Water-Wise Gardening
What is 'water-wise' gardening?
Water-wise gardening uses either native plants or plants that may not be native to the area but are suited to the climate that you're in. That has a lot of the benefits of native plants in that it uses less water or uses the amount of water that's associated with the area that you live in. Water-wise gardening doesn't necessarily have the benefits of providing habitat for native plants, but it does definitely carry the benefit of reducing the amount of water that's used.
How can I reduce the amount of water I use on my lawn and garden?
You can reduce the amount of water that you use on your garden and lawn by choosing water efficient plants or plants that don't use a lot of water. Most people actually over water their lawn, sonot only are they spraying water off onto the sidewalks, so it's running down the streets, but they're applying too much water to the lawn to the point where it can even run off the lawn. It's no longer being absorbed by the soil, so those are two really easy ways to reduce the amount of water that you use for your lawn and garden.
What can I do to make sure I am using my lawn sprinklers efficiently?
The most important thing you can do to make sure your lawn sprinklers are being effective is to make sure that there's not a lot of overspray. That's the easiest way to waste water, when you're watering the sidewalk, because you're not going to get that concrete to grow no matter how much you try. In addition to that, most lawns only need a couple of inches of water a week. If you're watering it so much that it's not sinking into the soil and is running off the lawn under the sidewalk, that's when you know you should probably cut down in the duration of time that you're watering.
What is 'gray water'?
Gray water is any waste water from your house, except for what comes from the toilet. So anything that is coming from your sink, from your shower, from your laundry is what's considered gray water. With a properly designed gray water system, you can use that water to flush your toilets or to irrigate outside your home.
What is 'rainwater harvesting'?
Rainwater Harvesting is when you take the rainwater that falls on your property and collect it for use later. You can collect it in rain barrels off of your downspouts that come out of your house,or you can direct run off from other areas of your property into an underground cistern. As long as you are able to pull that out for use later, you're going to be reducing the amount of water you use from other portable sources.
