At the zoo, we have a daily watering schedule, two water trucks with tanks, a log book, and three or four staff members spending a good part of their day watering. This is on top of the in-ground irrigation system. It’s a lot of land to cover, so that makes sense.
It’s different with a home garden. The idea is that a native perennial garden should take very little water once established. These are plants that are uniquely adapted to this climate and would grow whether I cultivated them, or Mother Nature did. This year I think we can call the front garden “established”, so we’re going to cut back on watering. They say the first year you plant a perennial they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap. Most of our plants are in their leap year so they will be fine on Nature’s watering schedule.
I’m watering the Clover seed we planted in the path. Since we left the fall leaves thick, they killed the grass, which is fine, but I’d like to still have a low-growing path. This Clover is not native, but good for pollinators and walking on.
Mulching. Mulching is a great idea for water retention! We left the leaves as mulch, and they are still breaking down. I’m more a fan of using what we have than buying wood mulch. We plant densely, so there is less exposed soil. The plants should provide their own mulch when they die back in the fall. I want to get more intentional about breaking down leaf litter to use as mulch next year. Goals.
See the leaf mulch under the Milkweeds? A lot of people aren’t used to that aesthetic here. Also, Oak leaves take a while to break down. I’ll get the chickens to help.
This year, the main plants I will be watering are:
-Anything newly transplanted (Button Bush Cephalanthus occidentalis, Blue-eyed Grass Sisyrinchium albidum, Rattlesnake Master Eryngium yuccifolium)
This little Button Bush loves water. We pulled out a big Japanese sedum in favor of this native bush.
-Annuals. Did I mention we planted Tomatoes and Peppers in the front lawn? We also planted our Wedding Zinnias and Mexican Marigolds in any bare spots. Our back. We have the Three Sisters (Corn, Beans, Squash) that need a good amount of water.
A Serrano Pepper out front.
-Potted plants. Anything in a pot needs more water.
A chipmunk has been digging in this random porch pot. Tomato and Balsam. Planted together for no particular reason.
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