Re: Deep, infrequent watering

Ben:
 
I, too, have no doubt that can't grow the garden you have with no irrigation at all, except for your small native plant garden.  Especially considering that you have your garden interplanted with "Roses, Camellias, Liquidambars, Ash and Planes".
 
And I agree that many "Mediterranean" plants can and do survive with year-after-year of frequent shallow waterings.  I'm also sure that those are not drought-tolerant gardens and as soon as the water is cut back or cut off, such plants will suffer because they've become dependent on such water.
 
I'm afraid I've been too academic, maybe too idealistic regarding your situation.
 
I have this assumption that people who choose Mediterranean gardens and plants are gardeners who want them because many of them (a nod to Ernie Wasson) want a water-wise garden.
 
The reality is that many gardeners want the beauty of Med. plants within their gardens of non-Meds.  Their challenge is to find water to water it all.  Your route doesn't seem to be necessarily to "conserve water" but rather to find water from sources other than your public water company.
 
May I offer these "tips":
 
Continue to plant more of the heat-tolerant, truly drought-tolerant plants.
Do more homework on gray-water use.
Become an expert on rainwater collection.
Plant windbreaks.
Reduce fertilizing.
Manage weeds.
Mulch your working gardens.  Mulch newly-planted plants.
Cover the ground -- solidly -- with plants.
When you plant a new plant, water it in WELL.
Plant in unamended native soil.
Plant Nov-Feb.
HYDROZONE.
Keep your irrigation systems in good working condition; check them every 6 months.
Turn off the irrigation computer; use your brain and finger.
There are LOTS of drought-tolerant roses.
 
Joe
 
 
 

 
Joe Seals
Horticultural Consultant
Pismo Beach, California
Home/Office: 805-295-6039

--- On Mon, 10/5/09, Ben Wiswall <benwiswall@pacbell.net> wrote:

From: Ben Wiswall <benwiswall@pacbell.net>
Subject: Re: Deep, infrequent watering
To: "medit plants forum" <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Date: Monday, October 5, 2009, 6:36 PM

Thanks for the feedback Joe (and Sylvia and Nan),

I'm going to continue watering most areas of the garden once a week; in time as the garden matures I might be able to reduce that to once a fortnight.  I doubt I could grow the garden I have with no irrigation at all, except for my small native plant garden which I now water by hand when I think it needs it.


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