You can enjoy a beautiful garden while spending less on watering with a few simple strategies.
Reduce your need for water within your landscape
1. Plant selection matters
Begin by choosing plants that are known to be drought resistant. Native plants typically require less watering (once established) and tend to be low maintenance.
2. Install an automatic rain shut-off device
There can be such a thing as too much water for your landscape—especially during heavier periods of rain fall. Overwatering not only wastes this valuable resource, but it can stress plant root systems contributing to root rot, fungal, and bacterial diseases. Automatic rain shut-off devices will manage over irrigation.
3. Improve your soil with organic matter
Clay soils do not easily absorb water. Add generous amounts of compost and leaf mold to the top of your soil every autumn, to improve soil drainage.
Use the water available to it’s fullest potential
1. Strategically place swales
During hard intense rains, water can forcefully move across your landscape. Slow run-off from rooftops by strategically placing swales (a shallow trough-like depression that carries water away during rainstorms) near plant and tree root zones.
2. Capture rainwater
Install a rain barrel at a downspout of your home to collect rainwater runoff to be used for watering landscape plants. Remember, it is not recommended to use rain barrel water on plants that produce herbs or food due to possible pathogens along the water pathway.
3. Grow hydroponic / aeroponic indoors or out
There are some fantastic hydroponic/aeroponic growing systems out on the market today from DIY to the ready-to-use out-of-the-box systems that don’t use soil, but instead, water and nutrients to grow herbs and edible plants. NASA has shown that aeroponics uses as little as 2% of the water needed in traditional soil-based gardening. These growing systems have a reservoir and pump that circulates the water continuously through the root zone of plants providing vital oxygen and minerals. Research has shown that these systems grow some plants 3x larger and 3x faster than traditional soil methods all while using 98% less water.
Retain/collect as much water as possible on site
1. Avoid bare soil
Using 2-4 inches of mulch not only keeps your soil and root zone cool but also protects soil microbiology while minimizing water evaporation. Some good mulch options are pine straw or natural bark as these break down over time and add organic matter back into your soil biome.
2. Soak soil long enough and at the right time of day
According to the American Society of Landscape Architects, up to a third of all water from sprinklers can evaporate during the heat of the day. If you use sprinklers, be sure to use a timer and consider upgrading your irrigation system to new water-efficient sprinkler heads which can make a significant dent in your water bill. Remember, you want to provide enough water to saturate 2” of soil and set your timer to deliver water during the twilight hours.
3. Water the soil, not the leaves
Drip irrigation systems are said to use 20-50% less water than conventional pop-up sprinkler systems saving as much as 30,000 gallons per year. Consider using it along with a timer running when plants need it.
The author of this article, Erin Castillo, is a Paulding UGA Extension Master Gardener, trained to provide education for homeowners on horticulture, sustainable landscaping, and environmentally friendly gardening practices using unbiased, research-based information from the University of Georgia. For more information, contact Paulding County UGA Extension at 770-443-7616 or view our online resources at www.ugaextension.org/paulding.
