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The Montgomerys' new design incorporates a variety of native and low water use plants. Photo: Helix Water District landscape professional

Do It Yourself or Hire a Landscape Professional?

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If you choose to design, implement and maintain a new WaterSmart landscape yourself, you can follow the Homeowner’s Guide to a WaterSmart Landscape to help you plan, prepare, and work through each step. Free classes and online videos can help.

If you’re interested in hiring a landscape professional, the WaterSmart Landscape guide is also helpful as a reference to help you understand the steps involved. You will be better equipped to work through the project with the help of a landscape professional.

Options for working with a landscape professional

Efficient irrigation-landscaping-Conservation Corner aspects of sustainable landscaping can help you ensure the success of your project. Photo: Water Authority landscape professional

Professionals trained in different aspects of sustainable landscaping can help you ensure the success of your project. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

Landscape Architect. A professional licensed by the State of California who can design and develop detailed construction plans and specifications. A Landscape Architect is not licensed to provide installation/construction services. For more information, visit the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) San Diego Chapter website and the State Licensing Board website.

Landscape Designer. A person who provides landscape design and horticulture services, such as design concepts, planting plans, and selection of materials. For more information, visit the California Association of Professional Landscape Designers website.

Landscape Contractor. A professional licensed by the State of California to install/construct, and maintain landscapes. If a Landscape Contractor installs a project, they can also design it. For more information, visit the California Contractors Association website and the State Licensing Board website.

QWEL (Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper) Trained in water-wise landscape practices, including plant selection, irrigation system design, and water management, a QWEL graduate will help meet your landscape needs while keeping your outdoor water use in check.

Irrigation Designer. A person who provides irrigation design services. Irrigation designers may achieve certification with the Irrigation Association. Visit its website for more information.

For more tips on hiring a professional to help you create a WaterSmart Landscape, refer to the eGuide to a WaterSmart Lifestyle for additional information at WaterSmartSD.org.

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WaterSmart Living-Logo-San Diego County Water Authority

(Editor’s Note: The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies offer programs, resources, and incentives to improve water-use efficiency for residential, commercial, and agricultural users. WaterSmart choices are a way of life in the region. Stay WaterSmart San Diego! For more water-use efficiency resources, go to WaterSmart.SD.org.)

WaterSmart homeowner Jeff Moore's back yard zen garden featuring his landscape work fit beautifully into his area's climate zone. Photo: Water Authority caring for

Caring For Your WaterSmart Living Landscape

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Whether you install a new WaterSmart Living landscape or are just looking for tips on how to conserve water in your existing landscape, the following section can help you make an immediate impact on your landscape water savings.

View these tips, and follow the guidelines below

Plan ahead. Keep a copy of the plant legend, irrigation plan, and runtime schedule to make it easy to buy replacement plants and parts. This will also help locate and troubleshoot pipes to make repairs or adjustments if needed in the future.

Monitor and minimize watering. When set up correctly, your smart controller will automatically adjust watering times to respond to changes in weather. To maximize water savings, program your controller to apply only the amount of water needed for each zone. A good rule of thumb is to water only when the top inch of soil is dry. If you see runoff before the end of the irrigation cycle, adjust the schedule to more often for a shorter duration each time.

To schedule your irrigation correctly, you must know your equipment type, plant water use, soil texture, and watering zone. Use the Watering Calculator on bewaterwise.com to create a basic watering schedule for your property. Adjust as needed for optimum plant growth and water efficiency.

Water at appropriate times. If possible, schedule your irrigation system to run in the early morning. It is best to avoid watering at night to prevent fungus and mildew problems from night time watering. Avoid watering midday to eliminate excessive evaporation.

Managing irrigation schedules is a key part of caring for your WaterSmart Living landscaping. Photo: Irrigation Association

Managing irrigation schedules is crucial to caring for your WaterSmart Living landscaping. Photo: Irrigation Association

Check irrigation equipment. You may not witness the system running in the early morning hours. Be sure to manually turn the system on seasonally and after severe weather changes to catch potential problems. Check drip systems to ensure emitters are working and clean out filters as needed. Over time, drip emitter locations may need to be relocated as your plants grow. Adjust spray sprinklers to prevent overspray and runoff.

