Watering
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Watering is the most important component of your garden maintenance schedule. It is essential for your garden's growth and success. Most gardens in Australia require watering to supplement the natural rainfall. However, in our dry conditions, water is a scarce resource too precious to be wasted. As responsible gardeners, we must be careful to minimise the need for supplementary watering and to maximise the effect when we do water.
Watering tips
Water your garden in the early morning or early evening. The air is cooler at these times and so the water is less prone to evaporation and more likely to seep into the soil.
Never water during the heat of the day. Besides the obvious problem of evaporation, the coolness of the water may reverse natural defence mechanisms that many plants have to conserve water during the heat of the day. The effect of this can be to induce wilting as the plant loses the water it had been attempting to conserve.
During heat waves or hot windy conditions, water the soil of your garden especially if your plants are showing signs of wilting.
A weekly deep watering is more beneficial to your garden than short watering periods every day. This is because short watering periods only wet the warm surface of the soil and this water will soon evaporate. Deep watering is watering for an extended period of time until the soil is wetted to a depth of 100 mm. How long it will take to deep water a garden will depend on the soil type and how readily it absorbs water.
Many of Australia's soils become water repellent resulting in the water running over the surface rather than being absorbed by the soil. If this happens to your soil, apply a surfactant such as WettaSoil® to break the repellence.
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The effect of a surfactant is immediate and long lasting and the plants in your garden will thank you with luxuriant growth.
Newly planted gardens need to be watered more often than mature gardens. Depending on weather conditions, they may need to be watered every day or every second day. Reduce the frequency of watering as the plants become established to wean them and encourage a hardier constitution.
Established gardens should not need to be watered more frequently than every three to four days.
Be attentive to large trees in your garden. Turn the hose on and leave it on for an hour to provide deep watering. Thirsty trees are more likely to seek out water in drain pipes and sewers!
Newly laid lawn areas will need to be watered for short intervals three to four times per day to prevent their delicate and recently exposed roots from drying out. New turf should not be allowed to dry until the turf is firmly anchored into its new soil bed!
Watering systems
A watering system ensures that your garden can be watered even when you are away from home or too busy. Optional devices can automate the process to ensure your plants are watered when the soil gets too dry and not watered if it has recently rained.
The range of components and systems is vast and professional advice should be sought at the design stage. The water requirements of plants vary from species to species and the watering system should take account of this.
A licensed plumber or irrigation contractor must carry out connection of a watering system to the main supply.
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