Fao: ~~Linda~~

Silly gardening question!
Why is it that I never water my garden, yet my grass, flowers, trees and
weeds are thriving, yet my neighbours find the need to get their hosepipes
out every evening and water everything in sight for ½ hour or so, yet
their stuff doesn't seem to flourish any more than mine? And no I don't
have a leaky mains water supply or leaky ponds, 'cos I have a meter and
monitor that carefully.

~~Linda~~...

Sorry FN, I hadn't seen this before. Partly sods law, specially in the case
of weeds lol but mainly, if you frequently put on small amounts of water,
the roots just come to the surface to find it, thus drying out even more
quickly when they get baked by the sun. It's always better to give a good
deep drink once a week, than a few trickles every day and most people get
too bored, standing with a hosepipe to really give things enough water.*
Also a good thick mulch helps keeps the moisture in.
Of course, *your* garden is rarely 'disturbed' by digging, so the water
that does percolate down, doesn't evaporate as quickly.

*Note. I am not advocating endless watering with a hosepipe. Rather the
opposite, I would encourage people to dig in plenty of compost or other
organic stuff (even shredded newspaper underneath plants at planting time

pmj...

I've got plenty of Chipped/Shredded up branches, leaves & all sorts
of stuff like that you can have!
:-)

~~Linda~~...

Oh I wish I had room to store it, then I'd take as much as I could get from
anywhere. It will make wonderful compost and all for free. Oh, apart from
the 'cost' of those blisters and scratches :-p

can help) and grow things that are appropriate to the conditions, ie. if
you have a hot, dry border, don't even bother about planting things that
need cool, damp soil!! Instead go for Meditteranean type plants, that will

pmj...

Or Cactuses/Cactii???
:-)

~~Linda~~...

Well they are fascinating and some people love them but personally, they're
not my type of thing.

longer withstand hot, drought conditions. Ops, rant over. :o)

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

Ta for that ~~Linda~~

PS: One of the neighbours I'm thinking of has put down black plastic, with
a few holes for some alpine type flowers. The plastic he's covered in
multicoloured gravel to enhance it's appearance - his view that is. So I

~~Linda~~...

Each to their own ;-)

suppose not much rain gets into his soil, but then again I thought the idea

~~Linda~~...

Well not if it is actually black plastic and not a semi-permeable membrane,
designed to help stop weeds coming through but let the water soak through.
You then cover that with gravel or whatever, which doubles up as the mulch
that helps keep the ground cool/moist. I suppose it depends how many holes
he puntured in it too.

of alpines was that they don't use much water. Yet between 20-00 and 21-00

~~Linda~~...

There's a wide range of alpines and their water requirements depend which
climates they come from ie. mountain scree or alpine meadow. Commonly
thought of as not 'needing' water, it is easier to think of them in terms
of 'needing' sharp drainage, so that they aren't sitting in whatever water
falls on them. Well, that's the short version lol or its in danger of
becoming a lecture!!

every evening he's out there watering them.

~~Linda~~...

Yes, unfortunately a lot of people insist on that and it's the main reason
that gardeners are often the first to be 'blamed' when there is a shortage
and the water companies impose a hosepipe ban. Don't get me started on

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

I'll shut up then. ;)

Rabbit...

That'll be a first for you :-)

Rabbit...

Sheesh don't tell me that knocked you speechless. Could this be another
first I ask ;-)

that! lol

pmj...

& use a Water Butt? (or several)

~~Linda~~...

Most definitely!

My Parents have a couple of Water Butts in their garden, collecting
Water from the Shed & house Roofs, via the Downpipe & they have plenty
of water in them, even after a couple of weeks with no Rain.

~~Linda~~...

I have three large butts a lot of plants and containers to keep watered, so I must say, in this kind
of weather, they aren't quite enough.

They also have umpteen Plastic Bottles/Buckets & Bowls etc, which
they Save the Washing up Water in!

& they even Save the Water that they "run off" when Warming the Tap.

~~Linda~~...

yep... in the recent one day of rain that we had, I had buckets standing
all around the two garden parasols (in between the 'points', where they dip
and the water runs off) it was surprising just how much I collected and
even went out in the rain to empty on to a dry part of the garden when they
were full. Yeah, I know... bit mad!
We also have a flexible (like an old hoover hose) pipe that connects to the
bath outflow pipe and that water goes on the garden too. My borders smell
slightly of Dove Silk Body Wash but the plants don't seem to object ;-) The
washing up water goes into a big bucket outside the back door and if I need
to run the water to get hot, the 'cold' goes into a jug and is tipped onto
the hanging basket outside the front door.

It can get to be an obsession...

Aries...

I'm not Linda but I reckon because you don't water, your plants and weeds
have developed very deep roots LOL

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

Well they do say still waters run deep, so I suppose they had to. LOL