Keep your garden alive! 5 ways to save your garden from the drought

As you know, maintaining a garden in drought conditions is particularly difficult, but with a few clever tips your blooms and shrubs can survive the summer heat. If you have a nice garden or lawn that you’d like to keep green, here are some tips to help you deal with drought conditions in your garden without turning on the hose.

Use mulch

Cover garden beds, veggies patches and pots with a generous layer of mulch. Mulch stops the soil from drying out and helps your garden retain more moisture. It also prevents weeds from growing in your garden. Make sure that the garden is well watered before you apply the mulch though.

Remove weeds

To conserve soil moisture remove any pesky weeds in your garden. If you’re over trying to pull the weeds out by hand or kill them with the expensive stuff, we have a quick and cheap solution. Simply boil water and pour it over those weeds. They won’t be able to tolerate the hot water and will die off. This is likely to kill most plants, so only pour the water in areas where it won’t get on those you want to keep.

Choose the right plants

Some plants cope a lot better in dryer and warmer conditions. The benefit of drought resistant plants is that they require far less water, less maintenance and are more resilient than others. Herbs like rosemary, sage, thyme and oregano do very well during a drought, as do flowering plants like lavender, rhaphiolepis, proteas and bougainvillea.

Utilise your shower

Next time you take a shower, place a bucket underneath the water stream while you wait for the water to get hot. Instead of letting the water run down the drain, use it to water your plants or throw it on the garden.

Water in the morning

It’s best to water in the morning before things heat up. The sun is at its hottest between the hours of 10am and 2pm and the water will be evaporated before your lawn gets a chance to absorb it. Alternatively, in the morning when the temperature is cooler, your lawn will lap up the water.

When it comes to watering, use a watering can or bucket instead of a regular hose, which wastes a lot of water, and concentrate your watering where it’s needed — for example, plants with large glossy dark leaves, newly planted veggies like tomatoes or young seedlings.