A garden without watering makes summer twice as beautiful. With beds and plants that do not require additional water, you will save yourself work.
Barbecuing, reading in a deck chair, eating outside - in summer you can really enjoy your own garden. In recent years, however, the climate in Germany has changed. The summer months are sometimes very hot, dry and sunny. Don't feel like watering every night and want to save water? Then convert your outdoor space into a garden that doesn't need watering.
Garden without watering: how to create beds correctly
If you don't want to water so much in the summer, you should choose certain plants or change the structure of the soil. © Westend61/Imago
Classic flower beds need an extra portion of water in the summer months. This will cost you a lot of time and effort. A crater bed, on the other hand, protects your plants from wind and weather – without you having to keep an eye on them all the time. A crater bed is divided into several zones and thus offers different soil and light conditions. In the middle, such a bed is lowered and on the outside it is surrounded by a rampart that protects the plants. This will allow enough moisture to accumulate in the soil and allow excess water to evaporate. This creates additional cooling in summer.
A perennial bed is also a good alternative if the soil is dry in summer. There are many colorful perennials that can do without additional water even in warm temperatures. To create such a bed, the following steps are necessary:
- Since many perennials have shallow roots, the first thing to do is dig the soil 15 to 20 centimeters deep.
- Now fill the resulting hole with a layer of sand or lava rock to prevent waterlogging.
- Mix the excavated earth with sand. This makes the soil looser and more permeable to water.
- Now choose the plants - holy herb, candle or cypress spurge, for example, like it sunny and dry. Important: Do not plan more than five plants per square meter, as the perennials can grow very large.
- After planting, cover the perennials with a layer of limestone crushed stone eight to ten centimeters thick. This supplies the bed with minerals and stores water.
Good to know: A gravel garden is not a suitable alternative to a green lawn. True, you do not need to water crushed stone, but it harms the microclimate and biodiversity. In summer, the gravel heats up to 70 degrees and the ambient air is also significantly warmer at night.
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Plants without additional water: these species are particularly easy to care for
In addition to perennials, which mostly come from Asia, Mediterranean plants are also used to heat and drought. Thyme and rosemary, for example, need little water and like the sun. They can not only be used in the kitchen, but also exude a pleasant scent. They also contribute to biodiversity by attracting bees and bumblebees. The willow-leaved pear, the Judas tree, the Mediterranean viburnum or one of the numerous pine species are known among the trees to survive long periods of drought without any problems.
For the terrace or your balcony, potted plants are ideal. Here, too, there are easy-care variants for the summer months. Plants that do not require additional water are, for example:
- Ornamental lily
- Kumquat
- Fig tree
- Citrus
Growing vegetables: hardy varieties for your garden without watering
You want to harvest vegetables from your own garden – but don't have much time to take care of them? Then it's best to start with a robust type of vegetable. The star in the vegetable patch is cherry tomatoes. They are particularly easy to care for and require little water. Fertilizing them is also uncomplicated, as there are already ready-made tomato fertilizers (promotional link). You may need to water aubergines and zucchini from time to time, but the two vegetables grow and thrive in almost any warm climate.