Fertilizing tips. Use an organic fertilizer or compost. Compost can be made from garden waste and some kitchen waste to continually enrich your soil. For more information and recipes for do-it-yourself compost, see the Water Authority’s eGuide to a WaterSmart Lifestyle.

Weed control. Weed naturally whenever possible. Using herbicides can be costly and, if not correctly applied, can damage the environment. Designing and maintaining a healthy landscape can be the best defense against weeds. Hand pull any weeds that come up in your garden every few weeks. Pull them before they go to seed.

Manage pests. The key to controlling pests and diseases is to maintain healthy soil and select plant species that are not prone to pest problems. Consider following Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices. Use chemical control only as a last resort. Try spraying pests with a blast of water, release beneficial bugs (ladybugs and lacewings), spray insecticidal soap, or use compost tea. Consider replacing pest-prone plants. See our eGuide for more information on natural pest control and compost tea. When using chemical control, always follow the manufacturer’s dosage, application and safety information.

Maintain a two-to-three-inch layer of mulch. Replace the mulch as needed.

Use a broom or blower to clean driveways and sidewalks instead of a hose.

Make a plant maintenance checklist. Keep a copy of your plant list and make a checklist of maintenance requirements for each plant.

Monitor your monthly costs and water use on an ongoing basis.

Enjoy the peace of mind from knowing you did your part to protect our natural resources and the environment.

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WaterSmart Living-Logo-San Diego County Water Authority

(Editor’s Note: The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies offer programs, resources, and incentives to improve water-use efficiency for residential, commercial, and agricultural users. WaterSmart choices are a way of life in the region. Stay WaterSmart San Diego! For more water-use efficiency resources, go to WaterSmart.SD.org.)

Native plant-sustainability-garden-landscapetracting pollinators like hummingbirds and butterflies. Image: Water Authority plant installation

Plant Installation Brings Your New WaterSmart Landscape to Life

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With your new WaterSmart landscaping plans complete, demolition and turf removal done, and your new irrigation system in place, it’s time to get started on the plant installation. For most homeowners, this is the most rewarding part of the process seeing your new landscaping come to life.

Review the following tips to help you through the plant installation and placement process

Step 1: Use a garden hose to outline groundcover areas to help you visualize the design before you start the installation.

Step 2: Set the plants while still in their containers, in their approximate location per your planting design plan. Take a step back and review. View your plant placements from various angles. Make any adjustments to the design now to avoid having to dig up and relocate any plants.

Be aware many drought-tolerant landscapes look sparse for the first few years. As your plants reach their mature size, they will fill in over time. Be sure to allow proper spacing to allow each plant to grow to its full size.

Step 3: Dig plant holes twice the width of the plant root ball and just deep enough to bury the roots. Water the hole before placing the plant. When planted, the top of the root ball should be even with or slightly above soil level.

Colorful, water-wise plants replaced a thirsty, labor intensive front lawn in Deborah Brant's winning 2019 landscape makeover. Photo: Vista Irrigation District

Colorful, water-wise plants replaced a thirsty, labor intensive front lawn in Deborah Brant’s winning 2019 landscape makeover. Photo: Vista Irrigation District

Step 4: Once in the hole, the plant should be packed firmly into place with the original, compost-amended soil from the hole. Extra dirt can create a berm around the plant to hold water.

Step 5: Cover the planting area with a two- to three-inch-deep layer of mulch. Keep mulch a few inches away around the plant stems to prevent rot. Using mulch has many benefits. It can help suppress weeds, enrich the soils, protect plant roots from compaction, provide a finished look to your garden, and mulch conserves water.

Step 6: Monitor your garden to ensure your plants are getting adequate water. Even native plant species and drought-tolerant plants need water to get established. This can take a year. To minimize your watering needs while your plants are getting established, install your landscape in the fall months before the months of most significant rainfall in San Diego, generally December through March.

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WaterSmart Living-Logo-San Diego County Water Authority

(Editor’s Note: The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies offer programs, resources, and incentives to improve water-use efficiency for residential, commercial, and agricultural users. WaterSmart choices are a way of life in the region. Stay WaterSmart San Diego! For more water-use efficiency resources, go to WaterSmart.SD.org.)

