Butting in with some top garden tips

Water, water, water.

It is hard to believe that gardeners in Ireland are actually co-ordinating rain dance routines, but this summer so far has broken all records for sunshine — and also, the amount of food-growing folk crying out for rain.

It is paramount during dry spells that a maternal eye is kept on plants. This year it has been much harder work meeting a garden’s watering needs. Plants, especially those growing in containers, need to be checked at least twice a day. The general rule is to water gently and thoroughly rather than little and often. A good soaking encourages plants to put down deep roots and find the water they need. The ‘water the soil, not the plant’ mantra is important to remember as water is taken in by the roots and evaporated by the leaves.

Watering cans and hoses work well but require your time to operate. If time is limited and areas that require watering are large, check out the myriad sprinkler systems, drip-line hoses (which can be fitted with timers), and other watering gadgets on the market. Choose one to suit your own needs and ensure you purchase all the right connectors and fittings to get you up and automatically watering.

When it comes to watering, the golden rule is not to water in the heat of the day, as most of the moisture will evaporate off the surface. If you can, water early in the mornings or the late evening. If you go for the evening option, ensure there is enough time for the plant leaves to dry and be warned, slugs love wet ground and are predominantly creatures of the night.

Different plants have different watering needs, so it’s good to grow plants with similar needs together. Some crops, tomatoes, for example, and all plants in containers, need a lot of water in the heat of the summer. A good way to get water to their roots is to bury an inverted plastic bottle with holes pierced in it near to their roots. If plants in containers dry out, it is advised to steep them in a bath of water for a number of hours for rehydration. Water conservation is a key issue so it makes sense to ensure water is not just evaporating and is getting directly to the roots where the plant can access it. A good mulch is a valuable addition to any vegetable garden, with the conservation of soil moisture being one of the greatest boons.

After watering, the application of either natural or synthetic mulches will help decrease evaporation and hence decrease the amount of water you will need to apply. By keeping soil moisture more uniform, drought-induced problems (like blossom-end rot of tomato) can also be reduced.

It is widely known that rainwater is the best water for plants as it doesn’t contain any of the chemicals or additions of drinking water. With water rates on the horizon, rainwater offers the added bonus of being free. Hence it makes good garden sense to invest in a rainwater-harvesting butt to ensure all your garden water will be plant loving and free.

There is a range of watering butts in different sizes for sale on the market but you could try making your own, sparing your bank account and helping the environment by using recycled materials instead.

MAKE YOUR OWN WATER BUTT: The best material to make a water butt with is plastic. Not exactly attractive, but recycling the plastic will ensure that it goes to good use and doesn’t end up in landfill. Plastic is also the best way to keep rainwater in. Although wood lined with a pond liner or polythene is a good temporary option, if the wood is not strong enough it will eventually collapse under the sustained pressure of the rainwater it holds. !

There are different plastic containers that you can recycle into durable water butts. Old food storage bins are one option, as they also come with plastic sealed lids. Rather than leaving an open butt, a drainpipe-sized hole can be cut into the lid, making it child and pet friendly.

You can spot these sorts of bins as they are usually blue in colour, and are often available on internet auction websites. They tend to have a capacity of between 70 litres (around 15 gallons) and 200 litres (45 gallons).

There are two ways to access the water with these large plastic containers. You can either leave the lid off or install a tap. Leaving the lid off will give you quicker access to the water, but it may also encourage mosquitoes to breed. If your water butt runs low, it will also be difficult to access the water at the bottom of the container.

Installing a tap may take a little more time and effort, but will make the water butt much more adaptable — you won’t have to rely on the container being nearly full. Water butt tap kits can easily be found in garden centres around the country. You can seal the taps in with special aquatic sealant, but be sure that your sealant doesn’t contain any fungicides, as these will contaminate the water. You should make sure that these sorts of recycled containers are steam cleaned before use. This removes any residue that might cause fungal growths. You may be tempted to source the same type of barrel that has contained chemicals. It is best to avoid these, as removing all trace of any potentially harmful chemicals may be next to impossible.

You will find the above tips and instructions, as well as other options on a really useful website: makingyourown.co.uk/make-your-own-water-butt.html, which is full of inspiring ‘how to’ tips and will help butt you into action to make your butt and much, much more.