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Planning for Drought
As we experience extreme drought here in NC, catching and using our rainfall becomes more and more important. You can use your rainfall to your garden's advantage in a few ways:
1. Catch run-off from your roofs and reuse that water in your garden.
  • Rainbarrels: smaller, gravity based system. Good for small gardens on drip irrigation, watering animals, using watering cans and buckets.
To Calculate the amount of water you can generate from your roof or roofs, use the following equation: Catchment area of building (length times the width in feet) x inches of rain x 600 gallons divided by 1000. For a comprehensive discussion of this calculation, and how much you need for your garden, visit the University of Texas's Extension Information Sheet.
  • Cisterns: can be buried beneath the ground and water can be pumped from them using a solar powered or electric pump. This choice can maximize water storage on your property.

Example: You have a shed that is 12' x 14'. You want to catch the water from half of the roof in a rainbarrel. How much water can you expect to collect from a 1" rainstorm? 56 x 1 x 600 = 33600 / 1000 = 33.6 gallons. That means you would get 33 gallons off of the 6' x 7' side of your roof in a 1' rainstorm. A 65 gallon rainbarrel would probably be sufficient for that side of the shed.

2. Make sure your garden is permeable. Compacted lawns and hard baked earth in beds won't soak in the rain when it comes.
  • Mulch beds with 3-4" of mulch to preserve water retention in the soil and to increase soil permeability for rain.
  • Use compost instead of fertilizer. Compost increases the water retaining capacity of your soil & nurtures your plants. Fertilizer only adds nutrients. It does nothing for soil health.
3. Plant plants that are drought tolerant and chosen to directly match the needs of your particular site. Careful selection of plants can greatly improve your garden's success during times of drought.
4. Use raingardens, french drains, buffer strips and swales to settle rainwater on your property. During drought - rain that does come can have devastating effects. The hard baked ground is less ready to soak in the new rain, water runs off and causes erosion and flooding. Do your part by not letting water from your property contribute to the problem.
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