Take time to learn about your possibleWaterSmart Living irrigation choices. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

Installing WaterSmart Living Irrigation

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Successfully installing WaterSmart Living irrigation starts long before you get out your tools. You need to complete an assessment of your landscape plan’s specific water needs, draw a complete plan showing the layout, then select your irrigation and purchase your irrigation equipment. If your soil needs amendments (and it almost certainly does), you must get this done first. With all of this important prep work complete, you can start to implement the design.

Five key steps to success

Be sure your irrigation plan considers hills and slopes to prevent waste and erosion. Photo: Pixabay

Step 1: Read the instructions from the manufacturer and familiarize yourself with all the parts of your new irrigation system. Often the manufacturer will provide YouTube video demonstrations which can be extremely helpful.

Step 2: Starting from the main connection to the water line, dig trenches for all the pipes according to your irrigation plan. Ideally, the main connection to the water line will be downstream of the water meter and upstream of the connection to the house.

If you tie into a rear yard hose bib, be aware that the water pressure will be lower because the water for your house is regulated by a separate pressure regulator.

Step 3: Lay an extra pipe sleeve or two under any new hardscape elements. This allows you to add pipes or wires in the future. Be sure to cover the ends of the pipe with duct tape before covering and mark the location on your landscape plan.

Step 4: If you are using drip irrigation, you may want to hold off installing your drip emitters until after planting is complete. With your new plants in the ground, you can place the emitters precisely where the water best irrigates your new plants. Be sure to place them at least six inches away from the plant’s stem to prevent rot.

Step 5: Consult your local irrigation supply store or the major irrigation manufacturers if you need more detailed installation guides or help with troubleshooting. Manufacturers offer toll-free customer service phone help, online chats, and email.

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WaterSmart Living-Logo-San Diego County Water Authority

(Editor’s Note: The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies offer programs, resources, and incentives to improve water-use efficiency for residential, commercial, and agricultural users. WaterSmart choices are a way of life in the region. Stay WaterSmart San Diego! For more water-use efficiency resources, go to WaterSmart.SD.org.)

Removing your turf is water smart, but there is a right approach to take. Photo: MK Digital Products remove backyard turf turf removal

Best Options For Turf Removal

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Once you’ve finalized your landscaping plans, you’ll have some demolition work ahead of you, including the existing turf you plan to remove or replace. Removing turf presents choices about the best way to accomplish this task. Learn more about turf removal options and understand the steps before you begin.

Start here with this video demonstrating your turf removal options

Reclaiming an area of unwanted turf requires diligence. No matter what method of turf removal is used, plan on routine maintenance, including weeding or herbicide application, as often as every two weeks for the first three months after your take your turf out. Some tenacious warm-season grasses might give you a battle for even longer.

Options for Turf Removal

Natural turf removal. A natural way to remove turf and preserve the soil’s ecology is to strip the turf and water the area for the next two weeks to encourage grass to re-sprout and hand pull all new growth.

Sheet mulching. Rather than removing turf and taking it to the landfill, you can compost it in place. First, remove several inches of turf and soil from the edges near your hardscape. Wet the turf area and cover it with several layers of newspaper. Water again and cover with cardboard. Water again and cover with three inches of shredded mulch.

If you can invest the time, allow several months for the soil microbes to decompose the turf and turn it into friable soil for plants.

Solarization. Another alternative is solarization. This works best in the spring or summer. Turf areas are covered with rolls of plastic. Sun exposure heats the soil and kills the turf and weed seeds. The cover must be airtight with no holes and left in place for six to eight weeks. However, this method will also kill beneficial soil microbes. Using this method, you must follow up and apply compost or other soil amendments to restore the soil’s healthy biology.

Turf removal with herbicide. If you choose to use an herbicide, consult with your local landscape supply store and read the manufacturers’ label for best use practices and safety considerations. Since Bermuda grass and some other grasses are dormant in the winter, they must be treated when actively growing in the remainder of the year (May to October).

