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.
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There has been a huge amount of rain hitting Melbourne and southern Victoria over the last two days - what are you doing to collect any of it?

It may not have been possible to get a tank in when you saw the rains coming (which is a pity as it probably would have filled a number of times!) but that doesn’t mean you can’t make the most of that water…

• put out buckets, bowls, plastic tubs, etc and collect some rain to use in your garden next week or use to rinse clothes
• get out in the garden between showers (downpours!) and turn over your garden beds
• aerate your lawn to maximise how much water is soaking into teh roots (You can do this by poking holes in the lawn with a pitchfork, shovel, strong stick or whatever - it doesn’t have to be a fancy aerator to work)
• park outside so your car gets a natural clean
• put all pots out where they will catch some rain - protect them from eh harshest downpours
• prepare to mulch your garden in the coming days to keep the moisture in the soil
• continue to conserve water in the house, and remind others that rain now doesn’t mean restrictions have ended or that water is still not in limited supply

Posted: December 21st, 2007 under collecting water, general, nature's gift, saving water.
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It is possible to grow vegetables, even when you have to limit your water use - even if there is plenty of rain and water, the following tips can help conserve water which reduces your water bill and prevents us running out of water again after the rains.

• Choose your vegetables to grow in 3 layers - a ground cover (pumpkin, cucumber, strawberries, etc) in around medium crops (lettuce, eggplant, carrots, etc) underneath some tall plants (tomatoes, corn, etc). When you water the garden, water falling of each layer will water the roots for all 3 plants, the ground cover reduces weeds and evaporation and the taller plants will shelter the shorter ones from the sun and wind.
• shade young and vulnerable plants - hang some shade cloth, drape some gauze material over them, have some other plants in front of the garden
• add home-made compost to your garden between your crops to ensure the soil is nutrient rich and a good composition
• use liquid fertilizers rather than solid ones as this forms an addtional source of moisture as well as being utilised by plants more quickly
• keep the garden weed free so the plants aren’t competing for what water there is
• mulch the garden- organic sugar cane is great, as is the remains of your last vegetable crop and other garden prunings

Posted: December 19th, 2007 under gardening, saving water.
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It may not be the most glamorous job, but weeding your garden is important.

Any weeds growing near your plants will compete for whatever water is available so your plants get less water. Pull out the weeds, and your plants get more water. Simple!

Once your gardenis weeded, add more mulch and possibly plant a groundcover to reduce teh numner of weeds coming back.

Posted: December 18th, 2007 under gardening, saving water.
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Like for any burn, the first thing to do with sunburn is put it under running cold water to pull out the heat of the burn.

I hate to admit that our daughter got sunburnt last week - she was sunscreened but her top rode up as she rode her bike and foudn the spot we had missed. Instead ofputting her in a cold shower, we stood her in the middle of a garden bed and hosed her back It helped her sunburn and watered some plants - so although we technically watered the garden out of restriction times, it was better than putting her in the shower.

Posted: December 7th, 2007 under gardening, general, saving water.
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Years ago, everyone had a Hills Hoist in their backyard - usually somewhere in the middle of the yard over the lawn.

Now days, people have clothes lines of all sorts of sizes and styles, including many that are removed or folded away when not in use. But where is your line?

A clothes line over a paved area is easier to work from - no soggy grass to sink into as you hang washing - but it doesn’t make much use of any drips or humidity (the moisture in the air from water evaporating from your wet clothes). Whereas hanging clothes over a lawn or garden can create a little extra moisture for the soil and plants underneath.

Especially if you reduce the spin cycle time on your washing machine to use less power and let clothes drip a bit on the garden.

If moving the clothes line is a bit much to conserve a little water, you can hang clothes on a clothes horse and move it around different parts of the garden to help water them.

Posted: December 6th, 2007 under general, saving water.
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One of the most obvious ways of saving water is to make sure you are not loosing water through any leaks. But we often forget these little tasks and focus on bigger ones.

So, how can you check for leaks? Here are some simple tests you can use:

1. look in the bowl of your bathroom, kitchen and laundry basins/sinks first thing in the morning. If the bowl isn’t dry, there could be a tap leak.
2. place a dry sponge or tea towel in the bottom of a sink or basin. If it is still dry a hour or so later (assuming you haven’t used the sink in that time), it is unlikely that tap leaks
3. test how hard you have to turn a tap before it stops dripping. If it is hard work, get it fixed as it will only get worse - and not everyone will be careful in turning it completely off anyway
4. turn off everything in your house that is using water, then go and watch your water meter. If it is still ticking over, something is using water so find where the leak is.
5. add some food dye (just a few drops should do it) to the cistern of your toilet(s) before you go out for a few hours. If the colour is in the bowl when you get back, your toilet is leaking. (Note you will need ot start agin if someone flushes the toilet before you test it!)
6. put a dry bucket under garden taps for a while. If it remains dry, no leak - a wet bucket means leaks…
7. look at your hot water service - is there a pool of water or mud around it? Remeber that a hot water leak also wastes heating energy and costs as well as water so its well worth keeping an eye on.

So we challenge you to find any and all leaks in your house over the next week. Share how you found the leaks, too.

For the sake of comparison, record your water meter readings today and just before you fix any leaks. Then do it again a week or so later. How much water did you save by fixing those leaks?

Posted: December 1st, 2007 under challenges, general, saving water.
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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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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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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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