Hosepipe bans are becoming a regular feature of our summers. Despite the predictable downpours at the start of the school holidays it’s only a matter of time before we’ll be lugging watering cans across our gardens to keep them hydrated. Setting up water butts to collect rainwater is a great way of avoiding the use of tap water, but like the reservoirs, this resource is also likely to run out when we need it most.
A better long-term solution is to review the kinds of plants we’re trying to grow – a theme explored in ‘Beth Chatto’s Gravel Garden’, a book first published 25 years ago as she reflected on the challenges of growing plants in the natural gravel and sand of her Essex garden. She drew inspiration from her trips all over the world where she found inspiring gardens in dry conditions. A notable example close to home is Derek Jarman’s garden at Dungeness on the Kent coast where a beautiful range of plants thrive in the shingle with the added challenge of wind and salt.
It’s easy to be captivated by plants growing in gardens that we visit and then disappointed when these same plants don’t do well in the conditions we have at home. While a lot of plants have been cultivated to tolerate a range of conditions, all plants will be happiest when they’re planted in the conditions they naturally favour. When it comes to plants that can cope with drought, we need to seek out those that won’t just manage but rather those that will thrive as a result – the horticultural mantra to remember is ‘right plant, right place’,
Here are my top tips for achieving a healthy drought resistant garden:
- Notice what’s doing well in your garden through periods of drought and notice what isn’t. Over time consider replacing the less resilient plants with those you know will cope.
- Make a rule that you don’t plant anything until you’ve checked a plant’s suitability for the conditions you have – rhs.org.uk is a really useful site for doing this.
- Remember that different plants also prefer different amounts of sun – you might need plants for dry shade as well as for dry sun.
- Add a thick mulch in the early spring – this will help to keep the moisture in and inhibit weeds that might also be thirsty.
- Use water butts to collect as much rainfall as possible but save this for young plants and plants in pots – neither of which have the capacity to seek out water in deeper soil.
