Friday, August 7, 1990 ~ North Shore News — 13

Don’t turn off the tap

Reducing watering will have long-term effects on garden

In case you have yet to notice, Western North America
is in the middie of a drought. The nightly news may be full
of the latest forest fire reports, but the gossip in the garden
is reporting some less obvious disasters that are striking

closer to home.

Brown lawns may reduce the
need for the lawn mower today
but will increase the need for weed
and moss control at a later date.
If you allow this dry weather to
force the lawn into dormancy, the
top growth will die and the indi-
vidual plants will thin out.

Come fall, mass will grow on
the decaying top growth and
weeds will rush in to fill the void
left by the shrinking lawn.

The vegetable and herb gardens
fare no better. Even though you
may not notice immediate results
from stingy watering habits, much
permanent harm is occurring.
Drought-stressed vegetables and
herbs are prone to poor produc-
tion, bitter flavors, woody tex-

Learn to grow,
cook with herbs

MANY PEOPLE use herbs in
their daily cooking. Fresh herbs
zed that special touch to meals.

Leam how to grow your own
home herb garden and purchase
plants from professional growers,
this Sunday, Aug. 19, from Ii
a.m. to 4 p.m. in the VanDusen
Botanical Garden, comer of Oak
and 37th Avenue in Vancouver.

This aromatic day in the garden
will feature demonstrations on
planting and growing herbs, an
information booth with experts to
answer all specific questions,
displays of herb varieties, culinary
methods and herbal teas brewed
on the spot for sampling.

There will be hundreds of herbs
for sale to tempt all gardeners,
from beginners to enthusiasts
looking for the unusual.

Visitors may also tour the
VanDusen herb and home
vegetable garden or take a guided
tour of the Mediterranean Garden
at f, 2 of 3 p.m. with the Van-
Dusen garden guides.

Regular garden admission ap-
plies. (S4 adults, $2 seniors and
youths, $8 families, and members
free.)

For information call 266-7194.

THAT'S
HOW MANY
CANADIANS
ARE WHEEL-
CHAIR
BASKET-
BALL
PLAYERS

Ex.

d

pcos

tures and attacks by insects and
discases.

Flower gardens will also suffer
from this poor production. In ad-
dition, you can be sure the indi-
vidual flowers will not fast as long
as this hot summer sun sucks the
moisture out and the root zone is
too depleted to replace it.

In some cases, annuals such as
sweet peas, pansies, alyssum, and
se2p dragons will die off sooner
than normal as a resuit of signifi-
cant drought stress.

tc is during times such as these
that we can count ourselves for-
tunate to be living in a rain forest.
I can't believe | just said that!

We are usually preoccupied with
the dodging of rain drops and the
diverting of flood waters
throughout most of the year. This
does not mean we can dodge our
responsibility of watering the
garden.

It is enough just knowing that
we live in an area that has suffi-
cient summer reserves of water to
alow us the privilege of keeping
our gardens healthy. The key
word here is privilege.

We may have abundant supplies
of water, but they are not infinite.
More of a problem are the limita-
tions of the various water supply
systems. Our ability to deliver
water is not keeping pace with the
ever-increasing demands of our

Geoff
Tobiasson

OVER THE GARDEN GATE

growing towns and cities.

For these reasons, some
municipalities have adopted water-
ing restrictions. Here are a few
examples:

The District of West Vancouver
requires that you water only be-
tween 8 a.m. and | p.m. or 5
p.m, and 9 p.m. Further, even-
numbered addresses may water
only on even-numbered days and
odd addresses on odd days.

Both The District and The City
of North Vancouver maintain the
same even/odd rule as mentioned
above. Neither require watering at
certain times of the day.

| cannot understand why The
City of Vancouver, The City of
New Westminster and The
Municipality of Burnaby have no
restrictions, but this seems to be

the case. By comparison, certain
areas of The Municipatity of Sur-
rey are literally out of water at
certain times of the day.

All of this points to the need
for a fresh look at the way we
water our gardens and landscapes.
The vast majority of us continue
to use the old garden hose and
sprinkler as the number-one
method of irrigation. H's time to
take a second look.

Hoses and sprinklers are ineffi-
cient at best. They usually deliver
more water to the garden than it
can absorb at any given time.
What is needed is a system which
will apply the water at a slower,
more evenly paced rate. This will
allow the soil to soak up the re-
quired moisture rather than allow-
ing it to run off.

Most of us really do have good
intentions with respect to water-
ing, but look at the process we
must go through in order to real-
ize them. Drag out the water
works and then waste half of the
day trying to make sure the whole
yard ects wet. It’s no wonder we
conveniently forget occasionally.

And what about sursmer vaca-
tions? You cither con a relative,
friend or neighbor into doing you
a very large favor or you pay
someone. Or you let it go brown!

So what is the solution? An
in-ground watering system on a
umer. Just imagine! You punch in
the watering schedule and then sit
back and relax.

No more draggine the hose
through flower beds. No more
running out between plays in the
football game to move the
sprinkler. No more obligating
yourself to friends and neighbors.

They have become far less ex-
pensive and much casier to install
in the fast few years. Obviously
there are a number of variables
which can affect the overall price
of a system.

This being said, vou can expect
an average cost of $500 to a
$1,000 for the necessary materials.

Installation is relatively
straightforward. Most of the sup-
pliers have ample quantities of
pamphiets and brochures designed
to guide vou through the process.
Leaving the installation to a
private company will run the total
cost to two or three times the cost
of doing it yourself.

For mote information and good
advice, plan a visit 10 Vancouver
Irrigation Supplies at 1440
Venables in Vancouver. You will
find them more than willing to
guide you towards a successful in-
stallation.

F90% OFF CUSTOM
[DRAPERIES & BEDSPREADS