Don’t let the drought put a damper on your plans for a fall
garden. With a little forethought, you can still have a
plentiful
fall harvest despite the water bans.

“When it comes to gardening, you can do a lot of things
even during a water ban,” said Wayne McLaurin, an Extension
Service horticulturist with the University of Georgia College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Collect Water from Inside Your
Home

Water bans across the state may limit the amount of water you
can use outdoors, but you can still use water from indoors.

“If you’ll collect the water you use to wash your hands
and wash vegetables and the water you waste waiting for the hot
water to arrive,” McLaurin said, “you’ll have a
tremendous
amount to use in your garden.”

You can also reduce the amount of water your fall garden
needs
by putting some extra thought into where you plant your
vegetables.

Carefully Select Your Garden
Site

“Nonfruiting fall vegetables like lettuce, collards,
turnips
and mustard greens can be grown in a shaded area where they will
need much less water to grow,” McLaurin said. “Pick
a spot where they will get four to five hours of sun instead of
the traditional eight hours.”

McLaurin said beets and carrots can also be grown in shaded
areas, although they perform better in full sun.

“For these crops, select a spot that gets morning sun
and not afternoon sun,” he said. “They need the shade
in the afternoon when the September sun is so hot.”

Plant the Right Crops

Another way to reduce your fall garden’s water need is to
select
the right crops.

“Collards, kale, cabbage and broccoli all have protective
coatings that hold moisture in,” McLaurin said. “That’s
why they look waxy. They don’t lose water and wilt easily like
mustard and turnips do.”

If your water supply is limited this fall, avoid planting
squash,
snap beans, tomatoes and peppers. “These fruiting plants
need more water to produce,” he said.

“The rule of thumb with fall favorites like lettuce,
tomatoes
and Irish potatoes is: If you don’t have water, don’t plant
it,”
McLaurin said.

Lettuce is more than 98 percent water. Tomatoes are better
than 90 percent water. Even though Irish potatoes are firm,
they’re
about 75 percent water.

“The larger the plant, the greater the water
consumption,”
McLaurin added.

“Tomatoes take a lot more water to produce than do
collards,”
he said. “If it fruits and has leaves, it takes more water
than if it just has leaves (such as greens). Green beans and
collards
are about the same size plant, but beans need more
water.”

Don’t Forget to Mulch

The most important water conservation tool you can use in
your
garden is mulch, McLaurin said.

“You need to add a good three inches around your plants
to keep the ground moist,” he said. “First, take a
sprinkler
can and moisten the plant and then put your mulch around the
plant
being sure to keep it at least three inches away from the base.
The plant needs this area to get air to the root
system.”

McLaurin said there’s no secret to which mulch is the best.
“All mulches work, and the best one to use is the one that
costs you the least,” he said. “Leaves people are
throwing
away make great, free mulch. Just chip them up and apply them
to your plants.”

Many municipalities provide mulching material free. Check
with
your local roadside department.

“If you’re a true gardener, the drought won’t keep you
from planting a garden this fall,” McLaurin said.
“Gardeners
are ingenious. They know how to work around obstacles like
droughts.”