Have your water and garden

Lately, it seems like every time you turn on the local weather forecast, the meteorologist is talking about drought conditions. If you are in a severely affected area, or under water restrictions, this doesn’t mean you have to give up gardening. By following some drought-wise garden water tips, you can have your water, and your garden, too.

You may have come across the term “xeriscaping” (pronounced zer-a-scap-ing), referring to dry climate gardening. Many people associate this term with deserts, cacti, and succulent plants. But with dry climates in much of the country now, this term means much more and definitely does not mean “zero-landscaping.”

This spring about one-third of the country is experiencing some level of drought conditions with about one-third of the country in a drought watch area. Some states and many counties, including all 14 counties in Vermont, were made eligible for emergency farm drought aid this spring. Some mid-Atlantic states imposed water restrictions earlier this year.

To keep up with current drought conditions through articles, links, and maps, visit online the National Drought Mitigation Center (www.enso.unl.edu/ndmc/watch/watch.htm).
The University of Massachusetts has a website just for drought information for New England (www.UmassDroughtInfo.org)

So how can you save or recycle water, or use less?

–If you have water restrictions in your area or town, find out what they cover. If drought conditions aren’t too severe, they may just cover use of lawn sprinklers and not watering of gardens.

–Water in the early morning, when there is less heat and wind, so less water is lost to evaporation. Timers on automatic watering systems make watering very early much easier.

–Don’t use overhead sprinklers, which