Drought Resistant Garden Design - Permaculture

[Susan BBPM]

I live in the West of Scotland where traditionally we have wall to wall rain. However, increasingly we're getting long droughts in my area. Weeks on end without rain.

What do those of you in dry climates do to preserve water? We will get a lot of rain at some points in the year - Spring and early summer is currently our driest time.

I have several water butts, but I want to do more to retain water in the ground. I don't want my garden to be quite so reliant on me to keep it alive during dry spells.

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

The best way to conserve water is to wood chip/mulch your garden. I have a rather large garden (mini-orchard) and wood chipped just about the entire area. Definelty helps conserve water in my garden.

Drip irrigation from my research also conserves water.

Just a few ideas. Hope it helps.

MOD

 

[DirtMechanic]

In addition to slowing evaporation up top, I plant in unusually deep holes that have moisture holding compost that also allow drainage and air. That way the 3 inches of rain we got the other day does not drown them in our clay but the wicking effect lasts for weeks when it is dry.

 

[Susan BBPM]

In addition to slowing evaporation up top, I plant in unusually deep holes that have moisture holding compost that also allow drainage and air. That way the 3 inches of rain we got the other day does not drown them in our clay but the wicking effect lasts for weeks when it is dry.

When I'm planting trees etc (in my wet, West of Scotland climate with clay soil) I always 'slit plant' and have 100% success. I used to dig a hole, dig in compost etc but my trees would 'drown' the first time we had heavy rain. I found that no matter how much well draining stuff I put into the hole I was essentially creating a clay basin that would hold water.

So, my question to you is - how does your planting hole drain after a downpour? Because you sound as if you're achieving what I want to do.

 

[DirtMechanic]

When I'm planting trees etc (in my wet, West of Scotland climate with clay soil) I always 'slit plant' and have 100% success. I used to dig a hole, dig in compost etc but my trees would 'drown' the first time we had heavy rain. I found that no matter how much well draining stuff I put into the hole I was essentially creating a clay basin that would hold water.

So, my question to you is - how does your planting hole drain after a downpour? Because you sound as if you're achieving what I want to do.

My holes are 24 inches plus because I am using a gas powered auger.

 

[Susan BBPM]

My holes are 24 inches plus because I am using a gas powered auger.
View attachment 97361

If I dig a big hole (for example, for a fence post) it will fill with water within 5 mins in winter. If I filled that hole with the best materials for drainage that hole will still be abolutely saturated with water in winter.

This is the problem I always have when planting trees the traditional way. They usually die. In winter, it's better to have pure clay around the roots (so make a slit in the soil with a shovel and put the bare root tree/plant in directly) than have them sitting in a clay basin full of water and well draining matter. This slit planting has 100% succes rate for me thus far. But our climate is changing.

Our climate has always been wet to we rarely needed to wory about drought. But in summer, if we continue to have lots of droughts, my approach will result in plants having their roots entoumbed in hard clay all summer.

What I'm thinking now is digging a 'donut' - a ditch in a ring around where I want to plant. The tree is slit planted into clay in the middle, but there's a ring of water retaining soil around it. That might give me the best of both worlds.

 

[Ruderunner]

Susan, in one of your other threads you mentioned that you plant in pure compost. I believe someone suggested adding in some clay for moisture retention. I'd also suggest sand as it does retain some moisture but allows for good draining.

Raised mounds rather than holes helps too.

I have similar base ground, mostly clay. I've added lots of sand and continue to add chopped plant matter. I spread it around in a thick layer as a mulch. My rows are about 18 inches wide and 6 to 8 inches tall above ground level.

During our recent dry spell with temperatures in the 80s for most of 3 weeks, I only ran my soaker hoses a couple times for maybe 30 minutes each. My soil was moist enough that I didn't need more.

 

[Susan BBPM]

At the front my raised beds are only about 4 inches deep and sit on top of clay. They fair much better - the roots get down into the clay, and the layer of compost on top keeps it moist and feeds the soil life. The only issue I had at the front is that the drought occured right at the start of the season when the roots of my annuals wasn't getting down below the compost. Most of the perenial shrubs at the front were planted directly into clay - years ago (before I was interested in gardening) - and they're fine without any water. Likely because anything that needs TLC has died off over the years - a case of natural selection!!

At the back the raised beds are built on a slope and they are about 18 inches deep. This is more problematic as the roots of many plants don't make it down to the clay. The compost drains quickly and the water runs down the hill. This is where I really need to think about adding in clay, sand etc. But I'm also thinking of doing something with ditches above and below the bed to hold water (based upon swales)

Trees, shrubs etc just go straight into 'the lawn'. The lawn being what used to be an old field. They do fine once established and rairly need watering even in drought. Although this year I have felt the need to water everything - last year trees lost leaves early and then we had a hard frost over winter that killed lots of long established trees and shrubs.

Nowadays I still slit plant bare root shrubs and trees directly into the clay. Alghough nowadays I mulch the surrounding area with compost or manure when I'm done. I also plant comfry 'south' of the tree to shade it from the sun. I then chop and drop that regularly onto the tree roots.

All of this is fine in what our climate used to be. But if the pattern of the last couple of years continues I will need to rethink. Trees all around here are losing their leaves in June it's so dry. Right now I'm watering everything, but it's a huge amount of work and likely we won't be allowed to do it if drought conditions become the norm. So I want my garden doing a better job of taking care of itself.
But whilst we're very hot and dry early summer, by late summer and through winter we have a huge amount of rain - constant so not just flash floods.

 

[redback]

A big rainwater tank. What's a butt? Otherwise, permaculture's swales.
I spend a lot of effort installing and maintaining micro sprinkler irrigation, but it is worth it. You can install timers but I like to sit and watch the fine spray on the plants in the morning. Usually 15 minutes of spray on all areas twice a week once everything is established.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Rain Barrel = Butt