Knowledgebase

How to save water in all my gardens for a drought filled future #843345

Asked July 30, 2023, 6:08 PM EDT

I have read all about the most common ways to save water, but they don't answer my question. I have been slowly reconditioning the soil and adding mulch and covering with bark in order to conserve water and prevent weeds of course. But the soil in my area is solid clay less than a foot under the yard (and the nearby park as well). In order to grow flowers and vegetables well, the yard is built up and the vegetables are in raised beds. However, we still have to water a lot and water is not only expensive, it is becoming clear that we may experience more and more droughts in the future. I am trying to prepare for that future, as well as reducing water consumption now and still retain my beautiful extensive gardens of flowers, ornamentals, fruit bushes, trees and raised beds. The first thing I did was stop taking care of my grass. I haven't watered my grass for many years, and this year we actually made a patio out of the whole back yard, surrounded by enlarged flower and vegetable beds. We plan to do similarly in the front, by removing the grass, planting circular raised beds throughout winding paths of stones and bark. I have already made a raised bed full of strawberries in the front yard. I have also decided to plant many many ornamentals and flowers in large pots sitting all over the patio in back and everywhere in the front also, along with many hanging plants---lots of beauty. Also, I have been trying to adopt the values of "food not grass" and also food planted in flowerbeds etc. I have made small raised beds everywhere with old bricks and concrete blocks, so I have cucumbers and zucchini and tomatoes and herbs among the roses and flower gardens, etc. Please give me your feedback and ideas to the following: 1. What do you think about the things I have already done in the back yard (regarding water and future best practice especially, and anything I might be missing)? 2. Please comment on my efforts to grow food among the flowers in small raised beds. 3. Are the concrete blocks and red bricks okay to use for small raised beds? 4. What do you think about these ideas I have that might help in the future with droughts? a. I have an idea that I should dig up my rose bushes and put them in very large pots and then bury them back in the yard, to keep the water localized in the hot dry summer, but I worry that they will hold too much water in our rainy winter and possible rot the roots. b. I have an idea to surround my Blueberry bed (three large bushes in about 10' x 6' area) with concrete bricks or other material UNDER GROUND about 3 feet deep--an underground box with no bottom. Since clay is at the bottom, much of the water loss is on the sides--one side is the patio and the other side bark with nothing growing there. c. Would a number of plants and bushes surrounded in this way, or pots planted underground, be a way of keeping ornamentals and a beautiful garden in general by localizing the water in this way? d. What do you think of my idea for the front yard--to remove all the grass and keep putting in more raised beds and just have stones and bark winding around them all? Notes: 1. I never use sprinklers. I always lay the hose at the base of each plant. I also have had no real luck with soaking hoses or complicated drip watering systems, both of which I tried over the years. 2. All the changes I have made over the years have been done with a very slim budget. I can only afford a few improvements each year, but this year we have gone all out and want to finish our spaces knowing they will be sustainable for the future, as we will live here till we die, we hope! 3. Where I live is not the "rich" side of town and I love it. This is not a HUGE spacious yard, which would take a LOT more water if it was bigger. I have included photos of the back yard with patio, a close of cucumbers trellised among roses, and the front yard with the bad grass and the first raised bed of strawberries.

Marion County Oregon

Expert Response

Hello!

I was really excited to see this question come in, water conservation is something that I’m very interested in!

1. Water conservation

It sounds like you have a good start. I can see your situation split out into four aspects, with some overlap: (1) reduce the total water needed, (2) increase the water holding capacity of your soil, (3) reduce the water loss, and (4) increase the water available to you.

Reduce the total water needed:

Group plants with similar water needs together.
Water deeply and infrequently. This will encourage the plants to have deeper roots. Frequent shallow watering will keep the roots closer to the surface, which is more affected by evaporation. Clay holds water really well, so getting the roots down into the clay helps. The roots will also work to break up the clay, improving the soil for the future.
Choose drought resistant plants when adding new ones.
Check the top 2-4 inches of soil for dampness. If they are damp, then water is not needed yet.

Increase the water holding capacity of your soil:

Add organic matter. It sounds like you are doing this already.
Do you have a compost pile going? If not, this is a good way to get compost for free/lower cost.
In pots, adding coconut coir will increase the water holding capacity.
Deeper pots need less water than shallow ones.

Reduce the water loss:

Mulch heavily (3-5”), it sounds like you are doing this already.
Be vigilant about weeding so the weeds don’t take away water from your wanted plants. The weeds (with seed pods removed) can also be put on the top of your mulch to add additional organic matter.
Water early in the morning or in the evening for less evaporation.
Water slowly to prevent runoff. Be sure that the water soaks into the soil. A lower flow hose nozzle can help with this.

Increase the water available to you:

Have you considered adding a rain barrel or two? I have some under the overhang of my shed, they fill up with water easily in the winter/spring without any extra equipment. I see them occasionally in local buy nothing/garden share groups.
Do you ever save water from inside to use outside? For example, catching water that was used to wash (disease free) produce or when waiting for a faucet to heat up. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it can add up over time.

2. Growing food among the flowers

This is a great idea! You can even take advantage of companion planting to be mutually beneficial to both plants. Good books about this are Carrots Love Tomatoes and Roses Love Garlic, both by Louise Riotte. One caution is to be sure you rotate your crops.

3. Concrete blocks and red bricks for raised beds

This should be fine to do. Fly ash is used in the manufacture of cinder blocks, but there is not much research on whether it is hazardous or not. If you are concerned about safety, the sides can be lined with a heavy plastic. This would also decrease evaporation out of the sides of the beds. Another concern with cinder blocks is that they can raise the soil pH.

4. Your ideas

Burying pots for roses

Root rot is absolutely a concern here. Roses like good drainage, so I would be concerned about too much water retention, especially in the winter months. One possibility is trying it for the summer and then moving the container for the winter.

Cinder blocks around blueberries

How often and how much do you typically water your blueberries? I wonder if something like this is necessary or if it would be effective. Raising the pH (from cinder blocks) is not something blueberries would appreciate as well.

In ground pots for other plants

In the summer it would probably work for retaining water, but with how wet our winters are it could cause too much water retention. Roots could also clog up the drainage holes in the summer. A bottomless pot is a possible mitigation. It also depends on how tolerant the particular plant is to conditions like that. I don’t have a better answer than maybe, unfortunately.

I would recommend trying the suggestions above first.

Replacing front yard grass with raised beds

I think this is a great idea. Grass is hard to keep up in the summer and it becomes wasted space (in my opinion). In your photo I see that the clover is still green. An alternative is to replace your lawn with clover. It will bring pollinators and stay green a lot longer.

There has recently been research into dry vegetable gardening in Oregon. It is possible to grow vegetables without supplemental water, it may be something you would be interested in!

Resources:

Trial gardens show vegetables can be grown without irrigation | Oregon State University

Raised Bed Gardening | OSU Extension Service

Raised Bed Materials | UGA Cooperative Extension

Framing Materials for Raised Beds or Garden Boxes

Improving Garden Soils with Organic Matter | OSU Extension Service

Harvesting Rainwater for Use in the Garden | OSU Extension Catalog

Conserving Water in Your Yard and Garden

Blueberry irrigation scheduling: When, where, and how much? | OSU Extension Service

I hope I was able to answer your questions, please let me know if you have more if I missed anything.

Regards,

Leo Sherry