All of those prunings can be used directly on the garden as mulch – saves trying to break it down or add it to the compost!

The big prunings may not be what we are used to seeing in our gardens, but they are very good for muclhing trees:

• like all mulch, they reduce water evaporation and loss from the soil
• the prunings also shade the soil and roots
• being large, they make it harder for chooks, birds and other animals reaching the root area and scratching away your soil
• they will slowly break down to provide nutrients for the soil and trees

However, if the prunings are too dry, they could provide a fire risk in dry periods so this is better done in Autumn than spring…

Posted: April 4th, 2008 under gardening.
Comments: 1

Yesterday, we visited the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne.

The weather and gardens were beautiful, but we really noticed how lush and green the lawns were. It was inviting and refreshing to see all that green – and the number of people picnicking there proved the appeal.

What was interesting was to see various notices around the gardens referring to their water usage. They have reduced their water consumption in the last 10 years by about 50% through a system of testing, training staff and improved horticultural practices.

It is an interesting thought that checking your irrigation systems can make a difference to your water consumption. of course, the Botanical Gardens have major irrigation systems to check – they manually check the pressure level of all sprinklers for instance.

However, at home you can check the following things:

• do fittings fit your tap so that there are no drips and leaks when you use a hose or system?
• is your hose in good condition without leaks?
• if you have a watering system, is every sprinkler head clean and clear to allow water flow?
• does your tap timer turn the tap completely off when it finishes?
• does your tap drip?
• do all sprinkler heads point towards plants as appropriate – as plants grow and gardens change, the heads may need to be adjusted

When you consider that a leaking tap can waste up to 20,000 litres of water a year, these regular checks can save a significant amount of water.

Posted: March 30th, 2008 under gardening, saving water.
Comments: 3

For many people, just having a lush or at least a living garden is enough reason to use water on your plants. But there are actually some other advantages to keeping the soil moist.

If the land around your home gets overly dry, it can lead to changes in the soil which can affect the foundations of the house – cracks in the plaster is just a symptom of this. Moisture in the soil maintains stability of the ground and house.

Having a green and moist garden also offers a reduced risk of fire – dry and dead wood burns more readily than green, moist wood.

Of course, just having a nice environment, a connection with nature and a safer, welcoming environment for the kids are also important reasons for ensuring there is enough water for our gardens as well as our personal needs.

Posted: March 5th, 2008 under gardening, general.
Comments: none

As long as it is grey (and not black) water, you can reuse some of your water for non-consumption purposes – that means, you can’t use it for drinking, cooking, showering or watering edible plants (fruit tress are ok).

When using grey water, use it over the largest area possible to reduce the impact and build up of any contaminants in your soil. The use of slotted pipes is effective for spreading the water across a larger area, too.If piping grey water onto your garden, it is best to have the pipes underground. This has a number of benefits:

• No pipes for anyone to trip over or move away from where you want themKids and pets can’t access the pipe and drink the waterWater reaches the roots of your plants instead of possibly running off the soil
• Any spray won’t land on the leaves of edible plants 
• There is less spread of any chemicals and bacteria in the water

Remember that grey water can’t be stored for more than 24 hours unless it is being treated before use.Note that you can only use grey water on your property – do not allow if to run off into the street on your neighbour’s property.

Posted: January 16th, 2008 under gardening, general, saving water.
Comments: none

It is important to keep your gutters clean and in good repair. Cleaning gutters is the perfect opportunity to look at the state of your gutters, your roof and where the two connect.However, cleaning gutters is potentially dangerous so please consider the following tips when doing this task:

• Have someone with you to hold the ladder and help if there is a problem
•  Be patient – you will be up and down and moving the ladder repeatedly so just accept that it part of the job
•  Don’t reach too far from your body
•  Wear gloves and/or use an implement to actually clean the gutters – there could be something sharp or with a bite hidden below other debris

If you are present when someone does fall from a ladder and isn’t moving, do not move them and call an ambulance. Even if the person gets up and seems to be ok, a trip to a doctor is advisable as there may be injuries you can’t see.

Posted: January 13th, 2008 under gardening.
Comments: none

A natural, cheap and easy-to-get pest repellent is flour, and it doesn’t take any water to use either.

To use it, just sprinkle it liberally over the dry leaves of the infested plant(s). Repeat after any rain as long as necessary to get rid of the bugs.

It is effective against cherry slugs (tiny little slugs that love cherry trees) and all other slugs as sliding over it dehydrates them so the go away or die.

You can use talcum powder in the same way, but the production of talc is not sustainable so flour is more ecologically sound.

Posted: January 12th, 2008 under gardening, green products.
Comments: none

If you are setting up a veggie/herb garden and want some tough (as in can survive in little water) plants, try any of the following:

• bronze fennel (will grow wild if not monitored)
• cherry tomatoes
• artichokes
• garlic
• garlic chives
• lemon balm
• warrigal spinach
• Japanese parsley
• marjoram
• apple mint (less so if you use the variegated specis)
• rosemary
• cucumber
• eggplant
• zucchini
• pumpkin
• burdock
• perennial beans
• zebra beans
• spring onion
• established silver beet

If you choose a mix of these veggies and others than use more water, try separating your garden bed into two parts so you only need to water one part frequently.

Plants grown from seed will be much hardier than ones you have transplanted.

Posted: January 6th, 2008 under gardening, saving water.
Comments: 1

We were recently offered some carpet offcuts to use as mulch on our garden. We said thanks, but no thanks!

Yes, carpet over your garden will reduce evaporation from the soil into the air and the growth of weeds. However, it will also reduce (stop) the amount of water getting to the soil so will actually cause the soil to dry out.

And a synthetic carpet isn’t going to break down into nice nutrients for our plants either.

So we’re sticking to natural mulch options!

Posted: January 4th, 2008 under gardening.
Comments: none

With stage 3a water restrictions in place across Melbourne, you need to know when you can water your garden – unless you only use tank and grey water of course!

You can’t water your garden on Monday, Thursday or Friday.

If your house number is odd, you can water on Sunday or Wednesday.

If your house number is even or you don’t have a house number, you can water on Saturday or Tuesday.

Whatever day you can water on, you can only water by hose/bucket/watering can/manual watering system* between 6 am and 8 am, or by an automatic watering system between midnight and 2 am.

Note that if anyone over 70 years lives in your house, you may manually water between 6am and 8 am OR 8 am and 10 am on the specified days.

You can not water your lawn with tap water AT ALL. Recycled or tank water is allowed, of course.

For a full set of the water restrictions, please visit www.ourwater.vic.gov.au

* A drip watering system can be used only if it uses less than 9 litres per hours for each lineal metre of hose

Posted: December 30th, 2007 under gardening, general, saving water.
Comments: none

You can often find piles of leaves under and around the base of your house, garage, shed and water tank.

Why not rake up these piles and put them around your plants? It is useful mulch to protect your plants and it also cleans up your yard – which also reduces the first risk, too.

The result is a very organic looking garden bed and a natural source of nurtients to the soil and plants later on.

Posted: December 28th, 2007 under gardening, saving water.
Comments: none