Gardening with water conservation in mind can benefit the planet, your plants, and your wallet. Begin small by including these water-conscious strategies into your gardening regimen this year and expand upon them each season.
Selecting natives or locally grown species that thrive in your landscape environment will reduce maintenance and water requirements. This includes drip systems, mulching techniques, and grouping plants by their water needs.
Water Only When Necessary
No matter the weather extremes, water should always be used wisely. A beautiful garden with blooming flowers, trees, shrubs, and vegetables can be created with minimal to no additional irrigation needs, saving time and money in supplemental costs. Proper pruning, weeding, and fertilizing your water-wise garden will develop vigorous plants more adapted to weather extremes than any conventional garden could ever hope to do.
Proper landscape irrigation can cut water use by up to 66% (Oregon Waterwise). Furthermore, a garden using low-water-use practices can produce less waste while supporting healthy soils, wildlife habitats, and pollinator populations. However, there’s no need for complete “zeroscaping”; gardens using these practices can be beautiful and fulfilling!
Water-wise gardening means providing the soil with the moisture it requires at its critical times. This means gathering plants with similar water needs in your garden and watering them all simultaneously rather than zone by zone. Water-wise gardening also involves selecting well-adapted species suited for the local climate, soil types, light conditions, and pests.
When rinsing, make sure that it’s done slowly and thoroughly. Wetting the surface, then moving on for five to ten minutes before returning five or ten minutes later to apply more moisture, allows the moisture to soak into the ground and prevents periods of water stress. Water-conscious gardeners also prefer early morning watering when temperatures are more relaxed and evaporation rates are reduced.
Purchase and utilize a rain gauge regularly to measure how much precipitation has fallen on your property. If this option is unavailable, mark a can or other container and place it in your garden during rainstorms; when its mark moves one inch higher, this gives an accurate reading of how much moisture has entered.
Water Deeply
Watering profoundly is always best when dealing with clay or sandy soil, as this allows roots to absorb moisture more efficiently and encourages healthier, more vigorous plants. Plus, this practice benefits the environment as irrigation consumes precious drinking and wildlife water resources that could otherwise be used elsewhere.
Use a trowel to check the soil’s moisture level for proper deep watering. Moist soil indicates it’s time for more irrigation. As a general guideline, check four inches below the surface; if it appears dry, more irrigation might be required.
Watering early in the morning or late at night minimizes evaporation and keeps soil shaded from direct sunlight, which could otherwise burn leaves and stems. Avoid watering in the afternoon as its heat quickly evaporates moisture from your plants’ soil surface.
When watering, use a steady stream that thoroughly soaks into the soil at least an inch deep. Beware of overwatering, which can cause root rot. A 2-inch-deep mulch made of organic material should also be added around your garden to protect it from excessive evaporation while adding nutrients and fighting pesky weeds.
Water-wise gardens can make an easy addition to any yard and help reduce water bills, conserve natural resources, and provide a healthier environment for people and animals. Plus, they require less maintenance than traditional landscaping! Check out IEUA’s Water Wise Gardening resources online for more information about creating one yourself. Resource Central has produced Garden In A Box, which makes purchasing, planting, and growing one easy – each box comes equipped with its free water-wise guide so customers are supported on their journey.
Water Often
Watering thoughtfully places water where it’s most needed—at the roots—helping plants become more drought-resistant. Furthermore, deep watering reduces the risk of fungal disease and excessive leaf growth that takes water away from roots. Furthermore, early morning (4 am—10 am) or evening (7 pm—10 pm) watering reduces the amount of water lost through evaporation during hot weather conditions.
Plants produce food through photosynthesis, using water and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to make their food source. Carbon dioxide enters leaves through microscopic pores called stomata that take in carbon dioxide. During photosynthesis, water vapor escapes via these stomata as a by-product of chemical reactions; this cools plants naturally while refreshing soil moisture levels.
Like newly planted trees, young plants require more frequent watering than mature ones. Water your trees slowly with a slow drip from a hose so that moisture reaches their roots without overwatering, causing root rot.
Drip irrigation can be an ideal solution for more extensive plantings or gardeners who need more time to water their landscape, saving both money and water. It involves the slow application of water using a hose or plastic pipe with small holes drilled precisely into it or through emitters that plug directly into its wall at specific spacing. Drip irrigation conserves water use while watering vegetables, ornamental and fruit trees, shrubs, flowers, and vines—remembering other landscaping projects that resulted in financial and environmental savings!
Water Only When Necessary
When providing water to plants, only give what is necessary. Building healthy soil through regular additions of compost and organic matter can help retain moisture, meaning less water needs to be given to keep plants hydrated. Watering early in the morning helps decrease evaporation rates that could further drive up your bill.
Watering frequency varies with temperature, humidity levels, and sunlight exposure in any garden, as well as depending on plant species type, stage of development, and season. Adherence to rigid schedules could lead to either overwatering or underwatering—neither is beneficial for plant health.
Watering profoundly and regularly promotes deep root systems that will become drought-tolerant. This is key for water-wise gardening and conserving water in the long run. Soaker hose or drip irrigation systems are more cost-efficient than sprinklers, as they reduce runoff and evaporation, which are significant concerns with traditional sprinklers in hot weather.
Weeds consume water resources, depriving desirable plants of the moisture and sunlight they require for healthy growth. They can use up to one-third of all available water in an area!
IEUA provides resources for transforming your landscape into an eye-catching yet water-wise garden, such as local garden centers and demonstration gardens, for inspiration. Plant xeric or water-wise zones in your yard; choose drought-tolerant plants that thrive without additional irrigation water in your climate zone; consider creating an xeric zone within your gardens.
Water Wisely
Reaching water efficiency requires careful planning and hard work. Still, the effort pays off: not only do you save money by conserving natural resources like freshwater supplies for drinking, wildlife, and agriculture, but it can also preserve soil quality by limiting how many nutrients wash off the surface of the soil surface. Water-efficient gardening not only saves money and natural resources; it’s worth saving money, too, as saving money means conserving more natural resources – including money! Irrigating landscapes use around 33% of our freshwater supplies nationally! Water-wise gardening helps preserve soil quality by limiting how much nutrients wash off of our freshwater supplies into our freshwater supplies, which could otherwise be used elsewhere – while saving money is worth your while helping save our precious natural resources!
Start by selecting plants with natural low water needs, such as ornamental grasses, Liatris (blazing star), and Kniphofia (red hot poker). Group plants by their respective water requirements – this will prevent overwatering some while underwatering others – and ideally create groups grouped according to each one’s watering requirements to avoid over and underwatering some plants simultaneously. Avoid watering too frequently (this could create boggy conditions, which lead to fungal infections) or too slowly (as this encourages shallow roots to be more vulnerable against drought conditions).
One effective method of timing watering sessions is the Tuna Can Technique, in which several cans are placed around your lawn and measured for how long it takes them to fill up with an inch of water. Make sure you water in either the morning or evening—this reduces evaporation from sun and wind exposure.
Drought-tolerant and xeric plants don’t need additional water once established; however, that doesn’t mean they won’t require some regular moisture for health and survival during dry weather conditions.
As climate changes, water-wise gardening has become a necessity. Not only is this about conserving resources, but it’s also about planning for drought periods if and when they arrive. That means planting for self-sufficiency, turning lawn into a garden, and learning when and how much water to use when watering is necessary. Ultimately, you’ll achieve an impressive landscape that requires less upkeep over time.