Waterwise House & Garden, Allan Windust, Land Links, 2003
50% or more of Australian suburban water usage consists of garden watering. Currently living in a rental property means being stuck with a large lawn and water hungry roses, but we leave the watering to God.
When eventually (hopefully) we do buy, I’ll be taking some gardening tips from Allan Windust. This book is a moderately technical guide to using water wisely in the garden. After highlighting the climate change (chapter 1) and water usage issues (chapter 2), the importance of plants (chapter 3) and the spin offs of good water management (chapter 4), Windust goes into detail on how to detail about water management.
There are many simple household solutions, from shorter showers to collecting water in buckets or containers (although speaking from experience, this can be tedious). Windust discusses a variety of water efficient sprinkler systems, agreeing with Crabb (see Zadok Perspectives #90) that many gardens are over-watered. Water tanks and water recycling are also discussed (chapter 6). The chapter on mulching will teach you everything you ever wanted to know about manure! There is also a chapter on designing your garden and constructing various microclimates and an extensive large appendix on various native plants.
This book really does look like an essential guide for the water conscience gardener.
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