As native Scots, when we first moved to our small holding in Fife in 2016 the last thing on our minds was drought resistant gardening. In our minds Scotland was famous for being one of the wettest places on earth. It only took a couple of years of spring-time droughts and the death of a fair few trees for us to learn the error of our ways. It’s now been 9 years and we’ve had prolonged periods of drought for around half of those. So we’ve now learned a few tricks of drought resistant gardening to share.
Get ahead of the game – monitor the weather forecasts
It may sound obvious, but looking at the long range weather forecast lets you anticipate the upcoming drought. This means you can get ahead of the game and start setting up your irrigation needs before the drought hits.
It’s also worth keeping an eye on the SEPA water scarcity reports which are freely available on their website.
Planning your garden with water conservation in mind reduces the demand on water systems and saves you time and money in the long run.
Soil Care and Mulching
Healthy soil is the foundation of a resilient garden and the water storage capacity of the soil is directly related to the quality. Organic matter provides food for the soil food web which produces hummus. It is the hummus that acts as a water reservoir so the more organic matter you add, the better your soil will retain water.
If you’ve ever met me in person you’ll have head me say that bare soil is the devils work. Nature doesn’t like bare soil and neither do I! It allows moisture to evaporate, weeds to self sow and soil temperatures to fluctuate. We keep ours covered with ground cover plants and wood chip.
Most tree surgeons these days are happy to deliver trailer loads of shredded woodchip for free. We owe a big thank you to Graham and Gordon at Shapes Tree Surgery for our mountains of woodchip!
Efficient Watering
Water is a precious resource not to be squandered, even at the best of times so water precisely. Sprinkler systems are grossly inefficient and should be avoided.
If you have the time then using a watering can allows you to water only where needed and lets you keep an eye on your plants at the same time. My friend Kate (also known in our house as Sweary Kate) literally swears by hand watering. This give her time to commune deeply with her plants and ruthlessly hunt down slugs at the same time.
If you’re like us and have more land and plants than you can give your attention to then the next best option is drip irrigation and soaker hoses. These systems deliver water directly to the plant roots, minimising evaporation and runoff.
The timing and frequency of watering also makes a big difference. Rather than watering little and often, water deeply and infrequently. This encourages plants to grow deeper root systems that are better at finding moisture. Watering early in the morning or late in the evening reduces water loss due to evaporation.
Rainwater harvesting
Implementing rainwater harvesting systems can significantly your reduce reliance on mains water.
We have installed water butts (or rain barrels depending on where you are) to collect rainwater from our house and shed roofs. You can also install them on greenhouses or any other building or outhouse. You can then use a watering can or connect up a soaker hose as they don’t need high pressure mains water to run.
If you really want to go the whole hog you can start reusing your grey water. This is water from sinks, showers, baths and washing machines (NOT THE TOILET!!). I should probably write a whole blog on recycling grey water but I don’t have the time and I doubt you all have the interest. However, what I will recommend is for those of us without a dishwasher to empty your kitchen sink wastewater outside. By this I mean your washing up bowl, cooled cooking water etc. Just pour it directly onto the plants from the bowl or put it in a water can if you want to be a bit more genteel. (No one has ever accused my family of being genteel!). I should point out that this is only relevant if you are using eco friendly washing up liquid. You could also do this with bath and shower water but my bathroom is upstairs and I don’t want to be sloshing bathwater all down the stairs.
Forest Gardening, Perennials and Drought-Resistant Edible Plants.
Now if you’re really going to be smart then you’re going to design your garden to not need watering at all….bringing us back to the subject of forest gardens and perennials. I’m sure you all knew that’s where we were going to be headed!
The beauty of a forest garden is that, like forests, it’s largely drought proof. The multi-layered system provides plenty of shade that prevents water loss through evaporation. The established perennials used in forest gardening have deeper root systems, accessing moisture from deeper soil layers and requiring less frequent watering. Being perennial they only need planting once, saving on all the resources and watering needed for new plants.
The multi-layers of a forest garden also have multiple benefits for water conservation. The bigger tree layers actually help to create rain (again, the subject of a whole new blog) and maintain humidity. At the same time the ground cover layers keep the soil covered, preventing evaporation of moisture from the surface. The diversity of plants in the forest garden provide a diversity of food for the soil through leaf litter and Chop ‘n’ drop prunings. This feeds the soil loads of organic matter, building hummus and growing the water capacity of the soil.
Drought resistant plants
Last but not least, as the climate is changing we are experiencing more extremes in weather. This means we need to start planting a wider selection of plants. We need some that are drought resistant and some that are more resilient to flood and water-logging.
Plants that grow along the coast are usually a good bet for tolerating drought. These include some of my favourites such as sea beet (beta vulgaris maritima), sea kale (crambe maritima) and sea buckthorn (hippophae) ……or anything that starts with “sea” in the title!)
Mediterranean plants such as lavender, rosemary and thyme are happy in poor soils and with very little water…..takes me back to my past life in Provence…..fields and fields of beautiful purple lavender…..sigh…..
Other drought resistant edibles include Jerusalem artichokes – a tuber producing plant that requires minimal watering once established. The Jerusalem artichoke is related to the sunflower (also known as Sunchoke), producing similar flowers that turn to face the sun. (Did you know that the french word for sunflower is Tournesol, which literally translates to Turns with the sun…..which also takes me back to my past life in Provence with fields and fields of golden sunflowers……sigh…..).
Other drought resistant plants that we include are
- Sedums (Stonecrop) – A low-maintenance succulent with drought tolerance and very tasty, juicy leaves. Great ground cover too with pretty flowers for the bees.
- Achillea (Yarrow) – Adds bright colour and supports bees with great medicinal properties.
- Eryngium (Sea Holly) – Spiky, dramatic, and drought-tough.
- Winter Savory (Satureja montana): A hardy perennial herb with low water needs .
A final tip for drought resistant plants – if the label says it needs well drained soil then they’re probably a safe bet!
Design for Dryness
Group drought-tolerant plants together in sunny spots and use raised beds or gravel gardens to enhance drainage. Consider replacing thirsty lawns with ground covers, wildflower meadows, or gravelled areas. At the very least don’t mow the lawn as often. Moving stimulates growth that requires water, whilst also exposing the ground to sunlight and accelerating evaporation.
I almost forgot to include my pet hate – plants in containers! Container gardening is extremely high maintenance and I’m not not a high maintenance kind of person (unless you ask my husband). If you have plants in containers then expect to be a slave to the watering can/hose. The only way I can think of to offset the hassle of pretty containers is to sit them inside a tray or tank so that they have a reservoir of water to draw from since they can’t access the natural water table. Or you could just plant them out, liberate them….set them free!!
Lastly, if you like hanging your washing outdoors then you’ll know that wind is great for drying. It dries your plants as soils as well as it does your clothes. Create windbreaks using hedges or fencing to reduce plant and soil moisture loss from wind exposure. This is especially important in coastal or upland areas.
That’s probably a lot to take in but please do add in anything I’ve missed in the comments below. What are your favourite drought resistant plants and how do you minimise watering?
Leave a Reply