Free Service to Help You Use Water Efficiently
Contact your water supplier for a Landscape Irrigation Review. This free service usually includes: Review of your irrigation system to identify needed repairs, suggestions for water efficiency irrigation systems, instructions on how to use your irrigation controller and an irrigation schedule appropriate for your plants and soils.
Irrigation
Irrigation: The right amount at the right place at the right time.
We really love keeping our northern California landscapes green—even though we receive almost no rain between May and December. To maintain that lush appearance during the natural summer drought season, we use 50 to 65 percent of the Sacramento region's water supply.
Traditional turf grass lawns require about 57 inches of water a year. Some of that comes from rain, but we provide most by supplemental irrigation. A small lawn of 1,000 square feet area uses about 35,000 gallons per year. Unfortunately many of us over irrigate, typically using 75,000 gallons per year per 1,000 square feet. We can do better.
So here are some tips for creating a beautiful landscape that uses water efficiently:
Right plant, right place
- Use hydrozones to create a garden that is beautiful, healthy, water efficient and easy to maintain by installing low water-use plants. Group plants with similar water requirements together. Each hydrozone has its own irrigation schedule. For a list of 1,800 plants, see Water Use Classification of Landscape Species for the Central Valley. When purchasing plants look for tags indicating their mature size as well as plant needs for water, sun/shade, soils
- Once you've selected plants and grouped them according to their cultural needs (especially water and sun requirements), place them so they have the space to grow to their mature size. This results in less maintenance and unnecessary use of resources.
- Follow our Watering Tips for Beautiful Gardens and use the attached "Garden Wish List" to note the plants you'd like to purchase for your garden.
Efficient watering
- Allow water to reach the expected root depth. (Eight inches for turf, eighteen inches to two feet for shrubs & trees)
- Apply only the amount of water that the soil can absorb at any one time. This can be determined by observing your irrigation system when operational, then stop watering before runoff or pooling occurs.
- You may need to divide the irrigation time into several shorter periods or cycles to prevent water from flowing into the gutter, polluting streams, and wasting energy.
- Before watering again, allow the soil to dry to a depth of one-third of the root zone depth.
- Make sure your irrigation system works properly. Remember to check your system valves frequently for leaks, use the right sprinkler nozzles, and adjust the direction of the sprinkler heads.
How to Check Depth of Water in Soil:
You can check to see how deep into the root zone the water has infiltrated or if the soil is dry with a hand trowel, a long screwdriver, or any number of soil probes and moisture meters available at retail nurseries or online. If the soil is very dry, it will be difficult to penetrate; if it is still retaining moisture, you'll be able to insert the trowel or probe more easily and quickly know if your plants need irrigation. If the soil is still moist at the surface, wait a day and check again; water if dry.
Water according to the season
- Change the watering time on your irrigation controller to match the seasonal changes and season water needs of plants. (For example: Plants from Mediterranean-type climates that are also suited to our region are accustomed to wet winters and dry summers.)
- Set your irrigation system to water your lawn every third day during the hottest months of the year. In the spring and autumn months, you can generally water less often when temperatures are typically cooler.
- Watering deeply -- just a few days a week -- encourages stronger root growth and a better-looking lawn.
- For areas of your landscape that is irrigations by sprinklers, water between midnight and 10 a.m. Watering during these times minimizes evaporation and, since water systems use energy, this also puts less strain on the power grid.
- Stop watering when it rains: Install a rain shut-off device on your automatic sprinklers to eliminate unnecessary watering. They are inexpensive and available at most home improvement stores.
Water-Efficient Landscape (WEL) Gardens
These gardens demonstrate that beauty and water efficiency do mix! A combination of water-saving techniques and low-water use plants are displayed at throughout the Sacramento region. They are a perfect source of inspiration for you and your clients. For a list of local WEL gardens, see Water Efficient Landscape Gardens in the Sacramento Region.
