DROUGHT TOLERANT PLANTING - LEARNING FROM THE AUSTRALIANS

Monty Don's new Sunday night BBC programme 'Around the Garden in 80 Days' was focussed on the gardens of Australasia last week.

What I found most interesting about the show was Di Johnson's Garden Vineyard (on the Mornington Peninsula near Melbourne) and the way that she was clipping and topiarising drought tolerant Australian natives into columns and domes - much as we do here with box and yew.


Finding hardy drought and flood tolerant alternatives to our favourite garden plants is going to be more and more important as we continue to garden in the changing climate.


Although Taxus (Yew) is pretty drought tolerant, it is famously averse to waterlogged soil and flooding which can easily kill off even established specimens.


Buxus (Box) can cope with moist to dry conditions but will not survive a drought and the sheared leaves can scorch in hot weather. Add to this potential problems with box blight and there is going to be a real gap in the garden designers planting palette if an alternative is not found for this plant.

The two main Australian plants used for clipping are lillypillies and westringia, also known as coastal rosemary. I'm off to order some so that I can see how they fare here in the UK.

I'll let you know how I get on...

VERTICAL GARDENS OFFERS A SUSTAINABLE GARDEN DESIGN SOLUTION

No more excuses that your garden is too small to grow your own veg...

Vertical growing is one of the hot new sustainable garden ideas that is on everyones mind at the moment and one which could easy scale up for commercial growing.

Take a look at this great new system for growing lettuce - you could easily adapt this idea for your own small garden courtyard or balcony and get to enjoy fresh salad, herbs tomatoes - even veg!

Vertical growing systems have been proposed as possible solutions for increasing urban food supplies while decreasing the ecological impact of farming. The primary advantage of vertical growing is the high density production it allows using a much reduced physical footprint and fewer resources relative to conventional agriculture.

Valcent Products have introduced a great new high density vertical growth (HDVG) system for growing vegetables.

The HDVG technology provides a solution to rapidly increasing food costs caused by transportation/fuel costs spiraling upwards with the cost of oil

How It Works

The HDVG system grows plants in closely spaced pockets on clear, vertical panels that are moving on an overhead conveyor system. The system is designed to provide maximum sunlight and precisely correct nutrients to each plant. Ultraviolet light and filter systems exclude the need for herbicides and pesticides. Sophisticated control systems gain optimum growth performance through the correct misting of nutrients, the accurate balancing of PH and the delivery of the correct amount of heat, light and water.

The Benefits

• Produces approximately 20 times the normal production volume for field crops
• Requires 5% of the normal water requirements for field crops
• Can be built on non arable lands and close to major city markets
• Can work in a variety of environments: urban, suburban, countryside, desert etc.
• Does not use herbicides or pesticides
• Will have very significant operating and capital cost savings over field agriculture
• Will drastically reduce transportation costs to market resulting in further savings, higher quality and fresher foods on delivery, and less transportation pollution
• Will be easily scalable from small to very large food production situations

These same ideas can be applied on a garden design scale. Why not try planting up some lettuce in a windowbox or wall planter and take it from there...

FLOOD TOLERANT PLANTING - GARDENING IN A CHANGING CLIMATE

Garden designers are increasingly using flood tolerant plants in their planting designs as the risk of flash floods increases.

In recent years, damage to homes from flooding has becoming a major concern. Whilst plans are in place to improve flood defenses and protect our homes, little thought is given to the affect of excessive rainfall and flooding on gardens.

Gardening in our changing climate means that we cannot rely on the accepted weather cycles of previous years. Whereas we could in the past identify gardens as 'boggy' or 'dry' with some ease, things are becoming less predicatable. Weather extremes of flood and drought can both occur in the same garden within a short period - and we need to adapt our planting style to cope with both!

We need to think about the changing climate when designing a planting scheme for new garden designs. Below is a list of some plants that can tolerate temporary pooling of rainwater as well as dry periods:

• Betula nigra - river birch
• Liquidambar styraciflua - Sweet Gum
• Quercus rubra - Red oak
• Ilex - holly
• Salix - pussy willow
• Aster novae-angliae - Aster
• Deschampsia cespitosa - Tufted hair grass
• Eupatorium purpureum - Joe-Pye Weed
• Panicum virgatum - Switch grass

SEA SHELL GRAVEL?

Fed up with the gravel from your paths escaping onto the lawn and damaging your mower blades? Why not try using crushed seashells instead. These shells will simply break when a lawnmower accidentally runs over them - as well as being a more sustainable option than gravel or peashingle.

Cockle shell and seashell aggregates are totally organic, and are made from re-cycled waste from the British Shellfish Industry.

They have many uses in Landscape and garden design but are most commonly used as a gravel replacement for paths and driveways.

Crushed seashells can also be used very effectively as a mulch for planting beds or to top dress plant pots and containers containers. They have excellent water retention properties and even act as a natural snail repellent!

UK suppliers:

DM Taylor and Company

Read more about alternative eco-friendly garden mulches at our sister site The Jolly Green Gardener

THE GREEN BUILDING BIBLE

A true bible for anyone embarking on a green and sustainable building, the Green Building Bible is apparently the most popular book on green building in the UK today - and for once gardens have not been left out!

You can order your copy from The Green Building Press - and sign up for their great newsletter whilst you are at it...