You may have been enjoying the recent sunny spell but is there any hope of reviving our dying gardens? Colm Dockrell, Assistant Principal at the College of Horticulture at the Botanic Gardens, joined Ray D’Arcy on the line to talk about bringing dead grass back to life.
As Colm put it, “we have a very different shade of green at the moment” in our gardens and green spaces. But what exactly is happening? Is the grass dying or going dormant? It depends on the grass type, Colm told Ray. But we shouldn’t lose hope.
“Some grasses, when they’re threatened by – in this case – drought or stress, they go to seed and it’s a survival mode. And that’s good news because those seeds will germinate at some stage in the future. Some grass types actually shut down…they do go dormant. And that’s also good news because when the weather changes, that dormancy will be broken. But very seldom will grass die…if people are patient, the grass will come back. We will have green grass again.”
Colm had some advice for anyone worried about their lawns.
“Don’t water…Try not to stress the grass. If you can, keep traffic off it. Don’t walk on it, don't let the kids play on it…Don’t over-mow it…really just do everything possible to keep it stress-free.”
Your vegetable stir-fry may cost you a bit more in the coming months as a direct
“Every plant that has water in it that we eat – strawberries, potatoes, carrots, leafy veg – have a high moisture content. So, obviously, yield is going to be way down and the crops that we buy will become more expensive because of that.”
There are ways to be creative while still conserving water during the hosepipe ban, Colm says. He recommends using leftover dishwater to water window boxes and hanging baskets.
“Let’s conserve the water that we have, that we throw out, that goes down the drain and that’s the best way to use it. And it works very well because…it has soapy solution in it which actually wets the ground more thoroughly.”
Listen back to the full interview on The Ray D’Arcy Show here.