Workshop Description
Gardens are important to us, our health, our community, the environment and biodiversity and with some water smart techniques we can keep them beautiful and productive, even when water is scarce or bountiful. With changing seasons and more sporadic deluges, this session will help gardeners to adapt their gardening approaches to suit.
Water is critical to a garden’s success but gardeners need to be mindful about how it is used. Australia is the driest habitable continent in the world and water availability has always been constrained, but as the climate changes we need to take even more care with how we capture, store, divert and use water efficiently, in times of drought and flood. The more steps we can take to manage water, while maintaining healthy and productive trees and gardens, the more secure our sources of water will be into the future.
Topics Covered
- Smart design options and choices that reduce water usage
- The role of garden zones and plant selection in Water Smart gardening
- Characteristics of indigenous and exotic plants that love dry climates
- The important role of soil in a Water Smart Garden and how you to improve soil’s water holding capacity
- How to garden on the other end of the extreme – too much rain.
- Meaningful mulch – types, how, when, pros and cons
- Spreading out rainfall across all areas of your garden
- Capture and storage of rain water
- Grey water – opportunities and what to be aware of
- Irrigation options
- Water Smart technologies
