Focus Your Water Conservation Efforts Outside Your Home
Summer is just around the corner. Our rainy season has come and gone giving us another year of below normal rainfall in Southern California. Dry conditions are a continuing cycle.
Water conservation must become a way of life. Water conservation means not wasting water...learning to use water efficiently. During the summer months outside water consumption increases to 60-70 % of total water use making our landscape the most logical place to practice water conservation.
By planting a "
California-Friendly" type landscape and paying attention to your sprinklers and watering schedules, you can reduce outdoor water use by as much as 50% without sacrificing the quality and beauty of your gardens. California Friendly gardens require less water, less fertilizer, and are low maintenance. By following a few simple steps below, any landscape can be more water efficient
- Efficient irrigation. Appropriate irrigation systems should be zoned to fit the water needs of each planting area. Check all irrigation systems to verify they are in good working order, no leaks, timing devices for automatic systems are set appropriately. Check if sprinklers are watering the sidewalks and driveways, adjust them so they only water the appropriate amounts of water to their areas. We see a lot of these in Glendale!
- Use of mulches. Mulching is one of the most beneficial landscape practices. When used in planting beds, mulches conserve moisture, insulate plant roots from summer heat and winter cold, help control weeds, and discourage soil-borne diseases that stress plants.
- Appropriate maintenance. Proper mowing of turfgrass is particularly important. Research shows that raising the mower blade during dry weather and cutting the grass higher reduces the amount of water required while encouraging deeper rooting
Your local nursery carries many different types of California-Friendly plants. More information on these types of plants can also be found on www.bewaterwise.com
Many of us in Glendale have automatic sprinklers that come on early in the morning or late at night, and we don't go outside to check and see how they are watering. From time to time it's beneficialto go outside andcheck on your sprinklers to see if the landscape is being wateredinstead of the sidewalks, street and walkways. A lot of times lawnmowers might have tapped the sprinkler head causing it tomove, or break possibly changing the direction of the water sprayor causing a leak. Other timesthe water pressure is too strong and the sprinkler head needs to be adjusted to just water the turf areas and not overspray. By simply checking your sprinklers on a regular basis and adjusting them we can all conserve more water.