Water Conservation: Smart Water Use In Your Yard
It is up to each one of us to do our part to conserve on water . Water conservation is a hot topic in a lot of areas around the country, especially during a drought.
As the days get shorter and they are not as intense we don’t have the evaporation by the sun like we did during the long hot summer days. Plants don’t require as much water to stay healthy.
Take a look around you as you drive through your neighborhood, and you’ll see how your neighbors do their part to conserve water. Some do real well, others never change their sprinkler timer from the time it was installed.
As water requirements are less for plant material and lawns the sprinter timer should be adjusted accordingly. This will help to save a significant amount of water.
With good soil preparation around your plants and regulating the amount of water you apply, your plants can be trained to put out more roots this will encourage them to flourish with less water.
Cities around the country that are located in areas that don’t get enough water for your plants to live without irrigation enforce water restrictions to conserve this necessary resource.
Check with your local water district to see what days you are allowed to water at your address. The schedules are generally odd and even days with the odd-numbered addresses taking one side of the street and the even-numbered addresses take the other.
After you’ve made the necessary adjustments to your sprinkler timer to set it for the allowed watering days go through each sprinkler zone and adjust the run time for the plant material you are applying water on. Most new sprinkler timers allow you to set multiple watering cycles. By setting multiple cycles you can put less time on each cycle and allow the water to soak in rather than run off.
Inspect each area of your yard, as your sprinklers are running to identify the areas that have been receiving too much water it’s best for the plants that they do not get over watered. Change plugged nozzles and repair broken heads and water lines.
As you begin repairing your lawn, and planting new shrubs in the fall hand water them so you don’t have to run the complete zones.
