- Install water barrels to catch water from your gutters.
- Save and reuse household waste water including unwanted cold water from the hot tap and water used to prepare vegetables for cooking.
- Increase the soil’s capacity to hold water by regularly digging in organic matter (compost, seaweed, manures).
- Keep weeding down to a minimum. Hoeing or pulling weeds exposes moist soil from below the surface, and leads to further loss of moisture.
- Leave lawns to go brown (they will recover); spiking lawns in early summer means that they can readily rehydrate when rains come.
- Mulch to retain moisture, particularly in early spring, to reduce surface evaporation in summer.
- Consider growing plants that are able to withstand periods of drought such as grey-leafed plants, Mediterranean, Australian and South African plants.
- Group plants according to moisture requirements.
- Plant shrubs and trees in the fall, when the soil is still warm, and take advantage of higher rainfall to encourage root development.
- Buy young plants in small pots for planting out, as they will adapt more readily to changing soil water conditions than larger container-grown plants.
- Target water onto the soil rather than letting it fall on foliage.
- Water drought-susceptible plants thoroughly every few days rather than little and often.
- Sink a cut-down plastic bottle upside-down into the soil next to recent plantings to direct water to the roots.
- Group container plants together and provide a saucer to collect drainage water (empty water in the saucer back into the plant; watch for mosquitoes).
- Remember that West Coast Natives are masters at surviving dry conditions.
- If you want a hanging basket, consider using succulents to make one. They need very little moisture.