 Water Efficient Gardening
by NYHS
Water Efficient Gardening
Charlie Dobbin of Garden Solutions was our guest speaker on Feb 26/07. Charlie was representing the City of Toronto on the Summer Water Program.
Some of the suggestions were to match the plants to the conditions of the area. For a hot, sunny location you could use Junipers, Creeping Jenny, Sedum, Woolly Thyme or Yarrow. When you select the correct plants for the site conditions then minimal maintenance and irrigation is required. For lawns Charlie suggested that we aerate (remove small plugs of soil and turf to help roots grown deeply). Use a water gauge to assess your lawn watering needs. 1 inch (25mm) per week including rainfall.
She went on to talk about mulches, which are a means of conserving moisture by covering the soil to prevent evaporation by the sun. One of the most readily available are leaves that drop off the trees in the fall. She recommended spreading them on the lawn and cutting them up with a mulching mower and then spreading them around plants. There are other mulches available She went on to talk about mulches, which are a means of conserving moisture by covering the soil to prevent evaporation by the sun. One of the most readily available are leaves that drop off the trees in the fall. She recommended spreading them on the lawn and cutting them up with a mulching mower and then spreading them around plants. There are other mulches available like wood chips, stones, pine needles; coco beans etc. from garden suppliers. Check out Sheridan/Humber/ PlantWorld/ Valleyview or Woodhill Garden Centre for these supplies.
Presentation by Charlie Dobbin (2011-03-13) |
