Smart Garden and Lawn Watering

What are your recommendations for keeping a garden quenched without wasting water?
—Rachel Carter, Ludlow, VT

You can forget juicy tomatoes this summer if you don’t give your plants enough to drink, but the fact is, most people water their gardens wrong. Each year, from May to September, water use nearly doubles in parts of the country (mostly for keeping our backyards green), and about half of it is wasted through evaporation, runoff, and overwatering.

You may not need to water at all if you use native plants, because they’re already adapted to a region’s climate. But if you are going to water, the first thing to do is assess how much your yard and garden really need, says Bernd Leinauer, a turfgrass specialist for New Mexico State University’s extension service. He suggests contacting your local university extension office for advice, since most people use too much water.

Next, audit your sprinklers, which are often inefficient. “They throw water in the air, and you hope that it eventually lands where you want it,” Leinauer says. “It often doesn’t.” (For easy-to-follow instructions on how to do an irrigation audit, visit Austin’s site.)

Furthermore, using a drip irrigation system instead of sprinklers can cut your water use by a third or more, while other systems, including bubblers, microsprayers, and soaker hoses, work well for watering specific trees or plantings in a small area. Drip irrigation uses a grid system of hoses buried three to four inches deep, with holes every 12 inches, so water is delivered slowly and directly to the plants at root level, where they can use it most efficiently.

Your plants will be happier and healthier, too; watering at the roots ensures the plants receive consistent moisture and makes them less susceptible to disease. Drip irrigation also keeps topsoil intact and nutrients in place so they can do their job. In the end you’ll have more time to lie back in your hammock and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Originally printed as Starre’s “Green Guru” column for Audubon Magazine.

conservation, gardens, lawns, water

Starre Vartan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Eco-Chick and author of The Eco-Chick Guide to Life (St. Martin's Press). A problogger and oft-quoted green living expert who has been featured in the NYTimes, Elle, Glamour and Whole Living, she is a contributor to The Huffington Post, Inhabitat, and Hearst's The Daily Green, and is currently editor-at-large for Coco Eco Magazine. An active ecofashionista, she has style edited for Plenty magazine and coordinated runway shows. She splits her time between Connecticut and NYC and calls Sydney, Australia her second home, even though it was her first (as that's where she was born and most of her family resides). When not writing, blogging, or researching her next book, she is trailrunning, trying to cook, or snowboarding.

Kristen Bell and The Nature Conservancy Parter with Neutrogena Naturals to Advocate for Water Protection

8 Comments on “Smart Garden and Lawn Watering”

Jenn

We’re looking into drip irrigation now, and it makes so much sense versus traditional water. We’ve also added mulch around all of our plants and in the garden. It looks nice, and it keeps the ground from drying out, so we can water less. Win-win!

07/17/08 » 7:22 am »
Deb

Great Ideas. My garden is small, only about 20 x 10. Next year I think I will try the drip irrigation. Thanks

07/17/08 » 11:21 am »
E.R. Dunhill

Don’t forget the rain barrel. Together with a soaker hose, this not only caches free water for the heirloom garden, but also reduces a home’s stormwater footprint. Rain barrels are cheap and easy to build and install. Some local governments and conservation groups conduct workshops to help people build them, or even give them away for free.

07/18/08 » 7:18 am »
Leslie @ the oko box

The National Wildlife Federation has a guide to every US region’s native plants and animals, so that we can turn our yards back into natural eco systems. Having grass seems totally silly, I think either native plants or food should be grown – and rain barrels are totally a great idea.

07/20/08 » 9:56 am »
Moni

Hey!
I know it sounds a little crazy, but I use the water out of my washing machine to water my plants. The detergent I use ( Shaklee’s Basic L) produces grey water – which is perfectly good water to use for your plants. And my clothes by the way – look great!
Moni
http://vegetarianonthecheap.blogspot.com/

07/24/08 » 8:21 pm »
Quick Green Reads For The Weekend Volume Seventy Five. | The Good Human

[...] forget juicy tomatoes this summer if you don’t give your plants enough to drink, but the fact is, most people water their gardens wrong. Each year, from May to September, water use nearly doubles in parts of the country (mostly for [...]

07/25/08 » 6:01 am »
Stephanie

I have a couple of ollas from Path to Freedom – they work great! They’re clay bottles that you bury up to the neck in the dirt and fill. The water slowly seeps out from the clay. They’re a bit pricey, but they’re awesome for former black thumbs like me who aren’t so great at remembering to water things! I use them in my tomato/pepper garden. http://www.peddlerswagon.com/p.....ottle.aspx

07/26/08 » 9:52 am »
susan

watering either after 8pm when the sun goes down or before 7 am will allow the water to get to the roots before evaporation. Also, aerating once per year will keep the ground more on the spongy side so the water soaks in and doesn’t run-off.

09/04/08 » 8:45 pm »