Garden Office Blog

A Guide to Sustainable Gardening – Saving Water

A Guide to Sustainable Gardening – Saving Water

By Andrew Tweddle on 5th December, 2011

For dedicated and occasional gardeners alike, the most important task will likely be to make your garden look as good as possible. Part of the joy of gardening is selecting a number of plants and flowers that suit your individual taste. However, a garden that is full of these plants and flowers can require a very large amount of water. Here are some easy ways to help save water, offering a benefit both to your garden and the environment:

Catching Rainwater – If your garden has a lot of plants that require regular watering, the amount of water that you use can be very high. While your plants may have access to regular rain, much of this rain will fall in a place where it becomes useless. To help rectify this, place containers around your garden to catch rain. One of the most effective ways to catch rainwater is to attach a rainwater tank/water butt to your drainpipe, essentially catching all the water that would otherwise disappear down the drain.

Recycling Water – In addition to catching rainwater, you can go the extra mile and collect water that you’ve already used. For example, hanging baskets will waste a considerable amount of water, because some of it immediately falls out the bottom of the basket. Simply place a container underneath to catch any of the excess water.

Only Water if Necessary – While it can be tempting to give your plants a healthy amount of water everyday, many plants will not need this much water, and doing so can not only waste water, but impede the growth of the plant as well. You should make yourself aware of each of your plants and flowers individual watering requirements. This will allow you to only water when necessary, thus saving on water and helping your plants to grow at an optimum rate.

Choose Plants that Need Little Water – If you are choosing new plants for your garden, you can further reduce the need for excess amount of water by choosing plants that only need very small amounts. There are many plants that can survive on very little water, such as holly and Rose of Sharon. When choosing drought-resistant plants, look for plants with spikes, grey leaves, leathery leaves or leaves covered in fine hairs. These all signify that the plant needs very little watering.

Weeds Need Water – Weeds also need water to survive, so are essentially a drain on your water usage. To rectify this problem, simply remove all the weeds from your garden.

As you can see, you can easily save a lot of water in your garden. Sustainable and environmentally-friendly living is a deep-seated belief of Decorated Shed. Every Decorated Shed garden office uses sustainable materials and an insulation system that uses very little energy to keep it warm at all times of the year. If you choose to make your garden a sustainable garden, it deserves a sustainable garden office to complement this. A Decorated Shed garden office is the perfect solution to make this a possibility.


Category:  Environment

Go back to blog index