Our university developed a public website for water saving and garden efficiency. I decided to try it out- let’s see how many mean things I can say about it.
I’ve clicked the ‘launch site’ button which is humongous (thus easy to find), and I’ve named the garden a ‘Mon-den’- out of pure vanity. And hello! After inputting my suburb, the pop up screen has told me that my area has sandy soil and a rainfall of 567mm per year. Not bad website, not bad, I can confirm that we have crap soil in this region.
Now I’ve entered the name of a planting area and the size in square metres. My ‘Carnival bed’ which is 5 metres squared. The next step is for me to input the plants in that bed, I’ve entered Box Shrub, Ranunculi, and Carnations; strangely enough though, the website does not acknowledge the existence of Hollyhocks/Alcea… oh well, nothing’s perfect.
Another annoying thing is the input options of how you water the garden. The website refuses to believe that gardens can be watered with a watering can. Well sorry I don’t use drip lines or sprinklers, you rich bastards.
Now I’ve entered my mulch type, which is coarse. My soil is sandy and flatly sloped. My plants are spaced ‘mainly covered’ and they are in a sunny position. And….Voila! Here are my results.
The website's other functions include: education of how water can be saved inside the house, school and work place as well. Numerous fact sheets recommend methods of drought readiness, from switching to drought tolerant plants; to grey water and storm water collection.A particular section of the site which interests me would be the Plant Library, It’s not sorted alphabetically (which is terribly mainstream), and rather it’s sorted into themes. This could not only give you ideas for garden design, but also acquaint the reader to new genus, without starting at ‘A’ all the time.
Here are some from the ‘Subtropical’ section.
When you’re all done with the Plant Library, there’s a section called the Plant Selector which is even more fun. Here you can look for plants based on criteria you select; you can select a tree, bush, climber, grass or groundcover. Whether the plant you want is deciduous or evergreen; perennial or annual- even the flowering season of the plant is up to you. You can be as nit picky as you like.
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| Squeeze those lemons. |
The website links the community together by promoting social gatherings/events, such as the: 2011 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (I didn’t go this year T_T), competitions, workshops and conferences.
Graphics: Easy to navigate site reinforced by photographs and illustration.
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Interactivity: Calculations completed for you after simple inputs.
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Information: Plenty of fact sheets on a range of related material.
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Range of Media: Plenty of buttons to click, videos to watch, and even games for the kiddies.
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