Showing posts with label drought. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drought. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Why you must "cultivate your own garden"

            Long Drought -- As Hard to Recover From As Long COVID

"Il faut cultiver notre jardin" is the famous phrase taken from Voltaire's novel Candide. It means in literal terms, water your garden. Metaphorically it means to think rationally for yourself.

Walking around Vancouver Island, even during the rains of winter we see the continuing effect of the drought of July and August. Rain lands on the soil and slides off, for the soil was baked to a solid surface by the summer heat. Wild landscapes suffered, but people didn't even use a hose to water their own urban gardens. "Don't worry, the rains will come back," they said. The rains did come back (and filled the already-full reservoirs we feared to empty), but the rain can't get into the soil unless we keep the soil receptively moist all along. Municipal water restrictions prevent that.

So trees topple, their roots even in rain not accessing sustenance and failing to anchor the trunks and crowns. Once the fall winds come the trees blow down. 
They land on roofs and power lines and then people chop more down fearing that more will land on roofs and power lines. The suburban tree-scape is diminished even further than it already is by paving and development.

Underground, soil without water is a dead zone, for the minerals in soil which micro-organisms and fungal filaments make available to roots are dissolved in water. Water cycles as vapour from leaves to sky, from clouds to soil and to roots. Underground tangles of grass-roots hold water, and the leaves of grass send oxygen and moisture into the air. Unless, that is, the water supply is shut off during a dry season with no sprinkler use.                                                              

The number one rule of gardening is to water your plants, shrubs and trees if you want them to survive. Rule number two: notice what your plants need, what they're asking for when they droop, not what bureaucratic notices tell you you're allowed to do. Enlightened reason (Voltaire's big project) tells us to cultivate our own thoughts. Reason tells us that when plants and trees droop, the horticultural world is dying. The trees are speaking. We need to cultivate our ability to listen. 

It's time to revisit the dictate that municipal water-restriction is a form of conservation. We can see, if we walk the neighbourhoods with eyes open, that drought kills (with a lingering effect of "long-drought") and it also opens the door to wildfire. Fire and water don't mix; let's go with water.












Friday, August 4, 2017

Wild and domestic animals and songbirds are thirsty

Let's all put out bowls of water anywhere we can -- gardens and boulevards. Creeks and ponds are getting low and stagnant. Make a spray for hummingbirds to shower in -- watch them arrive out of nowhere! Spray the leaves of trees for birds to find cupped water.
Raccoons are having a hard time digging insects out of hard dry grass. Making a wet patch helps. Be compassionate!

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

"More sinned against than sinning"

First we starve our trees of water during a drought -- thinking there is some better use for water than keeping nature alive -- and then, when the storms blow in and roots and branches crack and split like matchsticks, we blame our trees for collapsing on our buildings. Trees living within a stand are less likely to blow down, but we tend to leave trees standing singly and isolated around our buildings. What chance do they have in a drought and high winds, when the landscape becomes a "blasted heath"?

In late August the News reports were full of oaks, maples, fruit trees and firs blowing down on southern Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland, damaging cars and buildings, dragging down hydro wires -- one "offending tree" went through a window, said a CTV announcer.

"Offending" tree? The urban forest is the victim of offense, not perpetrator: it is eroded and abused, and who can be surprised that it keels over, tree by tree, at the first storm of the season? We must care for, not stress our trees if we want their services as oxygen and shade providers, bulwarks against climate change, habitat for wildlife and beautifiers of our increasingly sterile over-built residential environment. (The offending tree was of course sentenced to execution, without trial.)

Next time we have a drought, let's not make it worse. What good is the water in the reservoir (Victoria's stayed 85% full), when it's needed in the roots of trees? Water in roots is not lost, it's being circulated. Once the hydrological cycle is arrested, death follows. That's a tragedy.