10 Ways to Conserve Water in the Yard
The tap water that we drink everyday doesn't come straight from a brook behind your house.
Well maybe for some of us it does, but for the rest of us it comes from our cities water supply.
Keeping that water clean takes a lot of energy so if we can conserve more water, we are in fact conserving energy.
Today I'd like to point out a couple of ideas on how we can conserve water on the outside of our homes, the yard.
1.
) If your planting new shrubs this spring, choose drought resistant shrubs and plants.
Native plants use less water and are also more resistant to local plant diseases and there are many plants and shrubs that thrive on less water than some other species.
2.
) Deep soak your lawn When you water your lawn, you should do it for a long enough time that the water soaks down to the roots and actually help the lawn.
Watering your lawn lightly will probably only put enough water on the ground to create a nice steam(it will evaporate away) and it encourages a shallow root system, which is no good.
A better way to measure is to put a empty can of tuna on the lawn when watering.
When the tin is full, you have watered your lawn enough.
3.
) Use a broom to clean off your driveway or a blower instead of the water hose.
Waste Gas not water.
4.
) Make sure your sprinklers are watering the lawn and not the street.
When setting up sprinkler systems and also during maintenance, it is imperative that you make sure the sprinklers are efficiently watering the lawn.
Most modern sprinklers have settings to stop and start the flow of water as it goes around on its round about axis.
It also a good idea to try and water the lawn on days when its not windy.
The wind will carry your water to your neighbors yard, and we don't want that.
5.
) Drop some mulch around your trees and shrubs A couple of inches of mulch will help the soil retain its moisture.
6.
) Water your lawn while washing your car If you need to wash your car on a hot Saturday afternoon, why not do it on your lawn.
Why waste that used water going down the drain or down the hill to your neighbors yard, when you can put your car on your own lawn and let the dirty water get soaked up into your own lawn.
7.
) Check for leaks in your outdoor faucets and hoses Dripping hoses and faucets can add up quickly.
It may not seem like a big deal, but dripping water multiplied by a lot of time going by where it is leaking persistently can really add up.
8.
) Avoid over-watering of plants and shrubs Many of us don't know this, but plants and shrubs really don't need that much water.
Also if you lay the mulch down in a concave or cone shaped fashion around the plants, you will get more water going to the central root system of the plant.
9.
) Water during the early part of the day Watering your yard in the morning is better than at dusk, because it helps prevent fungus from growing.
By watering in the morning, you reduce the risk of the water evaporating, but the sun will come up in a couple of hours so when it does come up it kills all the fungus that could have survived the night had you watered in the evening, instead.
10.
) Capture rain water from your roof and use it to water the lawn or whatever you want to use it for (#1 BEST ADVICE) If you have a 1,000 square feet of roof over your house, and it only rains 1 inch, that means you can potentially collect 600 gallons of water.
This is an extremely efficient way to capture the water that falls from your roof in a rain bucket.
They have started selling these at Wal-mart lately for around $80.
At the very least, you can easily use a trash can to grab some of that water.
Just make sure you don't have a leak in the trash can.
Happy conserving everyone :)
Well maybe for some of us it does, but for the rest of us it comes from our cities water supply.
Keeping that water clean takes a lot of energy so if we can conserve more water, we are in fact conserving energy.
Today I'd like to point out a couple of ideas on how we can conserve water on the outside of our homes, the yard.
1.
) If your planting new shrubs this spring, choose drought resistant shrubs and plants.
Native plants use less water and are also more resistant to local plant diseases and there are many plants and shrubs that thrive on less water than some other species.
2.
) Deep soak your lawn When you water your lawn, you should do it for a long enough time that the water soaks down to the roots and actually help the lawn.
Watering your lawn lightly will probably only put enough water on the ground to create a nice steam(it will evaporate away) and it encourages a shallow root system, which is no good.
A better way to measure is to put a empty can of tuna on the lawn when watering.
When the tin is full, you have watered your lawn enough.
3.
) Use a broom to clean off your driveway or a blower instead of the water hose.
Waste Gas not water.
4.
) Make sure your sprinklers are watering the lawn and not the street.
When setting up sprinkler systems and also during maintenance, it is imperative that you make sure the sprinklers are efficiently watering the lawn.
Most modern sprinklers have settings to stop and start the flow of water as it goes around on its round about axis.
It also a good idea to try and water the lawn on days when its not windy.
The wind will carry your water to your neighbors yard, and we don't want that.
5.
) Drop some mulch around your trees and shrubs A couple of inches of mulch will help the soil retain its moisture.
6.
) Water your lawn while washing your car If you need to wash your car on a hot Saturday afternoon, why not do it on your lawn.
Why waste that used water going down the drain or down the hill to your neighbors yard, when you can put your car on your own lawn and let the dirty water get soaked up into your own lawn.
7.
) Check for leaks in your outdoor faucets and hoses Dripping hoses and faucets can add up quickly.
It may not seem like a big deal, but dripping water multiplied by a lot of time going by where it is leaking persistently can really add up.
8.
) Avoid over-watering of plants and shrubs Many of us don't know this, but plants and shrubs really don't need that much water.
Also if you lay the mulch down in a concave or cone shaped fashion around the plants, you will get more water going to the central root system of the plant.
9.
) Water during the early part of the day Watering your yard in the morning is better than at dusk, because it helps prevent fungus from growing.
By watering in the morning, you reduce the risk of the water evaporating, but the sun will come up in a couple of hours so when it does come up it kills all the fungus that could have survived the night had you watered in the evening, instead.
10.
) Capture rain water from your roof and use it to water the lawn or whatever you want to use it for (#1 BEST ADVICE) If you have a 1,000 square feet of roof over your house, and it only rains 1 inch, that means you can potentially collect 600 gallons of water.
This is an extremely efficient way to capture the water that falls from your roof in a rain bucket.
They have started selling these at Wal-mart lately for around $80.
At the very least, you can easily use a trash can to grab some of that water.
Just make sure you don't have a leak in the trash can.
Happy conserving everyone :)
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