Grading. When the turf is removed, you need to grade your property. Set the soil level to direct water away from the house. To help slow down water runoff from your garden, try creating small depressions away from structures, walls, or paving where water is allowed to pool and slowly percolate into the soil. The more you slow the water down or hold it on site, the more you improve water quality in your area and downstream at local beaches.

Reduce runoff. Runoff carries with it soil particles and pollutants. Reduce runoff by using mulch.

Prep For Success

Remove your old turf in a way that preserves valuable soil microbes. Photo: Anna Shvets / Pexels

Remove your old turf in a way that preserves valuable soil microbes. Photo: Anna Shvets / Pexels

Now that you have removed unwanted turf and other plants, it is time to condition your soil.

Soil amendments should be selected based on your soil analysis recommendations. Till them into the top layer of soil. Compost (15-30% by volume), gypsum, and fertilizer are typical amendments in arid climates like San Diego County.

The goal is to achieve healthy soil containing microbes which feed plants, improve drainage, and increase the natural water holding capacity of the soil.

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WaterSmart Living-Logo-San Diego County Water Authority

(Editor’s Note: The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies offer programs, resources, and incentives to improve water-use efficiency for residential, commercial, and agricultural users. WaterSmart choices are a way of life in the region. Stay WaterSmart San Diego! For more water-use efficiency resources, go to WaterSmart.SD.org.)

Inspect your sprinkler heads regularly to make sure they are not obstructed or watering onto pavement or other hardscapes. Photo: Irrigation Association

Irrigate Your WaterSmart Landscape Like a Pro

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Irrigation is an essential part of any good landscape design. It ensures plants and trees get the water they need to thrive without wasting a drop. Once you know how much water your landscape plants require, it’s time to take a closer look at your irrigation system.

Whether you are working with a professional designer or are doing the project yourself, the following checklist will help you keep track of the main design decisions involved in irrigation design.

Start with this informational video about WaterSmart Living Landscape irrigation

Evaluate your existing irrigation system and determine if it can be maintained in its current condition or if you need to upgrade it. Some irrigation systems can be upgraded by changing nozzles, converting to drip emitters, or adding a smart controller, while others may need to be completely redesigned.

Irrigation options fall into categories

High-efficiency irrigation is the most efficient method to deliver water to plants is low-flow irrigation. It delivers water from the valve through a filter and then through a network of lateral pipes and sometimes flexible tubing, to the individual emission devices such as drip emitters, in-line drip emitters, or bubblers. Pressure compensating devices are always the most efficient option.

Low flow irrigation is a good choice for trees and shrub areas and should be used in any landscaped areas next to hardscape and in areas less than eight feet wide to prevent runoff from overspray. When using drip emitters, reduce maintenance and ensure long-term durability by selecting good quality tubing and designing for at least two emitters per shrub.

Moderate efficiency irrigation is the next most efficient types of irrigation include rotating or low precipitation (typically for spaces eight to 30 feet in size). These nozzles are a better choice than conventional spray heads for watering turf because they have a lower application rate – they water slowly. Your watering times will increase, but these sprinklers do not produce mist, and they apply water at a rate turf can absorb it, reducing runoff.

Low-efficiency irrigation. The least efficient types of automatic irrigation include conventional spray irrigation and impact rotors. These types of high precipitation irrigation distribution systems generally apply water faster than the soil can absorb. Installing a new system with low-efficiency irrigation is not recommended. If you have an existing conventional spray system, you can easily retrofit it with new low precipitation nozzles.

Get smart with a smart controller

Landscape Makeover Contest-Otay Water District-drought

This new landscape includes a drip-irrigation system, rotating nozzles, and a smart irrigation controller to schedule efficient water use. Photo: Otay Water District

Upgrade to a smart controller, an automatic controller (also called a timer or clock) is either weather-based or has historical weather data included as a reference. Some systems allow for adding a weather sensor or moisture detection system that automatically adjusts your watering schedule in response to current weather or soil moisture level.

Smart controllers can turn off your sprinklers when it rains and increase the frequency and/or duration of watering in hotter weather. Locate the controller in a place that is easy for you to access, such as the garage.

