Landscapes

Guess what? If you're not irrigating your container plants, lawn and flower beds using the most time-efficient methods possible, you're wasting money and of course lots and lots of precious water.

I have listed a few ways below that can helpful for you to save money, precious water, and time.

Slim Your Lawn Limited the space of your yard that is devoted to grass. Instead, gear towards a front yard that is more garden than lawn. This type of look will be less demanding of your time - not to mention less electricity, gas, and water. You can gradually shift toward a front yard that's more garden than lawn by establishing deep planting beds that curve along the front and sides of the house.

Be Smart When Watering Cut back on fertilizer, mow high, and leave mulched clippings on the lawn to shade the soil and reduce evaporation. When you set up the sprinklers, make sure water is being absorbed; if you see runoff or puddles, you're adding water too fast. How much do you water? The simple answer is that lawns require about an inch of water a week. The tricky part is to figure out how to translate that inch of water into minutes on your sprinkler. There's no way around it, you have to measure. Set up your sprinkler as usual and put out a rain gauge, which can be as simple as an empty coffee can. Water for 15 or 20 minutes, then check how much water is in the can. If you water for 15 minutes and get 1/4 inch of water, you know you need four times that amount of time to get to an inch. That means you need 60 minutes of watering a week to keep the lawn healthy.

If You Don't Have To, Don't Water A simple way to determine when your lawn needs water: Walk on the grass. If the blades spring back, hold off on watering. If you see your footprints, switch on the sprinklers—unless rain is in the forecast. Not a cloud in the sky? Hose down the garden in the early morning or at dusk to avoid losing water to evaporation caused by the hot sun. And, Water just the roots of your perennials, annuals, and shrubs—don't shower the leaves. This cuts the risk of fungal disease and reduces evaporation. A smart way to put water just where you need it is to install drip irrigation.

Choose Plants That Are Tolerant To Drought Choose drought-tolerant plants adapted to your site's climate, soil type, and sun exposure. Make your life a little easier by planning your landscape around watering needs. Shallow-rooted plants such as hydrangea, azalea, and rhododendron require more watering than other plants. Annuals and container plants also need extra attention come summer. Think about that as you plant, and group the high-water-need plants together. Come July and August, as you're making the rounds with the hose or watering can, you'll be glad you did.