Water,
Water, - not so everywhere!
We must
admit that the recent rise in local water rates has gotten our
attention. Further, we must admit that it is a reflection of
reality! Another reality is that despite all that wonderful rain
last week, we are still short of what is our historical ‘normal’,
making drought-proofing our plantings all the more essential.
Loads of
water-saving suggestions are floated about, both practical and pie
in the sky. Rain gardens, rain barrels, porous paving, cisterns,
plants on roofs – all of them centuries old devices that have become
new again. Such small things, but imagine if each one of us did just
one thing.
Simple math
tells the story of water shortage: there is no more non-salt water
than there ever was and there are many billions more of us who need
it. Scientists are forecasting that 30% of the world’s population
will be sufficiently short of water by 2025 to cause all manner of
political unrest, far worse than the western range wars in our own
history. Another fact, which being such perfect folk we hate to hear
mentioned, is that we are the number one water waster among 147
countries.
One problem is the leakage in the old municipal systems throughout
the country that we never seem to get around to fixing. We are
horrified when storms cause the sanitary sewer overflow to go into
our beautiful rivers but when the storms pass so does the impulse to
fix the old system. The relevance all this has to gardeners is that
half of the 80 gallons of water per day per household used in our
country is used outdoors.
Surely that figure is an argument for a rain barrel, but I have read
that they are actually being banned in some states where they are
seen as collecting for one’s personal use a scarce commodity that
should go into the local system. One can understand prohibiting a
structure the size of a community water tower, but a rain barrel?
Shrinking aquifers are an old story in the great plains and other
parts of the western states but with shrinking glacier and mountain
snow packs water shortages are occurring in more regions. It is not
all gloom and doom: there are as many solutions as there are
problems. Some of them are as simple as front-loading washing
machines and shorter showers. Other solutions, such as rebuilding
wetlands, cleansing polluted water, ways to use ‘gray’ water,
require input from people educated to do those jobs.
We
gardeners often resort to cooling off the landscape by waving a hose
about. It’s fun to watch the sunlight dance off the spray. It’s also
less than sensible. A plant or a lawn needs an occasional soaking,
not a sprinkle. Deep watering, done best by drip irrigation, results
in deep and drought-proof roots. Sprinkling encourages roots to grow
toward the surface making them vulnerable to both heat and drought.
Mulch everything to conserve moisture: layers of newspapers, leaves,
compost, grass cuttings, will do the job, topped with pine straw or
nuggets where aesthetics dictate. Because of the misty moisty
mornings in England we think of that country as having lots of
rain. It is “rainy” but it does not get a lot of rain, rarely a
gulley-washer. To preserve that dampness, many English gardeners do
not disturb the surface of the soil unnecessarily: they merely add
to the top – leaves, compost, grass cuttings. Where there is no
digging, the soil’s bacteria, fungi, earthworms and such are left in
peace to continue their fertility building work.
This technique can be used to advantage in this area. Any soil –
sand, clay, loam or a mix of them, will be greatly improved in only
a few seasons by consistent mulching.
ARE YOU ABOUT TO RETIRE?
The Master
Gardeners offer you an invitation for learning, making new friends,
serving the community, having fun. The Master Gardener program is
part of the state of Virginia’s outreach through Virginia Tech to
invent the future, beginning in each community.
To become a
master gardener you take a course of 50 hours over several weeks.
The next course begins on September 8 and concludes November 17. It
will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9AM until Noon at
Northside Christian Church, 1213 George Washington Memorial Hwy (Rte
17) in York County.
Classes cover
basic botany, pruning, use of fertilizers and pesticides, trees and
shrubs, soils, vegetables and fruits, diseases and insects, flowers
and lawn care. The course fee of $85 includes materials and an
extensive handbook, encompassing the results of decades of research
by the horticulturists of Virginia Tech.
An application can be
downloaded
www.gloucesterva.info/ext/mastergardener/ or http:/www.yorkcounty.gov/vce/upcomingevents
You may also phone Va.
Cooperative Extension: Hampton (757) 727-1401, York Co. (757)
890-4940 Newport News (757) 591-4838 Gloucester County (804)
693-2602
APPLICATION DEADLINE IS MAY
29,2009