what will you do to deal with the drought

what will you do to deal with the drought

On our community allottment we start in febuary installing large 1000 litre pallet tank to collect water from our huts we have manage to collect nearly 1800 litre.we have also cover areas with cardboad them wood chipping to both keep the weeds down retain water and stop evaporation.We use watering cans not hose pipes when watering so you alonely water the plants and not all the soil around them

When planting up pots,planters and hanging baskets,i always use water retaining granuals mixed into compost-- dont just sprinkle-- mix ,because sprinkled, it can form a mass of jelly, no good to plant or soil. Something else to try, moss mixed in to compost, really holds the moisture, also blotting paper at the bottom of basket etc, talking of bottoms,try disposable nappies, these really soak up fluid. one last thing ! water little and often, to much water on dry compost is useless and wastes water and time,and if you can make it luke warm water just to start WOW

Would adding layers of newspaper/shredded paper before mulching help to retain water?  

yes on newspaper plus it is a feed..

Hello Dizzilexia,

Paper can work well in compost and mulch. Have a look at this blog by James Alexander-Sinclair on getting rid of old paperwork in compost.

Good luck,

Emma

gardenersworld.com team