Well, Springtime is finally here with a hot vengence. There are many parts of the country
experiencing record hot temperatures, and extremely low rainfall. Some areas are practicing
water rationing, and restrictions on landscape use of water. In many municipalities the
'Water Police' are cruising the neighborhoods on the lookout for 'water hogs' and scofflaws
who do things such as leaving broken and misdirected sprinklers running, splashing water on
the sidewalk and such. They are also making sure that people only water in the morning or
evenings.
When faced with water rationing, or whenever you desire to use water in an efficient manner
you should make sure that your sprinkler heads are properly adjusted so as to put water on the
plants you desire.
Group plants with similar water requirements together. For instance cactus and
succulents that require only occasional watering should not be planted next to shade and
moisture loving ferns.
Water in the mornings or evenings. Water less often, but water deeply, you want to 'train'
the plant roots to go deep for their water. You can let the surface dry out a bit with mature
plantings. Their roots should grow deep into the ground where the water has less chance of
evaporation.
Use a mulch to reduce surface evaporation and the 'wicking' of moisure from the
deeper areas.
Let the sprinklers run until you have put down approximately an inch of water.
You can tell when this has happened by putting several pots around your landscape. Water until
they all have an inch of water in them. When you time how long it takes you will then know
aproximately how long you need to keep the sprinklers on for. On most soils this will wet the soil
deep enough to keep the
deeper soil moist. Sandy soils might need a little less water in one application, while clay
soils may need more water in one application. Just make sure you are not putting it so quickly
on clay soils that it will pool and run off. You may need to do two applications a day apart on
some clay soils. Maybe putting three quarters of an inch on each time.
If you put a lot of compost or other organic material into the soil you might
very well be able to conserve moisture to a large degree while increasing aeration and soil
microbial life. The compost can absorb large amounts of water when it rains, and then slowly
release it to the plant roots when they need it.
On accasion use a soil probe or shovel to dig into the soil and see how
deep the water is getting. This 'hands on'approach will do wonders as far as getting you
used to your particular soil. There can be such wide variation on how different soils react
that it is hard to give hard and fast recommendatuions as to timing and frequency of
irrigation applications.
As with all things in gardening, it is good to get on a first name basis
with your soil, climate and plants. Get to know and understand the life processes that go
on in the soil, and the top growth. Observe and make notes, keep records so that in later
years you will be able to reference the things that you did that caused changes in the
growth of your gardens.
