Gardening
Gerald Filipski
Water Cons
We are living in the time of climate chang
problems for gardeners. We all need to be
conserving this precious resource
as keepers of the earth.
Conserving water can be as simple
as collecting rainwater in a barrel
to use to water your plants. The
barrel can be metal or plastic,
although plastic is easier to
maintain and can be purchased
from many garden centres or
plastic supply companies. Cover the
top of the barrel with a screen or mesh to
keep out debris and mosquitoes, and you are ready
to collect. Make sure the screen is fine enough to
keep the ‘skeeters’ out. Adding a tap or spigot can
make dispensing the water easier. Rainwater does
not contain chlorine or other chemicals found in
city water.
There are some amazing facts when considering
how much rain can be saved from the downspouts of
an average house. You can easily calculate the area
of roof that drains into a downspout by multiplying
the width times the length of the roof. If your roof
measures, for example, 12 metres by 7.5 metres,
the area would be 90 square metres. For every
2.5 centimetres of rain that falls on a 90 squaremetre
catchment area, you could capture up to
2,250 litres of water, but the actual amount will
be less considering losses to friction, evaporation,
and spillage. This can go a long way in helping
to preserve one of our most important natural
resources. Also, your plants will love the rainwater
better than tap water.
20 | arta.net