04/08/2026
Drought resilience has become an important part of landscaping. Here are 3 ideas to help you manage it.
💧The ‘Keep Water Where It Falls’ Idea
According to the Soil Health Institute, an important pillar in managing drought is the organic carbon within soil—decomposed matter that can hold up to 10 times its weight in water.
In other words, it absorbs, holds, and keeps water available in your garden, supporting your landscape during those hot months. How cool is that?
Additionally, organic matter promotes worms, creating small passageways that help absorb water and prevent erosion. Win-win!
The ‘Low Till’ Idea
Various universities have looked closely at the relationship between soil and drought—namely to help us understand the impact on crop production. However, these same insights can help us understand our own soil better, too.
For instance, an article prepared by Iowa State University notes, “tillage has all along been contributing negatively to soil quality. Since tillage fractures the soil, it disrupts soil structure, accelerating surface runoff and soil erosion.”
🌷The ‘Plant It Like It Matters’ Idea
The idea of indigenous vs. introduced species when it comes to drought is not so cut and dried. In August 2025, the British Ecological Society released a meta-analysis digging deeper into this topic.
Their findings suggest that, yes, “drought may reduce the success of introduced species and provide opportunities for native species to persist.”
However, they also note that “dynamics are likely to shift in the presence of other global change drivers, which can alter or even erase the native advantage under drought” (Gaskin et al., 2021).
It is clear, though, that mindful plantings have a strong potential to manage and improve water absorption.
Careful observation of water movement on our own properties becomes important here. By watching for things like pooling water, cracked soil, or erosion, we begin to understand the needs of our individual space.
Keeping precipitation on our properties—and preventing it from running off—seems to be the basic principle here. But this must be done in a mindful way, considering modern needs such as a home’s foundation or how our families use the space.
Like most things in life, we must find balance.
If you’d like more drought tips like this, drop a comment below! Permeable pavers, rain gardens, and ground covers would all be great topics to expand on drought resistance.
www.primalpatch.ca
Read more about this…
https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/encyclopedia/frequent-tillage-and-its-impact-soil-quality
https://soilhealthinstitute.org/news-events/how-does-soil-health-increase-resilience-to-drought-and-extreme-rainfall-2/
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2745.70123
