Watering

This year has kicked off with a rather strange beginning. We have had rain and lots of it. This certainly affects the way we water and care for our gardens.

I took some time to log onto the Smart Garden Watering site to check some things out about how much water my garden uses. During January my garden requires the largest amount of water at every five days, February and December still needed a bit every week but from April to September no watering was really needed. This site showed me the soil type around my area is loam which is half way between sand and clay soils. Our soil has more clay then sand so we have added compost to help break up some of the clay. I have noticed that this soil retains water quite well. We have about five Rhododendrons that are extremely fussy and over the drought we only lost one. I’m putting this down to the soil holding water well. The one we did lose was in a position with a few other plants so I think it lost the competition battle. The Smart Watering site is http://www.smartgardenwateringorg.au/ so take a look. I found this website really useful  and interesting to see how much water my gardens requires. 

                                             

I think the rain we have had changes the plants we may select for our gardens. I work in a nursery and the plants I was selling last year are quite different to the plants I have sold this year. Over the January break I found that we were not particularly busy which I thought was strange as most people have a bit of free time to get out into their gardens. I asked my boss and she said ‘well people haven’t lost and many plants this time round so they’re not replacing them like most other years’. So that is pretty good news for everyone who has a garden. I think that with this weather having a positive impact on our gardens people are noticing them more too. I think that over a decade of drought has taken its tole and perhaps people have lost interest in pottering in their gardens. Hopefully with this rain bringing life back into our homes and spaces those who lost faith can be coaxed back out. Gardening is a good thing!