Interesting that being 'green' must mean different things in different countries.

Here, in England, it is important not to pave your garden.

If water can't get into the soil, it runs off and causes floods.

There are also areas that tend to drought. This is not just because there isn't enough rain. It is because what rain there is doesn't reach the reservoirs - because people have paved their gardens!

I'm surprised you don't have the same issues in Australia.

Esther Montgomery
ESTHER IN THE GARDEN

We do Esther. Paving can be a real issue if its the only thing that is used to cover the ground. In our case, we will only be paving the areas that are traffic zones and its almost impossible to have something grow there.

Even in this case, there will be spacing between the pavers to allow runoff to seep into the soil rather than fill storm water drains.

This is great food for discussion, Stuart. For now, I'm thinking about the pavers-there are some that are permeabl; that's not the right word, probably. Instead of being solid like bricks or stones, they're hollow and have soil or sand or stones inside them. Some have grass or groundcovers too. My understanding-I don't have these myself-is that they allow for more water to be absorbed rather than running off. I only saw them locally at one property, a vineyard winery with splendid gardens and a real nod to being sustainable as much as possible, so I have no idea if they're more expensive than regular pavers or not. Have you seen these in W. Australia?

Can't say I have jodi but they sound like a great idea. I find that with our paved areas provided they aren't a completely solid surface, the water will always run off and seep into the soil between them. I've never had problems with flooding or run-off.

Interesting post! I couldn't agree more, we, as individuals, need to make a change towards being 'green'. No doubt everyone, big business included, needs to go that way too, but there is a lot we can do at home. Along those lines in my garden, I've done away with my big grass lawns and replaced them with drought tolerant plants that attract birds, bees, etc. Also, added gravel paths and flagstone patio areas (set in sand). That was not a hardship at all...love my yards! And our neighbors can't believe how low our water bill is. However, there's always room for improvement and I'm still working on my 'Go Green' list, too. Thanks for bringing the subject up.

Excellent post. I agree that we need to do as much as possible to help our world. This topic is of great interest to me. It's nice to share tips like this. I actually had a list similar to this on my old blog, but it disappeared when I changed the background.

There are two issues with paving over gardens.

I think, and I am happy to be corrected, that it is not so much the paving over of gardens - or parts of gardens - but the increase in development wholesale that has removed massive chunks or 'drainage infrastructure'.

Couple this with the neglect of simple drainage systems on the edge of the towns too means we are disrupting a natural process.

When I was the junior member of staff at the gold course where I started my career, I was put in charge of winter ditch and drain clearance (cos no one else wanted to do it). It was a great education in how one simple problem at an outflow could back up several hundred square metres of drainage.

I can only see the problems getting worse.