No Watering??

[machman5]

Hi All,
Has anyone out there tried the 'no watering' approach to allotmenting?  I remember seeing a programme a couple of years ago and they were talking to an Indian bloke on a huge allotment site in Birmingham, who says that he thinks we have more than enough natural water in this country compared to India and that he never, ever waters anything! 

Then the other day, during a chat about poss. hosepipe ban, someone on my site remembered a bloke years ago who swore he never watered anything, although the others reckon he done it during the night!

Love to hear some feedback on this one as I am in South Essex and a hosepipe ban is an almost dead cert.

Donna.

[machman5]

[KMARKSnr]

Hi Donna,all,
       I have been using the "Lasagna Gardening"method for quite a while now,and find that no watering is required,or weeding required either  :o.
       Type in your search engine Lasagna Gardening,and read away.

                           Regards,
                                    Mark.

[Curryandchips]

Watering in new seed beds (once) is the only time I apply water on open ground. The roots naturally seek water, and go deep if not watered, resulting in stronger plants.

[machman5]

So even tomato plants and runner beans in August, need no watering?
(Am going off to look up Lasagna Gardening now!!)

[artichoke]

I've been reading a long article by a dry gardener in which he advocates really deep digging (breaking through any pan) so that roots can go straight down to the lowered water table - putting plants further apart than usual so the roots don't compete with each other - something he calls "fertigating" as opposed to irrigating, meaning that such water as you do have should be mixed in a can with leaf fertiliser and used on the plant, not the soil - and regular hoeing to produce a dust mulch that doesn't wick up any dampness from below it. He claims that an ordinary mulch simply attracts water upwards and wastes it (and that's why the ground is damp under a mulch, discouraging roots from going straight down). Some of the article is reproduced at:

http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0302hsted/030201/03020104ch4.html

Obviously some plants can't respond to this because they have shallow roots, so he reserves any water for them and leaves the rest to "forage" for themselves.

[artichoke]

PS the whole book is available free here:

http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0302hsted/030201/03020100frame.html

or look up "Gardening without irrigation" on Google.

[Robert_Brenchley]

i don't think all plants can put down deep roots. I'm next to a stream, and water is never more than a foot or two down, but it's quite a light soil, and the topsoil tends to dry out. I've noticed that deep rooting damp lovers like rhubarb flourish, while Primulas, which are shallow rooting, do really badly in the dry spells.

[machman5]

:-\ Oh my god, I'm getting brainache!  I am reading the bits recomended by KMarkSnr and  Artichoke.  I am not sure but I think it might just be possible!  I am going on holiday in july Aug for 3 weeks and will be reliing on my (unreliable) sons to keep the plot going for me!
I am going to give my head a break now and stop reading but I think my brain will be going over it all day. :D
Thanks for all the replies so far!!
Donna.