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How to Save Water in Your Garden |
Soils can be classified by type on a relative scale from "Sandy" at one end to "Clay" at the other. In the middle is a mixture of sand, clay and organic matter known as "Loam".
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Sandy soils are dominated by large rough grainy particles of sand and have very little organic matter. If you pour water onto a container of sandy soil it runs almost straight through without spreading sideways. Pure sandy soils are very poor at moisture retention and therefore are unsuitable for all but desert or semi-arid plants. Cactii will survive, but not much else. |
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Pure clay soils are the exact opposite. Water poured onto the surface will just remain there, spreading sideways but not penetrating much below the surface. This is not a good environment for garden plants.
What you need is a soil mid way between these extremes, and the way to get there is to add organic and vegetable material. The best material to use is well rotted compost made from a wide variety of materials - leaves, grass clippings, kitchen scraps, weeds, sawdust, to name a few.
Sandy soils are easy to improve. You just place it on top as a mulch, and eventually the organisms in the soil will work it down deeper. If you want to speed up this process, you can dig it in yourself. It is easy to do in sandy soils, and they require large amounts of organic matter. You will have to keep adding it regularly, and, after doing so, leave a thick layer of mulch on top.
Clay soils are a lot more difficult to improve. You have to break up the soil and this is not easy. Digging down into clay soil can be very hard work, but you must persist. Keep working away over time, adding vegetable matter, digging it in, and mulching the surface. Ask your local plant nursery about mineral additives that can be put into clay soils to help break them down.
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Over time, all soils can be turned into good quality loam which will retain much higher levels of moisture. As a result, you can water less and increase the time between waterings. |
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