Skip navigation

Sprinkle Sparkle Sprout

Answer

Conserving water in the garden is not only environmentally responsible but also a savvy way to maintain a lush, thriving outdoor space. Implementing water-wise practices. Here are some tips on saving water in the garden:

  1. Understand how much water your garden needs: The Living Water Smart website states that most plants need 30mm of water each week during the dry season. And native plants often need less (more like 30mm every 2 weeks)
  2. Darwin Weather Web: This is a network of over 30 weather stations around Darwin that provides weather information from suburb to suburb. Use this to help make decisions about watering in the garden.
  3. Upgrade to a smart irrigation system. See the Living Water Smart website for details on how to do this and how to program your irrigation controller.
  4. Use mulch to reduce evaporation, suppress weeds and maintain soil moisture.
  5. Opt for top end territory native plants which are adapted to local conditions and generally require less water. 
  6. Zone your garden to optimise watering. For instance, place the more water intensive plants together.
  7. Water the garden at the beginning or end of the day. This will minimise water loss through evaporation.
  8. Make sure you seasonally adjust your automatic irrigation controller to counter large transevaporation rate.
  9. Fertlize your garden towards the end of the wet season

By incorporating these strategies, gardeners can strike a balance between maintaining a beautiful landscape and being mindful of our precious water resources.