Our last meeting of the year was a Zoom-only meeting where we learned about the many different ways we can water our gardens—and how to do that efficiently.
For example, you can employ a ‘priming cycle’—the irrigated area is watered for a short period of time (5-10 minutes) and then allowed to rest before another (and perhaps another) watering cycle is run. This system can be very effective if your soil hydrophobic or your garden is on a slope.
Once again, we were reminded that mulch is a wonderful addition to the garden. It provides weed control, regulates temperature extremes, improves biological properties, provides soil protection from erosion and compaction and increases moisture infiltration and retention. Arborists wood chips are considered to be one of the best types of mulch. To read more, see this article written by Linda Chalker-Scott: Wood chip mulch-Landscape boon or bane. If wood chips seem like they would be a good addition to your garden, a company called Chip Drop will connect home owners with arborists, facilitating the coordination of delivery (it appears that the wood chips are free but there are some conditions with regard to delivery). See getchipdrop.com for further information or to sign up.
Allison also mentioned the book “Planting Design for Dry Gardens” by Olivier Filippi as an excellent resource.
Thank you to Allison for an excellent and very informative presentation. For anyone wishing to see Allison’s presentation, see link below.
Our first meeting of 2025 will be January 20. It will be a Zoom only meeting and our speaker will be the always enjoyed, Brian Minter.
Presentation Link: Luke_Allison_Allthewayswewater.pdf - Google Drive