Verify your new landscape water use

WaterSmart landscape irrigation aims to apply water as efficiently as possible. This means using low flow drip or bubblers whenever possible and in areas with overhead sprays, providing the correct pressure and equipment layout to ensure even coverage to maximize efficiency.

Once you have determined what type of irrigation you would like to use, divide your yard into zones and note what kind of irrigation you plan to use in each zone. Contact some of the major irrigation manufacturers to obtain an irrigation design guide to help you with the specifics of your irrigation layout. Some irrigation manufacturers even offer free irrigation design services.

It is important to double-check to make sure your design meets the target landscape water use after installation. You may need to adjust the design to meet your target to maximize water savings.

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WaterSmart Living-Logo-San Diego County Water Authority

(Editor’s Note: The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies offer programs, resources, and incentives to improve water-use efficiency for residential, commercial, and agricultural users. WaterSmart choices are a way of life in the region. Stay WaterSmart San Diego! For more water-use efficiency resources, go to WaterSmart.SD.org.)

Matilija poppies, or Romneya coulteri, have the largest flower of any poppy. It's native to dry, sunny areas from California to Baja and are good choiices for successful sustanable landscaping. Photo: Kimberly Rotter / Pixabay

How to Pick Your Plants for a Successful WaterSmart Landscape

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Once your WaterSmart Living Landscape design starts coming together, pick your plants for each water-use category to ensure you meet your WaterSmart water conservation goals. Focus on local native plants or plants from similar climate regions.

Let this video help you choose the right plants for our Mediterranean climate

 Once you’ve chosen your plant types, there are additional important considerations.

Design for mature plant size: Allow enough space for the plants you select to grow to their full size to avoid overcrowding or the need for excessive pruning.

Growing conditions: Select plants suited for your microclimate, soil type, and drainage to achieve optimum plant growth.

Even the strictest drought restrictions allow for watering trees on residential and commercial properties. Photo: Otay Water District tree care tips

Even the strictest drought restrictions allow for watering trees on residential and commercial properties. Photo: Otay Water District

Tree placement: Typically, a planting design will include a tree or two for shade. Placing a deciduous tree on the south or west side of your home will shade your house during the summer to keep it cool and allow more light and sun exposure in the winter. Keep trees at least 10′ from foundations. In fire hazard areas, trees should be placed, so the mature canopy is at least 10 feet away from any structures.

Shrub placement: Shrub and groundcover planting is typically designed with various heights. Medium size (three to four foot) shrubs are usually placed closer to the house to create a “foundation” or backdrop. Smaller shrubs are then placed in front of the foundation planting and low groundcovers in the area closest to the sidewalk or street.

Accent shrubs can provide a unique texture, color, or flowers. Place them so they provide interest and focus views on locations in the landscape. Highlight your entrance walk with special accent plants. This places a higher emphasis on your entry, which is where you want visitors to be directed.

Be bold and have fun. Don’t be afraid to express your individual tastes.

Using water features and higher water use plants

Determine water use before choosing plants for your new sustainable landscaping. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

Water has been a precious resource throughout history in arid regions of the world. This perspective has been integrated into Mediterranean landscapes by using water only in the most important areas.

If you have some high water use plants you particularly want to include, they can be used. Strive to include no more than 10% high water use plants or water features in your landscape, so choose carefully.

Hyrdozones and water-efficiency

If you choose to include plants not classified as very low or low water use, be sure to group these moderate or high water use plants together. Grouping plants of similar water use together, known as planting in hydrozones, makes it easier to irrigate efficiently by letting you concentrate additional water only where it is needed.

Higher water use plants should be on a separate irrigation valve so you can water them differently than the rest of the garden.

Mediterranean landscapes also historically used water features for a pleasant and calming sound. The water area of the fountain will lose water at about the same rate as cool-season turf grass or another high-water use plant. By minimizing the square footage of open water, a water feature can fit well into the WaterSmart landscape.

Minimizing turf use

Limit the amount of turf in your design as much as possible. If you choose to incorporate turf, consider a warm-season turf that uses less water than traditional cool-season turf. Warm-season turf such as Hybrid Bermuda or UC Verde Buffalo Grass thrives in the hot months of the year and naturally go dormant in winter. Another less thirsty grass to consider is Carex praegracilis or California Field Sedge.

