Tricks To Make Your Landscape A Treat

Writing the Blue Thumb blog all summer and into fall (I believe it really IS fall now) has been an adventure for both Cheryl and me. We have met many new friends in our quest to make water conservation and its many benefits a household word, and hopefully a household practice.

 We have seen irrigation systems and practices that made the hair stand up on the back of our necks and others that made us believe in the public’s desire to do the right thing. We have taken pictures—oh, so many pictures—of the good, the bad and the ugly ways of landscape irrigation.  Many of our colleagues have come to look at us as rebels, if you will, and in that regard, they are right! We have dedicated ourselves to tuning the public into more appropriate landscaping choices and modifications in the way they think about watering. But we have also tried to do this in ways that were fun and easy to understand!

On this final day of October, commonly referred to as Halloween, we are penning the last blog of the year.  Now, what does this have to do with saving water?? Well, here is an way to remember when to shut off your sprinkler system for the year—this year and every year, by the way. After Halloween is over, I usually spend an afternoon outside, picking up all the broken pumpkin pieces off the sidewalk and pulling down fake spider webs and removing other scary items from the yard. I don’t just mean decorations, either!

 While I’m wandering around, I look for broken or knocked over sprinkler heads that are near the walkways and other areas frequented by Trick or Treaters— or the lawn service workers—I always find a few. Then, I make my way around the rest of the yard, since I’m already out there, checking for obvious leaks, pulling out dead plants, and anything else that makes my perfectly (just kidding) manicured landscape look untidy.  There is one thing I DO NOT remove from my property:  fallen leaves. If you handle them right, you’ll have nearly all the nutrition your trees and shrubs need, without spending a penny on big ugly black plastic bags to carry the leaves away. If you don’t already have a mulching blade, get one and run your mower (even a people- powered push mower will do the job) over the fallen leaves. The leaves will be shredded, broken down into teeny tiny pieces that will disappear by Christmas.  If they’re stuck in the shrubs, get them out before they get wet with a light raking or your hands and shred them too. You can put this “leaf mulch” around all your shrubs and flower beds for free fertilizer as well as a blanket to keep the weeds down.

Or start a compost pile with leaves. A circular bin, without top or bottom, made of chicken wire, about 3 or 4 feet tall is great for work-free leaf compost. If you want to be daring, you can toss the broken pumpkins in there too—this is exactly the way I made my first compost. When it started raining, I didn’t even cover it—this is the really lazy way to do it—but just waited til spring. I used this in my vegetable garden and had tomatoes from heaven all summer.  Oh, I also tossed the coffee grounds in there if I was close by, but other than that, the process was painless.

And, my last “chore”, having exhausted myself with all the spider web removal, etc. is to head for the garage and turn the irrigation controller OFF.  Nothing looks sillier or is more wasteful than your sprinklers coming on in the pouring rain—all winter long.That’s right, turn the knob to “off” and your biggest contribution to sane water conservation will be accomplished. If you cannot do this or find the controller, call your water provider for free assistance!!  You can check back with us next spring and let us know how you did. In the meantime, we’ll be driving around, and we’ll know if you read this particular blog,( or not.)