Beverly Hoffman

We turn on the faucet, and, without a second thought, we expect water to flow so we can water the garden.

It's so automatic that we forget the miraculous nature of water, much the same way that we forget fluids constitute the largest percentage of our bodies and that water, not land, covers most of our earth.

I once heard a missionary speak about the preciousness of water in Africa, where water often is recycled a number of times for drinking, for planting, for bathing. In Africa and other places, a drop of water cannot be wasted.

When gardeners are asked their most successful tip or most used tool, water is never the answer. Yet truly it is the most important element in all of our gardening.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we are lucky that the water in our air cleanses and nourishes our garden. I contrast this to my native Texas where droughts and dry air are spoken about as much as football and beer.

I somehow imagine that plants here are much happier than they'd be in Texas. Here they can relax, basking in sufficient moisture despite low rainfalls, contrasted to other parts of Washington where sudden and plentiful rainfalls drench gardens, creating a mess of rotted plants.



Choose carefully

When we choose plants, we rarely take the needed time to inquire about their water needs. We simply look at the photograph on the tag, check out the color of the blossoms and its mature size, then buy it and wedge it into an area.

We can be kinder to our plants, creating a heartier garden, if we group plants with the same watering needs together. We can be kinder to our planet if we actively search out plants that need a minimum of water.

Entire movements have arisen from this approach: WaterWise gardening and xeriscaping. Some WaterWise and xeriscaping practices are to water in the morning, deeply and infrequently. Switch to soaker hoses. Mulch, mulch, mulch ... with compost, straw, dead leaves, shredded bark, nut shells, etc.

If water is scare in the summer, wait to plant until fall. Remove plants that need constant and sustained water. Use native and low-water-use plants because they adapt to our climate and usually thrive in poor soil.



Don't waste

It's important to guard against using too much water. In Poor Richard's Almanac, Benjamin Franklin said, "When the well's dry, we know the worth of water." When we see leaky faucets or hoses, we need to repair them. It's important to limit residential watering. In summers, water usage increases by approximately 50 percent for residential gardens and yards.

When we plant a tree or shrub, water is essential. A simple formula is to water daily for the first week, taper to every other day the second week, then twice a week and finally once a week, watering deeply so the plant can establish strong roots.

Chemical fertilizers, if used improperly, can cause problems in waterways. The phosphorus in fertilizers can cause compromised blooms, lower oxygen levels in waterways and degrade fish habitat. Compost and composted manure are wonderful organic alternatives to chemical fertilizers.

The ardent task of gardening calls for a strong back and rigid discipline. One writer said that what a gardener needs is a cast-iron back with hinges.

At the end of a long day of gardening, the gardener enjoys water in a luxurious way.

I love to soak in a tub full of hot water, loosening the spray of dirt on my body and under my fingernails, then emerging from my bath with a lingering fragrance of lavender or rosemary soap. It's the same smell a garden has after a light rain has rinsed off dust particles from the leaves, its lush, rich soil moist and heady.

A final role of water is in our magnificent rainbows over our gardens, the promise given to us again and again that creation continues. Never have I lived any other place where rainbows and double rainbows appear as they do across our valley and over our strait. Without the moisture in the air, we'd see only slate-colored skies and cottony clouds. Yet we are given displays of colors melting together in jeweled rainbows.

We all stop what we are doing and go to the window. Talking stops. Silence. We believe, for a moment at least, that a pot of gold hovers at the end of the rainbow, and our eyes travel to that imaginary spot, hoping it's in our very front yard. Then we remember we're adults and are simply thankful that we've witnessed a miracle in nature.



Beverly Hoffman can be reached at columnists@sequimgazette.com.