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Old 28-01-2003, 05:26 PM
John Wheeler
 
Posts: n/a
Default Drought & more

On Tue, 21 Jan 2003 16:55:18 +1100, Fran Higham wrote:

[snip]
Now because my area is a mix of well prepared annual veg beds and then
ranges in all sorts of conditions through to simply just limestone rock
encrusted subsoil. Now mulch only seems to do any good in 2 cases. One is
the best soil and only spread on thinly and then watered with any sort of
irrigation or on best soil and spread on thickly but only watered by hand or
any sort of sprinkler but only after the thick mulch is pulled back and the
soil exposed. This sort of defeats the purpose.

I'm going to have to work harder at both soil prepa nd to do something about
getting a delivery system that gives BIG water droplets that can penetrate
through thick (and possibly matting down) mulch.

Anyway, water and mulch are two strategies to work more on but does anyone
find any other tricks that work well? Like does anyone have shadeclothe
installed overhead? Does this work to reduce the stress on plants? Has
anyone tried big container growing for veg and if so what aspect and what
sort of containers, growing medium etc?
[snip]


I've only been watering by hand, even small fruit trees in large pots.
However, I'm blessed with a climate where generally no more than 4 weeks
pass without rain, and usually there's one good soaking rain every week or
two. So, my personal experiences won't be much help.

However, my brother has had good luck with soaker hoses underneath thick mulch.
That delivers the water under the mulch, so there is no need to remove it
(until the end of the season, of course). Also, I have read that the
Pueblans in the Southwestern United States use sunken garden beds so that
water naturally collects there, and this also helps to keep the plants cool.

Of course, improving the soil helps greatly, too.

Best of luck down there!

John Wheeler
Western Pennsylvania, USA
(where I haven't seen a day above freezing for several weeks)


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