We had disconnected the outdoor spigot in fall of 2005. It wasn’t a big deal last year - we just ignored our dried out lawn and let our garden go to weeds. Aside from the occasional five gallon bucket of water hauled from the basement utility sink, we’ve been relying on on our 2-3 rain barrels for 95% of our outdoor watering. Now that we have little vegetable seedlings, Tig is carefully managing the rainwater use, trying to stretch it out and avoiding using municipal water as much as he can. He checks the weather constantly on the internet and reminds me how long it’s been between rains.

I originally thought that water conservation meant buying lots of rain barrels and installing a drip irrigation system. However, Tig stumbled upon a book called Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture. The book cites examples of lush gardens in New Mexico that require minimal watering. I was fascinated by the possibilities. Here are some notes on some of the techniques listed in the book. We’re going to try a few of them and see how it works.

  • Deep mulching: 2-4 inches of mulch such as straw or bark or ground cover between plants to prevent water from evaporating out of the soil
  • Swales (including dead wood swales) and soil contouring: swales are trenches filled with a little bit of gravel and a lot of straw and are designed to act as little reservoirs for rainwater. Plants are placed strategically near them on the berm so they can access this reservoir. Dead wood swales involve placing thick branches and small logs in the trenches. Apparently, dead wood can hold an enormous amount of water, and creates a boggy type environment for plant roots. The book recommended this technique for blueberry bushes. Soil contouring is shaping the land to direct rainwater to plants that need frequent watering. This is often paired with swales.
  • Organic matter: one of the permaculturist was quoted in the book, “the cheapest place to hold water is in the soil”. Adding organic matter increases the soil’s capacity to hold water. Another great material to add is peat moss.
  • Close plantings: planting closely creates a shaded canopy to prevent water loss, up to 60% was the statistic quoted. It works similarly to mulching.
  • Water-conserving plants: the book advocates using a mixture of native plants and mediterranean plants that can withstand dry summers and wet winters.

Our tentative plan

We’re going to try to install a semi-circle (fish scale) swale around each of our fruit trees out front, and one by the magnolia tree in the back. Because the burning bushes are so hardy they’re almost invasive, we’re not going to put swales by them. White clover will be our groundcover of choice instead of grass for unplanted areas in the garden, to be supplemented by straw mulch - Tig doesn’t want to mow or maintain a lawn.
Next year, we hope to put in dead wood swales and plant blueberries on top. The raised beds are still going to require a drip irrigation system, but I’d like to see if the permaculture techniques will work for the rest of the yard. I must confess that we were not so focused on choosing water-conserving plants when we selected seedlings.

I was curous if anyone out there has experience with these water management techniques.