Moisturise your garden with mulch

Greater Wellington is calling on gardeners to lock in up to 70 percent more moisture in their gardens by using mulch, as part of its summer water conservation campaign.

“Mulch acts like sunscreen for your garden,” says Andrew Samuel, Greater Wellington’s Water Supply Marketing Analysis Manager. “It reduces the need to water, slows weed growth, feeds soil, and gets the garden through summer with much less hassle.”

Andrew says spring is traditionally a peak time for garden maintenance so it’s an ideal time to promote the use of mulch. “We’re lucky to have a range of garden centres and hardware outlets on board offering great deals on mulch throughout November. We hope the campaign and great price offers will encourage more people to use mulch – it’ll make their gardens more summer-proof and help to conserve water at the same time.”

Water use by Wellington’s four cities rises every year during summer when demand can be 50 percent higher than in winter. A garden hose or sprinkler can spray away 1000 litres of water per hour – that’s the same as a family of four uses on a winter day.

To conserve water and help avoid the need for tougher restrictions, gardeners can follow these four simple steps:

Use mulch
Check that your soil needs watering first
Water only your plant’s roots
Time sprinkler sessions to 30 minutes – once a week should be enough

For more information on mulch, including price deals and participating retailers, see www.bethedifference.gw.govt.nz