Want to save water? Try drip irrigation

By LaVERLE McCANDLESS

Contributor

What is happening in the world of gardening? A lot of new plant varieties and many of them are drought tolerant. Isn't this great news?

Conserving water is on everyone's mind now and drought resistant plants are coming to the forefront. Drip irrigating is overtaking the sprinkler type watering. The greatest advantage of drip watering is you are not “watering the air” and loosing moisture due to evaporation, all the drips of the water go directly into the soil.

However, no matter how hard you try--lawns still need to be watered with a sprinkler system of some type. If you are thinking about switching to an automatic sprinkling system. Choose one that has pop-up sprinklers. Don't water more than one inch in a week, which is what a lawn requires but can get by with less if the weather turns or stays cool. Set the timer to early morning, preferably around dawn to come on to water.

If you are reseeding or putting in a new lawn, consider a grass called “Low Grow” which is type of fescue lawn grass. Once this grass is established, it does not need as much moisture as the other type lawns that look like a putting green. We have had this “Low Grass” lawn since day one here at our place. A good watering when needed keeps it going good, granted it is not a golf course type of lawn but it is good for the area. It doesn't need as much water, takes a beating from dogs running and tussling on it, lots of walking about plus it does not need as much mowing as the grass is not a real fast grower.

If the grass isn't watered for quite a while, it will go into dormancy but again if it is watered, it comes greens up and you can mow to your hearts content once again.

There are circumstances when you do have to use sprinklers to water your plants. This is when you want to set a out a flat can such as tuna or cat food can to measure the water. An inch of water in the can a week is plenty for most plants, in fact it is the recommendation for trees, lawns and shrubs.

Speaking of trees, there are many drought tolerant trees on the market in varying sizes, shapes and species. Just remember, any plant needs a lot of TLC the first year or two to get good set of roots established, then they will do great with less moisture and become truly drought tolerant, only needing moisture if Mother Nature decides to go dry for weeks at a time, then a little water keeps them doing well.

Have fun finding ways to conserve water and introducing new plants to your place. Such pretty perennials, shrubs and trees just waiting for you to give them a new home!

Questions/comments: LaVerle (509) 455 7668 or [email protected]

Gardeners of Cheney is having their annual spring plant sale at Mitchell's Harvest Foods store this Saturday, May 17, 9 a.m. - noon. A great selection of plants, something for everyone.