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Xeriscaping

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Photo by Click. Used under the Morguefile.com license.

The term xeriscaping or xeriscape refers to gardening practices that tries to minimize, reduce or eliminate the need for supplemental watering in the garden. The idea behind xeriscaping is to work with nature, not against it. It’s used mostly in ornamental landscapes, but xeriscape practices can also be put into good use in the vegetable garden.
 

Principles of Xeriscaping
There are several basic principles of xeriscaping. I’ll summarize the main points here, but for a longer discussion, please see The Seven Basic Principles of Xeriscaping.

  1. Choose plants that use less water. This usually refers to native plants used as ornamental plants. Native plants are typically better adapted to the local climate, including rainfall, than imported species.
  2. Use soil amendments so that the soil maintains adequate, even moisture for plants.
  3. Add layers of mulch to prevent water from evaporating.
Most xeriscape gardens begin with a thorough site evaluation and detailed plan. Sometimes the land is contoured so that water run-off is used to water plants naturally.

Xeriscape in Action

Here at Seven Oaks, we used a few principles of xeriscaping out of necessity. For example, we add a thick layer of mulch to the gardens each year. We use well water, and I don’t want to tap out our well; it’s expensive to have a new well dug! We can’t afford to baby our plants or run sprinklers day and night. I use a combination of native plants, drought-resistant plants, mulch and compost to help out gardens stay watered during the hot Virginia summers. Only newly planted shrubs and trees are given supplemental water, which means I run outside with a clean gallon container filled with water and give them a good drink each day.
We ran a PVC pipe underground from the rain gutter out to our peach tree. The result is that this tree, compared to the others, seems to produce a lot more peaches.
Do you use xeriscaping techniques? Share here!

 

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  2. faeriembassy

    I had not heard of xeriscaping but it is similar to our gardening technique – grow native
    minimise watering and deeply water veges when we do and mulch .
    mostly what is left in my wild garden are the shrubs that do not need spoon feeding.
    my real problem here is the wildlife but it is their forest so I am learning to take it…
    Sandra (aust)