Save water and money with these tips to reduce the amount of water you use to keep your garden green.
Watering the garden during this dry early fall is on my mind. My yard is getting little to no rain in this record breaking heat.
This watering task is getting very old. The water bill will be higher than normal this season too.
Most of the yard gets water roughly once a week if there’s no rain in the weather forecast. Sun worshipers like roses and spireas don’t ask for much. Shallow rooted plants like Hosta, and water lovers like hydrangea need water more often.
How to satisfy the needs of garden plants yet not use too much water? Here are some ideas to balance a healthy garden with water conservation.
Some water-saving solutions:
- Water morning or evening to reduce evaporation. Some of the water coming from your sprinkler or sprinkler system evaporates during the delivery to your garden.
Evening is really the second best time because temperatures usually get cooler at night. Fungal diseases might develop. Slugs like a cool, wet environment and come out to eat your plants.
- Water less often. Yes! When you water make it a slow and long session. Water will soak the soil. Roots have time to take up the water.
- Water soil around the roots. This is where it’s needed because roots take in most of the water used for growth. Don’t worry about leaves.
Try one of these:
Soaker hose: Drips water on the ground. Place one throughout the garden. Your plants will get a slow steady watering.
Sprinkler: Delivers water to the ground but depends on the aim of the spray nozzles. Look for one that is adjustable. You want to aim the spray nozzles at the base of plants. You don’t want to water the driveway or parts of your house!
- Plant drought resistant trees, shrubs, lawn and flowers. Look for native plants of your area first.
They’re already adapted to your climate which includes amount of rainfall and soil. They’re also resistant to diseases and insects commonly found in your area.
- Mulch conserves water by shading the soil. Roughly 1.5 – 2 inches around the plant slows evaporation of water. Keep mulch away from the stem to prevent rot.
- Allow grass to grow longer. Cut only one third off the top. Leave the short grass clippings on the ground. This blocks the sun to slow water evaporation much like mulch. Longer grass develops deeper roots which need less water.
- Plant trees and shrubs. They shade the ground and plants nearby, reducing heat and rate of evaporation of water.
- Put plants together by their water needs. The ones that require more water get it more often. The ones that like it drier will save you time and money on the water bill.
As an example, my backyard is a water park. Our house sits slightly downhill from neighboring houses and the backyard gets too much during the late winter snowmelt and spring rain.
Water babies thrive there. Hydrangeas look so lush during spring. So do the spice bush, viburnum trilobum, hosta, fern, dogwood and birch tree.
During excessive heat spells of summer, hydrangeas wilt. One hydrangea’s leaves droop like it lost its best friend.
This flowery shrub is the first to let me know that water is needed now. The other plants in the backyard benefit from hydrangea’s distress signal.
The front yard is a lot drier and all the plants that grow there need watering less often. Plants can go a few days longer without water.
Rain gardens are perfect for grouping plants together. In my Zone 6 area, plants used in rain gardens tolerate both extremes of too much water and too little water.
- Container plants simply need more water:
-Consider limiting the number you have.
-Install drip irrigation in them.
-“Plant” something in the center of your container that slowly leaks water. PVC pipe, a plastic yogurt carton or clay pot will do.
Drill holes in the PVC pipe and plug the bottom. The plastic yogurt carton needs puncture holes everywhere but the bottom. Clay pots leach water through their sides. Plug the hole in the bottom first.
Dig a hole in the flower container and put your leaky watering device in the hole, open side up. For the PVC pipe it’s easier to put it in an empty container and add the soil.
Surround the watering device with plants. Add water to the open end. It will slowly leak the water to the plants. Eventually the plants will grow and conceal it.
Other ways to save water:
- Rain barrels above ground and cisterns below ground collect rainwater for use on hot days.
- Water meter attaches to faucets or hoses and tells how much water you’re using.
- Water gauges tell how much moisture is in the soil so you know if it’s time to water. These can go in the garden soil or a container.
- Rain gauge is a simple collector of water either from rain or sprinklers to let you know how much fell.
It’s a rougher estimate of how much water your plants got. It doesn’t account for how much actually got into the soil.
- Fix leaky outside faucets. Drips add up.
- Fix leaky hoses at the connections with rubber washers, not the hard plastic kind. You need a tight fit to keep water from gushing out at the connection.
Use just a few of these ideas and watering can be less of a chore, less costly and most importantly save water.
Copyright 2019 Juli Seyfried
