It has been a rough summer.
We're at the end of the worst dry spell I can remember. It was a struggle to keep my tree ferns alive, and my memories of this summer will be scattered with images of traipsing through the house with buckets of water from the shower, and mourning the loss of the greenery around my home as plant after plant and tree after tree has shed its leaves and died.
The government is calling this a 'drought'. I prefer to use its correct term: climate change.
Now that the weather is finally cooling down, we're left with the decision of what to do with the space where our lawn was. We already covered the area with mulch a few months back, to protect the soil beneath, and now the plan is to transform the space into a waterwise garden. No more grass, no more watering required, and a host of beautiful, hardy, drought-tolerant plants that will look beautiful and add value and colour to our property.
The transformation won't come cheap. Plants are expensive, and even though the area that was lawn is only small (maybe 10 metres by 6 metres at its widest point), the landscaping will cost money.
So - do plants count in my vow to 'buy only what is necessary'?
I will argue a solid 'yes'. What my family and I are trying to do is to become sustainable, and while our ever-thirsty lawn wasn't sustainable, a water-wise garden most certainly is. Many of the plants we are intending to put in will also be useful ones - herbs and fruit-bearers, as well as natives that will support and encourage wildlife. All of these things are good for the planet. And that's what my 'No More Stuff' pledge is about, after all.
Sometimes we have to buy things to become more sustainable. An example might be good quality, classic shoes that will last many seasons, so we don't have to buy new shoes every year. Or buying a compost bin, so your kitchen scraps go on the garden rather than in landfill. Or a greywater hose to make your garden bloom even in the harshest of dry spells. A water saver shower head would also fall into the 'good to buy' category.
So yes - I will be buying plants. But I'm glad to say that I'll be selling our old lawnmower, and I hope that our impact on the planet will be reduced by our garden transformation. I also hope that we'll be soon welcoming in native birds to our garden, and making the soil in our patch of the planet just a little bit healthier and happier.
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8 comments:
Hi Daharja,
Just a thought, but have you tried getting plants from friends/ family/ neighbours? I and many of my friends regularly divide up plants or take cuttings, and pot them up for each other so that we now rarely have to buy stuff. Things like succulents and other really hardy stuff are very easy to propogate...
I agree with you. While I think the compact is great idea, there are some new purchases that ought to be made to lessen our impact on the world, such as those you have mentioned and compact flouro light globes. The compact is teaching me to think about what we consume and not to buy the silly useless things which our over-consumer society teaches us to want. Back to the garden: some time ago, before I knew about the compact, I replanted my little front garden with natives and hardy plants. I never water it and it looks great. So I encourage you on your gardening project, despite the need to technically break the compact rules. Lara.
Daharja: I'm cynical about tearing up the lawn.
You use the words "lawn" and "grass". Lawns need regular watering, but grass is pretty resilient, and needs only an occasional sprinkle. With grass you are growing tough little weedy plants to say 5 cm high. Now, are these going to need more or less water than larger, even "drought resistant" plants? I have mown grass. It looks fine, and needs less water than my "drought resistant" plants.
It might be worth looking up gardening groups in your area where you can swap plants/cuttings or get them cheaper (and maybe some useful tips as well).
In response to anon's comment:
The lawn is already gone - it is now sitting under six inches of mulch, in preparation for the new waterwise garden! So too late there! And we'll be advertising the lawnmower on Freecycle soon! My husband is pretty happy about that - no more mowing! As for the next home we buy, if it has any lawn areas, they'll be the first thing to go in a working bee with our friends.
Some councils give away plants indigenous to the area (which shouldn't really need watering) - you should check with them.
And as caroline said, succulents will often grow if you just snip a bit off and stick them in the ground.
Related stuff
Last weekend I bought stuff but its OK -I think.
I started a worm farm, You can buy an expensive kit but I managed to only buy the worms and a large pot.
I bought 500 worms at the hardware store - they say you need 1000 per person so I will let you know if 500 is enough.
I cut a large hole inthe bottom of a pot and put the pot on top of 2 bricks. Then I added some compost and some old newspaper added the worms and covered it in newspaper. I added a banana but havent gotten back to check on it.
Waiting for the rain to stop so I can add extra rice and potato peelings.
The big upside in this is that if it works I might not need anymore bin liners
Interesting thoughts, thankyou. I have referred to them in my own musings about the merit of using stuff to avoid using stuff, at my site. I too have tried to remove as much of our lawn as possible - being half an acre it was a large task, but less ambitious than mowing for 3 hours each week! As an aside, do you think we need to also consider not just what we purchase in our pursuit of lessening our impact, but also the way in which we earn the money that funds those purchases?
I will visit again to be inspired anew.
Bryan
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