Lawn isn’t native to our area and uses a lot of water. Sheet mulching is a simple technique for converting lawn to a low water use garden and nurturing the soil.

Water between midnight and 6:00 a.m. to reduce water loss from evaporation and wind. Water your lawn and garden in 2 short cycles rather than one long one. Watering to a depth of 4 to 6” will encourage deeper healthier roots and allow the plants to go without water for longer periods of time.

Use our Irrigation Scheduling Tool to help you adjust your irrigation.

Target your water use by hand watering exactly in the spots that need it.

Many plants go dormant—stop growing—at different times of the year and therefore need less water. Use a hose to hand water plants as needed. Be sure that the hose has a self-closing hose nozzle. While the flow rate for a hose is dependent on many factors such as hose diameter and water pressure, a typical garden hose without self-closing hose nozzle will flow at 10 to 16 gallons per minute. If you have a lawn, participate in a local “cash for grass” rebate program available in some areas of the region and get rebate for replacing it with low water-use plants.

If you must use an irrigation system:

Use a broom, not a hose, to clean your driveway, deck or patio. Washing a sidewalk or driveway with a hose uses about 50 gallons of water every 5 minutes.

Use a bucket and a hose with an automatic shut-off nozzle when you wash the car, or take your car to a carwash that recycles. Save water by extending the time between car washes or take your car to a Sonoma Green Car Wash.

Cover pools and hot-tubs to reduce evaporation.

The California drought has residents concerned about how to save water. In fact, some homeowners have opted to turn off their outdoor watering system, and it’s not uncommon to see brown lawns. However, not watering a landscape means that many trees will slowly decline in health and could die. While lawns and flowers are easily replaced, a large shade tree takes many years to become established. Learn more here.

You may be wondering whether or not to bother with a food garden in a drought year. One option is to eliminate the edible garden for a while, but, there are water-wise actions that can be employed for a successful harvest. Learn more here.

The Sonoma County Gazette is published Monthly by Sonoma Media Investments © Copyright 2022, All Rights Reserved.

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