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WaterSmart Living-Logo-San Diego County Water Authority

(Editor’s Note: The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies offer programs, resources, and incentives to improve water-use efficiency for residential, commercial, and agricultural users. WaterSmart choices are a way of life in the region. Stay WaterSmart San Diego! For more water-use efficiency resources, go to WaterSmart.SD.org.)

Native plants-New landscaping-room to grow-plants-watersmart living landscape

Designing Your WaterSmart Living Landscape to Fit Your Life

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When designing your WaterSmart Living landscape, you want your new outdoor space to fit your house, your neighborhood, and your lifestyle. Finding that fit begins by asking a few basic questions.

First, how do you want to use your space? It’s possible to significantly improve your home’s water efficiency and meet your lifestyle needs at the same time. For example, you may want to use less water yet maintain some turf for your children and pets. Focusing most of your landscape plan on low and moderate water use while leaving a small area of turf with high-efficiency irrigation lets you achieve a WaterSmart landscape.

Hausmanns-Vallecitos Water District-landscape makeover-waterwise-WaterSmart

The Hausmanns award-winning landscape makeover also produces succulents sold to benefit a good cause. Photo: Vallecitos Water District

If your goal is an outdoor space for entertaining, use mostly low water plants, a water feature, and a moderate efficiency irrigation system for a different type of WaterSmart Living landscape.

You can reduce water use, minimize maintenance and create a landscape that will be the envy of your neighbors with a combination of very low and low water use plants and a highly efficient irrigation system.

Consider alternatives to traditional turf grass such as low-water-use groundcover and mulch, or permeable hardscape like gravel or decomposed granite paving wherever possible. But if an area of turf is important to your family – for example, a play area for your kids and pets – keep it but use a more drought-tolerant variety of grass in the warm season turf category.

Video: Learn more about how turf can be part of a WaterSmart design

Your Overall Planting Design

Before you start selecting plants, envision your overall planting design. Determine your landscape style and think in terms of plant size and characteristics before moving into actual plant selection.

Take some time to consider the style of landscape you find appealing. Think about how it fits your home’s architecture, your neighborhood, and your lifestyle. You might find a heavy tropical look appealing. But it requires careful low-water-use plant selection for the arid San Diego region.

San Diego shares its climate with many areas of the world, and there are many plant palettes to choose from.

Consider Your Views and Access  

Plants can be used to screen views. Would blank walls or fences look better with a nice-looking shrub in front of them? You can frame the view out a window, but you probably don’t want a large shrub blocking the view.

Plants can also create access points. Is access from the side of the house needed to take garbage cans to the curb? If so, make sure you accommodate a safe pathway in your design.

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WaterSmart Living-Logo-San Diego County Water Authority

(Editor’s Note: The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies offer programs, resources, and incentives to improve water-use efficiency for residential, commercial, and agricultural users. WaterSmart choices are a way of life in the region. Stay WaterSmart San Diego! For more water-use efficiency resources, go to WaterSmart.SD.org.)

While compost and mulch may seem interchangeable, they have distinctly different uses in your sustainable landscaping. Photo: Water Authority Compost vs. Mulch

Using Compost and Mulch to Build Healthy Soil

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When undertaking a WaterSmart landscape renovation, strive to continuously feed as much organic matter as possible to the landscape soil to keep it healthy. Start first with compost and mulch to jump-start the process. Eventually, your plants will feed themselves with their own leaf litter.

Organic matter feeds microbes living in the soil that make soil fluffy. It’s similar to bread rising because of yeast.

Learn more about healthy soil in this instructional video

Compost and mulch – what’s the difference?

Compost is a soil amendment. It looks like soil and it’s hard to tell what it once was. That is because it is food scraps, landscape debris and/or manure from livestock, or biosolids (human manure) and other organic matter that already has been partially consumed and mostly decomposed by micro-organisms. Good compost brings oxygen, water, and life in one package.

Compost can be store-bought or made at home. The compost-making process, or composting, involves creating optimal conditions for the microbes to do their transformative work. When compost looks like soil, it can be worked directly into the soil. The more coarse or visible the bits of the compost are, the more likely it is to be used as mulch on top of the soil rather than as an incorporated amendment.

