Water Muscles

We get it.

People over plants is the new water conservation mantra. And we know the reality of spending thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of blood, sweat and tears on our yards that we aren't going to give up without a fight. These are real life dollars lost.  Hobbies and livelihoods. Curb appeal.

We started to let the lawn die, like the Governor suggested, and it just seemed too long on regulation and too lean on innovation. I wanted a non partisan, more moderate approach that involves some lifestyle changes and a little ingenuity. We have impactful water choices: let's make 'em!  

So I recently learned a little about plant speak. According to Grassology, your lawn will tell you when it needs water. When the blades have a gray blue tint or older blades curl slightly, it's time. I can't believe how much we have overwatered the lawn all these years... and probably the shrubs.

The idea in a drought is to sustain the root structure even if the lawn looks like hell. Deep, infrequent waterings are the way to go. Watering late at night or early morning is also ideal for water conservation, and never when the sun is up or it's windy.

We're on well water here and not regulated by the city ordinances, but we see farmers struggling all around us and know we all share the same short supply. So we have become self aware and proactive, meaning we are looking at our habits to find better ways to use what we consume so it meets our needs and those of our green guys.

For instance, we shaved some time off our showers, and turned off the running water when we brushed our teeth.  We aren't laundering our comforters and bathroom mats except when necessary, and wearing our jeans an extra time or two. You can't even tell.

Putting a bucket under the spigot in the shower was an amazing experiment. We couldn't believe how much water went down the drain during the warming time from cold to hot, and the step away soap up/shampooing before rinsing off. It's a little awkward with a 5 gallon bucket but hauling it outside and nourished the fruit trees more than made up for it.

We are starting that in the kitchen and bath sinks today. I'm in the kitchen all the time - why not. It feels empowering to build up our water conservation muscles.

Another great choice was to install drip systems for the gardens, plants and shrubs. Timed spot watering puts it direct to the roots, with no waste at all. No big irrigation systems are needed. You can buy rather inexpensive battery operated timers that hook to the hose and the drip line and are easy to program. Drip system kits are available, and you'll need a coupling from the hose to the drip that costs under $3. Seasonal adjustments are a snap and we literally ran the drip lines right on top of the ground inside white PVC irrigation pipe to protect it. Since it works so well, next year we'll bury it right and proper and hook it into the main irrigation system for expansion.

Probably the biggest challenge was in reprising the old school lawn watering technique of using a soaker and regular hose rather than pop up automatic sprinklers. We dug down a little to see how deep the lawn roots went, and deep water in small sections just enough to reach them.  Using a clock timer to remind you to move it makes it extremely efficient, and we are seeing improvement even with temps up over 100 degrees.

It's all good for our friends the plants, and none of the wasteful symptoms of runoff, wet concrete, water loss from broadcast evaporation or overspray on the fences.