How to Conserve Water in Your Garden

You can reduce garden water use in many ways - from simply watering less often to investing in a new irrigation system or planting scheme.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Drip Irrigation Systems
• Fertilizers
• Grass Seeds
• Lawn Mowers
• Lawn Sprinklers
• Plants
• Soil Polymers

1. Make sure your sprinkler system is in good condition. Repair any broken or missing spray heads or emitters.

2. Consider installing a drip or low-volume irrigation system.

3. Reduce your lawn maintenance - mow higher and less often, don't rake up the clippings, and avoid overwatering. As a rule, lawns need only about 1 inch of water a week; test how much you're watering by collecting your sprinkler water in a can.

4. Allow unused portions of your lawn to turn brown. Use your water for more desirable landscaping.

5. Replace lawns and plants that have heavy water demands with drought-tolerant varieties.

6. Check plants for moisture before watering. Look for clues such as curling leaves, a grayish color and permanent wilting, which indicate underwatering. (If the leaves turn yellow and drop, you could be overwatering.)

7. Keep your beds and lawns weeded. Weeds steal moisture from desirable plants.

8. Mix soil polymers, which retain moisture, into your soil. Add them when planting beds or containers, or drill the soil around existing plants and drop the polymers into the holes.

9. Mulch to retain moisture in the soil.

Tips & Warnings

• Continue to fertilize flowers or vegetables as usual. Supply trees, shrubs and lawns with iron or potassium instead of high doses of nitrogen.