Re: Cult-water
- To: i*@egroups.com
- Subject: Re: [iris-talk] Cult-water
- From: J* C*
- Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000 02:14:10 PDT
In Aust most people on town supply would pay about $350 a quarter for water
and if they had a large garden, then also about $500-$1000 in excess water
as well. Water conservation is heavily promoted here. We are fortunate that
we have a bore, albeit a bit salty so we can't overuse it.
This does seem excessive to me Colleen. Perhaps water is dearer in SA than
in Vic. At our old house in Castlemaine, we had a garden on 1/2 acre, pretty
much the same as here (0ther side of town and with plenty of top soil) I had
large lawns there, and often left the sprinkler going all night in summer.
Also had 6 kids living at home, with a penchant for long leisurely showers.
I never had an annual bill over $1000.
When we moved here, I tried growing the same sort of plants, and discovered
they needed far too much water, which just disappeared into the ground. I
bought Keven Walsh's book on drought tolerant plants, and chose from it, all
the plants I liked which would grow here with little water. Kevin is a local
(or fellow Castlemaniac). Irises were high on the list, and this was the
move that started me into them.
The idea was that I would seldom have to water the garden, and it would
reward me with flowers all spring and summer, which it now does.
My quarterly water bill is seldom over $100, except for the summer quarter
which sometimes approaches $200. Fitting tap timers helped greatly as I no
longer leave sprinklers going for more than 2 hours. Our bill has dropped
even more with the addition of a fresh water tank to provide drinking water,
and a little garden water.
This is an area where rain is often observed with a sense of awe, as we get
so little. Maybe in Ballarat, with it's higher rainfall, I can again have a
lawn, and some of the moisture loving plants I used to grow.
I certainly intend to have a smallish dam (large pond?) and grow some
japanese iris around the edges.
Cheers from Jan, in Victoria, where BABY BLESSED is doing it's thing again
this year.
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