It’s been a dry winter in the Cape so far. Less than 20mm of rain fell in many parts of the Cape during July, which is about 15-20% of the average July rainfall. Join as by adopting these waterwise practices in your garden in the months ahead:

• Don’t dig up garden beds unnecessarily. Moisture evaporates rapidly from soil that is dug up.
• Pull up weeds as soon as they appear. They are thirsty plants that compete with your valuable plants for water.
• Improve the water retention of your soil by placing a layer of organic mulch over your garden beds at the beginning of spring and autumn.
• Add water retaining granules to the soil in your outdoor and indoor containers.
• Opt for waterwise groundcovers like silver arctotis, vygies and plectranthus instead of grass, which requires a lot of water to look its best.
• Choose indigenous plants (check out our information on the Arbor Trees for 2011 above for ideas for indigenous trees).

Did you know? In the average household, for every 100 litres of water that is used, 30 litres are used in the garden and only one litre is used for drinking water.