3 Tips on conserving up to 50% water and still have a beautiful garden.

Tip 1… Do a water check on your sprinkler system. Turn each section on and look for any broken lines or leaks and fix it. That alone will save you a great deal of water. Gardeners do not turn on the sprinkler systems and check for water leaks so you must either do it yourself or tell them to do this once a month to keep an eye out for leaks and broken lines. The other day, I was at a home in Malibu. The homeowner said she was having a consistent $3,000 a month water bill and was wondering how she could save, and reduce her bill. The bill itself didn’t bother her, it was more on how she could do her part to reduce her usage. The first thing I did was turn on each section and take a close look for any signs of water shooting out, and guess what?  The first line I turned on, water came shooting up into the air at least 15 feet! I turned around and looked at her, and she looked at me. Turns out she had many things broken from sprinkler heads to the lines itself. Now her bill is around $1200 at month and she is working on reducing that even more by following these three simple tips!

Tip 2… Convert every thing over to drip. Using a drip system will further reduce water usage by 10% to 25%! There are several different types of drip systems but I would go with the newer versions which have the drip heads built into them and they are space 123 inches apart. The drip will water 1 foot on either side as well as good foot into the ground. Drips typically run for longer at 1 gallon per hour. Usually around 20 to 40 min each time and they should be used once or twice a week depending on where and what is being grown. If you place a drip system into a raised bed, you will be using 75% less water, and grow 4 to 7 times more food! Drip systems work well with all types of plants from flowers to trees. They not only reduce water but also reduce insects and diseases while reducing plant stress due to drought conditions and Santa Anna winds.

Tip 3.. Get all the water below ground. Did you know that 75% of the water (if used above ground) goes up into the air? Simply by placing the water below ground, you are saving that 75% and will actually need to use less water because you will not be losing any of it to evaporation? So I would not only bury the lines about 4 inches below ground, but I would also then apply rock dust, compost and the mulch right over it. I would do this several times per year until it is completely covered with no signs of barren soil! I would apply  the rock dust, compost and mulch right over the previous application since most of it will tend to disappear due to factors like heavy winds that tend to blow things away! Once you have a good layer, you can apply a heavier mulch like wood chips to form the top layer. By the way, even a lawn should get the water put below ground. You simply bury the drip line about 1 foot below, and lay down pattern to cover all.

Andy Lopez

Invisible Gardener

Any questions? Email me andy@invisiblegardener.com