Compost works in several ways. First, the compost itself contains particles improving soil structure. Next, as compost decomposes in soil it encourages the formation of soil macroaggregates. The resulting macroaggregates are composed of existing soil particles and decomposed organic matter, which combine to create a more stable and better functioning soil structure.

Mulch builds soil structure over time and holds in moisture. Photo: Monsterkoi/Pixabay compost

Mulch builds soil structure over time and holds in moisture. Photo: Monsterkoi/Pixabay

Mulch is a soil topping. Mulch may be organic or inorganic material covering soil. It’s made of larger particles and looks like recycled debris. Mulch can be made from organic matter such as grass clippings, leaf litter, and shredded wood trimmings, or inorganic materials such as gravel or decomposed granite.

The microbes in healthy, biologically diverse mulch bind the organic matter together, forming a thick blanket. This cover protects soil and plant roots from temperature change, keeps moisture in by slowing evaporation from the surface of the soil, and keeps weeds from sprouting by reducing sunlight penetration to the soil surface.

Mulch always stays on top of the soil. Unlike compost, it is never worked in. Recycled organic debris is the most effective type of mulch because it builds soil structure over time and provides a durable, protective surface barrier. The smaller the debris and the more mixed leaves with wood chips, the faster it decomposes. When building soil, small and mixed is best.

Composted material, especially coarse composts, also can be used as mulch. Artificial and inorganic mulches (decomposed granite, gravel, rubber chips, and other rubble) are primarily decorative since they do not contribute to soil life or plant health. They may be used in limited applications such as pathways.

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WaterSmart Living-Logo-San Diego County Water Authority

(Editor’s Note: The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies offer programs, resources, and incentives to improve water-use efficiency for residential, commercial, and agricultural users. WaterSmart choices are a way of life in the region. Stay WaterSmart San Diego! For more water-use efficiency resources, go to WaterSmart.SD.org.)

High quality landscape soil will support your WaterSmart landscape design. Photo: Lisa Fotios/Pexels healthy soil

Building Healthy Soil: Give It Some Space

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Healthy soil consists of elements we don’t typically think of as soil at all. In fact, one of the most critical aspects of soil is the space between the particles.

Soil space results from a process called aggregation. Solid matter will aggregate under the right conditions, forming space between the masses. This allows air and water to fill this area. Rain or irrigation water percolates through the soil, and aggregate spaces hold it like a storage tank. You can store more water and irrigate less frequently when you have more space.

Common Soil Problems Can Be Corrected

Set yourself up for landscaping success by building the best foundation in your soil structure. Photo: walkersalmanac/Pixabay healthy soil

Set yourself up for landscaping success by building the best foundation in your soil structure. Photo: Walkers Almanac/Pixabay

Check your soil aggregation by looking at the soil you dig out during a drainage test. Does it have nice clumps, or is it condensed and compacted?

Compaction is a common problem, especially in areas where grading has been done, foot traffic is heavy, or years of chemical use have killed the soil microbes. Compaction occurs when soil particles are pressed together, reducing pore space. Reduced pore space keeps air away from plant roots and stops water from infiltrating and draining.

Here’s how to tell if your soil is compacted. Take a turning fork and plunge it slowly but firmly into the ground. If your garden has a foot or more of penetrable soil, your compaction is minimal. New roots will grow easily, and water will effectively penetrate and drain. Anything less, and you probably have some soil compaction.

Using a turning fork, an aerator, or a tilling machine, you can create gaps in the soil to loosen compaction. Because it breaks up the fungal connections, it should only be done once to prepare your planting beds.

Follow all of these activities with a layer of compost to feed the soil food web to help build the aggregate spaces. Mulch can also feed healthy soil and help loosen compaction over time.

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WaterSmart Living-Logo-San Diego County Water Authority

(Editor’s Note: The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies offer programs, resources, and incentives to improve water-use efficiency for residential, commercial, and agricultural users. WaterSmart choices are a way of life in the region. Stay WaterSmart San Diego! For more water-use efficiency resources, go to WaterSmart.SD.org.)