On Thu, 19 May 2005 08:07:26 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:

In article ,
Mike Lyle wrote:
shazzbat wrote:

When it rains, it waters the garden *and* fills the butt. Then when
it's a dry spell, you've got a butt full of water.

If it's a long dry spell, you're toast. And so are your plants.

I'm going to keep on saying this till I'm green in the face. Most
plants in most situations in most parts of the British Isles in most
years (maybe decades) do not need watering once they're established.
You plant them properly in the first place in properly prepared soil,
mulch as necessary, and just let them grow.

Well, that is too simplistic. In a really dry year, the soil in my
garden has been dust dry (as in the tropics) on the surface, with
no usable water for at least 1', perhaps 2', down. Established,
drought resistant plants can cope, but they suffer badly in the
recent wet winters. That is suffer badly as in often die.

Some plants I couldn't grow at all, even in totally shaded locations,
though I have started to do so again. Chives, mint and even things
like tarragon were all very difficult 10-20 years ago, and don't
even dream of primulas. However, in recent years, even some of the
last have established themselves.

How do you prepare the soil, though? Do you add large amounts of
humus in planting holes and mulch the surface, to make it more
water-retentive?

Janet, do you mean the kind of holes where an aerating tool is used?
Because my soil surface for the lawn was so compacted, I went over
pretty much the whole area with a 4-pronged hollow tine aeration tool,
then filled the 4" deep holes as best I could with J Arthur Bower's
farmyard compost.

MM