area to maintain more moisture.

Most importantly, plant the trees in groups to create a grove of trees. By having trees in groups rather than in rows, the trees will help each other. The canopy of touching branches will reduce evaporation out of the grove and will collect all rain that falls onto the leaves.

Other than when planting and establishing the trees, you shouldn’t need to water them very often if at all. Then you will not only have beautiful fruit to eat but will be reducing your environmental footprint, too.

Posted: November 20th, 2007 under gardening.
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Yesterday, we talked about choosing a tank big enough to last until the next rain. But we deliberately didn’t worry about space of costs, just how much water you needed.

Costs obviously become a factor in choosing a tank for your home. And it is worth looking around at different types of tanks and suppliers before buying one - the first deal it not always the best.

What costs are involved in buying a tank?

You will need to allow for:

• the physical tank itself
• pipes from your roof to your tank and then from your tank to your garden and so on
• a plumber to install the tank and pipes
• preparation of somewhere to place your tank (flattening the area, perhaps adding packed sand or a concrete base)
• a pump to move water from your tank to where you will use it - and an electrical source for that pump

There are government rebates to assist in putting a tank into your home - they vary between states and tank sizes. But the rebates generally won’t apply if you do it yourself instead of paying a plumber.

Is it worth the expense?

Well, apart from helping the environment, giving yourself fresh, unadulterated water, reducing the impact of water restrictions on your lifestyle and reducing the strain on our water catchments, having a water tank can save you money as well.

Once you have decided how much water you could use form a tank, subtract that much from your last water bill. Multiply that over 3 or 4 bills a year for the next 10 years, and the cost of a tank may not seem so large.

And that doesn’t even include the possibility (some would say likelihood) of increased water supply costs resulting from the current crisis.

We consider a tank a short term expense for long term gain - the more water we all collect, the better for us all.

Posted: November 17th, 2007 under collecting water, general.
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Thinking of getting a rainwater tank? One of the first questions you will need to answer is “how much water should we store?” Next is “how long do we need to store it?”

Excluding space and finances, you need to consider what you need the water for and therefore how much you need. For instance, if you are watering a small garden you will need less water than someone who is using a tank for a large garden and weekly washing three cars.

Let’s say you need 2,000L a month. Does that mean you should get a 2,000L tank? Maybe. If you get regular rain that will constantly fill up your tank so there is 2,000L available every month, then  that size tank may be perfect for you. However, if your annual rainfall is not evenly distributed across the year, a 2,000L tank may be too small. In many parts of Australia, we don’t tend to get a lot of rainy days during February and March, and they are hot so our gardens need more water. In that situation, a full 2,000 L tank at the beginning of February may not hold enough water to last until the next rain - a 4,000L tank would be much better.

You can use personal experience or check out the meteorology websiteto check average rainfalls  for each month to decide how big your tank will ideally be to last your needs.

Many people are surprised at the fact they need much larger tanks than they suspected. It’s much better to figure it out before you buy one than next March when your tank is dry, restrictions are in place and there is no rain…

Posted: November 16th, 2007 under collecting water, general.
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Yes, even first aid is being affected by the drought!

The first thing you woud do for a burn or a cut is put it under running cold water to take out the heat and clean the area.

Of course, when we’re all trying to cut back on the amount of water we use, running water for first aid doesn’t seem so good.

For a small cut, the amount of water required to clean it is probably pretty small so this isn’t an issue. But a burn should be held under water for at least a few minutes, and that can add up to being a lot of water down the drain.

The simple solution is to run water over the burn and collect the water in a bowl underneath. The bowl of water can then be used on the garden, to wash clothes or whatever.

If water is really limited, use two bowls and pour the water from one bowl over the burn into the second bowl and keep swapping. This water will eventually warm up and be less useful for the burn, but this is better first aid than not applying cold water at all or for too short a time.

Posted: November 15th, 2007 under general, saving water.
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