Dry soil becomes hydrophobic which means it actually rejects water instead of absorbing it. You can see this when water beads and runs off the soil when you water the garden.

But what can you do about it?

The simplest thing is to water the soil then turn it over with a pitchfork or spade. Water it again and turn it. Water it and turn it. Again and again until you can no longer see dusty soil when you’re turning it over.

If possible, while turning the soil, mix in some compost and/or manure as this will help absorb water as well as providing nutrients and soil conditioning. Adding some water saving crystals at the same time is also a great idea.

Once your oil is moist again, mulch it so it stays moist!

Posted: November 14th, 2007 under gardening.
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A couple of weeks ago, we went to the save water save energy expo in Melbourne. It was great to see so many products and services available to us all.

One product we saw there which we hadn’t seen before was a shower cover. It was effectively a plastic dome which fitted on top of the shower walls - even corner showers can be covered.

The cover does a couple of things - it keeps the warmth in the shower so you don’t get draughts and don’t nee to turn the water temperature up higher and it keeps the moisture inside the shower area.

As water can’t get out, it condenses inside the shower instead of in your bathroom, thus excess water goes into the drain (and into your grey water hopefully!) I t also means your bathroom doesn’t get steamed up or moist so there is less mould growth - and less cleaning has got to be a good thing!

It may not save heaps of water, but it saves energy of heating water and saves cleaning so we’re looking into getting one in our house.

Posted: November 13th, 2007 under green products.
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When’s the last time you had a sponge bath? Or maybe you don’t remember ever having one?

Personally, I remember having a few back when we had no gas for a while so hot water was scarce. I’d boil the kettle twice, pouring the water into the laundry trough each time. Using a fash washer, I’d sponge myself and by then the water had cooled enough to bath my baby in the trough.

It is much more convenient to jump in the shower - and washing my hair is much easier that way! But the amount of water we ocudl all save by taking the occasional sponge bath is amazing. Did you know that the average three minute shower uses 27 litres of water? Well, that’s for an efficient shower head - it can go up to about 60 litres with a poor shower head.

A sponge bath can be done with 4 litres comfortably, and a lot less if necessary.

So are you up for a challenge? Can you swap to a sponge bath once a week or once a fortnight? If you can get everyone in your household to do it, watch your water metre and see what difference you are making.

Good luck!

Posted: November 12th, 2007 under challenges, saving water.
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If you are harvesting rain water then your gutters are very important - of course, they are also important if you want to keep water out of your house during rain but that’s another story!

If your gutters are leaking or sagging, then you will not be collecting all of the water falling on your roof.

It’s not hard to check your gutters are sound. Walk around your house and look up at the gutters. Can you see any places where the gutters sag down or have holes? After the next rain, look at the gutters again and watch for any obvious leaks.

If you only find a small problem, get it repaired! If you find a big problem or lots of little ones, it may be worth considering getting some new gutters.

Posted: November 11th, 2007 under collecting water, general.
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Well, it certainly felt like the drought broke in Melbourne and Victoria over the weekend! It poured for hours and hours, which was wonderful to see and hear. Not so wonderful to see the floods in Gippsland, though.

Hopefully, a lot of people were collecting some of that rain water to use over summer.

And now is the time to put down some new mulch to keep as much of that moisture in the garden beds as possible.

But back to the rain! Melbourne received over 27mm of rain which is incredible after the last 10 years. For everyone who planted tomato plants over the weekend (Cup Day being the tradiaional time to plant them), it is a great start to your vegetable crop!

What did you do to celebrate the rain if you got rain over the weekend?

Posted: November 7th, 2007 under general, nature's gift.
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