by Rachelle Benson

Created on: February 21, 2009

The worlds water supply seems to be dwindling at a rate faster than any of us want to admit. As more people are becoming even more conscientious about our situation, there are several things one can do to save water while gardening, which ultimately needs water.

The community I live in here in rural US is mainly an agricultural county. People's livelihood and means of life are from fields of hay, grains and organic fruits and vegetables. Many have their own personal gardens as well.

One of the best ways to save water is by collecting and saving the rain water that runs off your roof during rain storms, and even snow storms. Many people have 55 gal drums that have been modified to have a spout at the bottom to attach a garden hose to. They can then use this saved rainwater to water their gardens. You can use whatever container you have available to you though to harvest rain water and then cover until needed at a later point. There is no limit to how many containers you can have. The more you have, the more you can fill and utilize later.

It never ceases to amaze me the wisdom and tips one can learn from those who have been gardening their whole lives. Some of these people have gardened for over half a century. Tips worth hanging onto and putting into practice are how you plant your gardens as well. Sometimes you can actually plant two kinds of plants one on top of the other as they will mature months apart.

Planning your garden well in advance will allow you to utilize plants/vegetables that require less water than others. Checking what really grows well in your zone will also be useful in not wasting water on a plant that is going to struggle in your climate to begin with. Talking with your local gardening club, florists, landscapers, can all be a valuable asset in getting the most plants out of the least amount of water.

A very common practice is mulching and composting in the area where I live. Since most of us farm we have straw on hand for bedding for animals and we all seem to have our huge compost piles building for the following year.
Straw in particular holds moisture in so mulching around your plants with straw/compost will help the moisture stay in the ground longer right around your plants.

Another practice is once the ground is cultivated and ready to plant , some lay down black plastic in strips long enough to cover soaker hoses that run along the rows of the vegetables that are planted in small holes in the plastic. Another layer of mulch/compost

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