It may be time to change your gardening practices. Give it some thought: are you presently a slave to watering? Is it time to grow just a few vegetables for yourself? Do you really want to cope with that lawn? Perhaps now would be a good departure point from the past.  Love your garden as much, but perhaps in a more considered way.

It is obviously becoming more important than ever to save and recycle water wherever possible. If you don’t have any water butts (containers to hold liquid…like a water barrel), buy some. If you already have some, consider whether or not you need more. If you can place them on a stand, or safely on a steep step, so much the better because you can then get a watering can under the tap. This year, I intend to put up some gutters around my garden shed, leading to a butt at the side. I want to trap water from every possible source. They don’t have to look large or ugly, there are funnel-shaped steel ones with a modern twist, rectangular box ones with a wall mount for small spaces, the wooden wine barrel look, and others. Go through gardening magazines, you will be surprised at the range. There are also pumps to be had especially for use with butts so that you don’t have to rely on gravity feed.

Mulch well but remember to water the soil thoroughly before you cover it with mulch.  The moisture will then be trapped. Covering a dry patch will do nothing for the soil – it will remain dry. Remember, too, that well conditioned soil will retain water for longer because of its structure. Poor soil will lose moisture much more quickly, so feed it first.

Create more shade if your plants are drying out quickly. Sun-loving plants don’t usually need that heat all day, give them a rest during the midday sun for a couple of hours or so. Use large pots instead of small if you don’t want to keep watering. Small ones will dry out much faster. Clay pots are porous, but if you much prefer the look, use them by placing a smaller plastic one inside. The plastic will help to retain the moisture, and the outside look will be to your liking. Plant as much as you can in the spring, rather than the summer when it’s more difficult for plants to settle in – they’re fighting heat and thirst while trying to establish themselves. If you want a fuller look, try to be patient until the autumn or winter, then fill in with others.

I shall be noting some tough drought-resistant plants in my next column, and others which require only a little, though regular, water.

More and more people seem to be growing vegetables these days. The reasons are varied:  cost, availability of really fresh produce, the comfortable assurance that no chemicals or pesticides were used, and the easy delight of popping outside and gathering something for dinner. Few want the size of an allotment and not everyone needs, or has room for, a special patch. We are therefore seeing more and more bean pyramids, pea trellises, tomato pots and leafy greens among the flower beds – a pure cottage garden look. So, go ahead and do the same. The structures offer architecture, the flowers and foliage bring colour and softness, and the harvesting is sweet. Kale is a wonderful vegetable to add to your bedding plants; the brilliance of its leaves and stalks is exciting; lettuce looks attractive with lobelia, rhubarb will fill a corner and the blue-greens of cabbage and broccoli will tone down some hot colours while lending texture to the whole.

You don’t want to mow, edge, feed, water, condition the lawn any longer? Replace it with some paving stones and pots and slope the pavers slightly down towards the flower beds so that they receive the benefit of any rain run-off. Or put in some gravel paths – these can be cheaper than paving, look attractive, and make the most satisfying crunchy sound as people tread on them. They can wind around several beds and, with some sensible borders, will look after themselves pretty much.

I have a feeling that 2008 is going to be an exciting, adventurous year all round – the deeper, ever-widening awareness of the environment, new governments, the global yearning for peace and the growing determination to achieve it, the rapid advances in medicine… so many levels and avenues. Perhaps you can make your own small statement in the way you change your gardening style

Fab Tips

• When using water-retaining polymers for pots, either leave a couple of inches between the top of the soil and the pot rim, or soak them well before adding to the soil. If you water them after adding, they will swell and might push your plants out of the pot.
• Use environment-friendly detergents so that any washing water can be used on the garden.
• There’s still time!  To encourage perennial seeds to germinate more easily, place about ½ cup of sand, ½ cup of spagnum moss (or something similar) to roughly ½ tablespoon of seeds in a plastic bag.  Label and put in the refrigerator for three months. This will duplicate their natural conditions and you will probably have more success.