Your Yard and The Drought

While a little rain has fallen, don’t be fooled, we remain in a SEVERE DROUGHT in much of southern New England. 2022 has seen record droughts across the globe.

We met with Lori Cochran - Director of the @westportfarmersmarket - at her home in Easton to take a walk around her beautiful wildflower garden and her yard. As an agriculture expert, Cochran understands how water shortages affect everything from our food supply, to farmers livelihoods, to the availability of fresh produce. She shared about changes she has made to get through this year. Have a listen to these video clips, and see which of these tips you can implement now:

Lori’s top tips for conserving water:

1. Stop watering your lawn, really. Everyone’s lawn is burned out, and it’s not coming back this summer. At this point we are just wasting valuable water. Mowing is also drying your grass out more, so you can stop doing that too. Your friends will love you more for your responsible care for our environment than for your lawn (one would hope).

2. If you have your own home food garden, water that. And pick and choose which flowers and plants to water.

3. Think about setting up a rainwater collection system to water your own flowering plants and garden so you don’t need to pull from the water supply (scroll to see Lori demo hers).

4. Set out small pans of water for birds and pollinators to drink from. Lori uses those round black take-out containers that can’t be recycled, and large basting pans. Change out the water every few days to avoid attracting mosquitos.

5. Consult a landscape professional when planting to figure out which plants and trees will require less water and can tolerate higher heat - global warming is not going away - and there are ways to achieve a beautiful garden that are more compatible with our new normal.

Support the Westport Farmers Market every Thursday from 11-2.

Also check out @sustainablewestport for more tips on saving water. Questions for Lori? Ask them in the comments.