Whats a good way of landscaping that saves water? I have a small fish pond in the upper right hand corner of my front yard, a little garden that stretches at the left and the rest is just grass.
There are several means to save water. When we lived in CA we cut our water consumption by 67% by installing drip watering systems and mini rainbirds throughout the garden as well as removing the front lawn and planting with plants that consume less water, though just about anything consumes less water than a lawn.
We now live in NJ and while we get plenty of rain and rarely need watering systems, years such as this will horrific heat and little water will stress out our 1 acre of butterfly gardens, bog gardens, woodland and shade gardens.
Following a few simple rules will cut water consumption.
1. Compost beds. Place a layer of compost on all beds. Not too thick. We have seen so many beds with too much compost the water can barely find the soil or types that do not decompose. We use 100% ground of leaves from our trees, makes a great compost and decomposes into a great soil. This keeps as much moisture content in the soil as possible and attracts a great home for many worms who in turn aerate the soil.
2. Use a potting soil with polymers for any potted plants. And if possible, use drip watering systems with them with a timer that goes on at 3:00 AM to decrease evaporation.
3. Plant native plants. Natives outside of bog and water plants, are from your area and generally require the least amount of water. Our Butterfly Gardens are full of Coneflowers, rudbeckias, baptisa, milkweed, and others native to this area. Until this years heat and lack of water we had not watered at all in 5 years. Only Mother Nature.
4. Use a timer if you have sprinklers and water in early morning at 3:00 – 6:00AM. This cuts evaporation from sprinkers.
5. Install rain barrels to the gutter downspouts.
We installed a drip irrigation system for everything but the lawn, which works great at saving water. If you can reduce the size of your lawn with other low-water consuming landscaping that can help a lot too. Picking drought tolerant plants is also a water saver. And of course, don’t water in the middle of the day or when it’s windy. Happy gardening!
References :
http://homefixated.com/category/gardening/
Look up the subject of Xeriscaping. This is the art of gardening and putting in plants that don’t require much water. There are many publications on the subject and a lot of informatiion on the web.
References :
There are several means to save water. When we lived in CA we cut our water consumption by 67% by installing drip watering systems and mini rainbirds throughout the garden as well as removing the front lawn and planting with plants that consume less water, though just about anything consumes less water than a lawn.
We now live in NJ and while we get plenty of rain and rarely need watering systems, years such as this will horrific heat and little water will stress out our 1 acre of butterfly gardens, bog gardens, woodland and shade gardens.
Following a few simple rules will cut water consumption.
1. Compost beds. Place a layer of compost on all beds. Not too thick. We have seen so many beds with too much compost the water can barely find the soil or types that do not decompose. We use 100% ground of leaves from our trees, makes a great compost and decomposes into a great soil. This keeps as much moisture content in the soil as possible and attracts a great home for many worms who in turn aerate the soil.
2. Use a potting soil with polymers for any potted plants. And if possible, use drip watering systems with them with a timer that goes on at 3:00 AM to decrease evaporation.
3. Plant native plants. Natives outside of bog and water plants, are from your area and generally require the least amount of water. Our Butterfly Gardens are full of Coneflowers, rudbeckias, baptisa, milkweed, and others native to this area. Until this years heat and lack of water we had not watered at all in 5 years. Only Mother Nature.
4. Use a timer if you have sprinklers and water in early morning at 3:00 – 6:00AM. This cuts evaporation from sprinkers.
5. Install rain barrels to the gutter downspouts.
References :