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Low water gardening - reduce water demand

• Know about the water demand of different plants so they can be grouped together, reducing the need for frequent watering in some areas of the garden.
• Reduce the area of lawn and use a grass mix that requires less water or plant the area in natives.
• Water the plant roots - not the leaves or paths.
• If you install an irrigation system, control it with a timer.
• Avoid watering in the heat of the day or in windy weather.
• Improve the soil's capacity to take up and retain water by adding organic matter that helps soil structures to form a crumb structure.
• Keep water in the soil longer by using soil mulch.
• Check soil moisture a few centimetres deep to ensure it really needs watering.
• Use glazed flowerpots or recycled plastic pots. Terracotta loses water from the sides as well as the soil surface.
• Find out about and develop permaculture principles.
  
• If drought and hot winds are common, consider the fire resistance of plants up to 30m upwind of the house. Information of the flammability of New Zealand natives in wildfires is available from your local fire authority.

Shade and shelter - use garden plants to improve the living environment

• Plan a garden for outdoor shade as well as sunny areas. Growing incidence of skin cancers in New Zealand means that outdoor activity demands shade as well as sun.
• Use plantings strategically to shade your home in summer.
• Plant windbreaks to deflect cold winds.
• If hay fever or other plant allergies are a problem, consider making a low-allergen garden close to the house. Replace the lawn with a patio, avoid dusty or mouldy mulches, don't use fountains, and choose insect pollinated plants rather than wind pollinated ones as the pollen is heavier and less likely to be airborne.

Bio-diversity - give the garden natural strength.

• Aim for a wide variety of plants, even in small urban gardens. Insect and viral plant pests do most damage when there are many plants of the same species grouped close together.
• Attract New Zealand native birds and keep cats well fed and indoors at night.
• Attract other pest-eater wildlife to your garden, such as lizards, hedgehogs and hoverflies.
• Eco-source New Zealand native shrubs and trees. Choose those that would naturally occur in your climatic region and soil type as they are most likely to thrive and encourage associated wildlife.

Weeds spread - keep invasive garden plants out of native bush areas.

• Avoid growing invasive or pest plant species and never dump cuttings in bush areas.
• Become informed about invasive plant pest species in your region, and lobby garden centres and stallholders to stop selling them.

Source of information

The information on this page is sourced from the Sustainable Living programme (opens in a new window).