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Maximize your landscaping soil's ability to retain and save rainfall and irrigation for drier days. Photo: D. Douk/Creative Commons

Building a Water Savings Account

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Managing water wisely in a landscape is a lot like managing a bank savings account.  

Approximately half of the water spent by average California homes is used outdoors, mostly for irrigation. Unfortunately, up to half of commercial and residential irrigation water is squandered by evaporation, wind, improper system design, or overwatering, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  

Using landscape irrigation efficiently can significantly reduce overall household water consumption while leaving adequate water in the ground to cover your plants’ needs. 

During the winter in metropolitan San Diego County, healthy soil can absorb water in surprisingly large quantities to be released slowly to plants as they use it during drier months – like using a savings account to pay for expenses over time.  

That’s particularly true during wet spells like we’ve had in late November and early December 2018; no need to spend irrigation water when Mother Nature is making the deposits for you. 

Balance your water bank account 

Water that enters the soil as rain or irrigation is like a deposit into a soil checking account.  

By keeping track of those transactions of water in and water out, it is possible to know how much water in the soil “reservoir” is available in the landscape at any given time for the plants to access. 

The initial soil bank balance is determined by direct observation or is assessed after a thorough wetting of the soil by irrigation or winter rains. Every day, plants take small amounts of water from the soil. Rain and irrigation fill up the water bank again. The trick is to make sure this “account” does not get overdrawn. 

How can you tell when the account is depleted? Smart irrigation controllers and landscape professionals can calculate this for you. You can also rely on a soil probe, or even testing the landscape by feeling the soil surface with your fingers. 

 

When oxygen and water are balanced in the soil, the amount of water lost through evapotranspiration is similar to paying fees on your savings account. Shading the soil surface with plant materials and mulch protects water in the soil by slowing evapotranspiration and leaving more water in your soil’s account. 

 This article was inspired by the 71-page Sustainable Landscapes Program guidebook available at SustainableLandscapesSD.org. The Water Authority and its partners also offer other great resources for landscaping upgrades, including free WaterSmart classes at WaterSmartSD.org. 

 

 

SFID To Vote On Water Rate Increases Dec. 20

/in , /by /Rancho Santa Fe Reviewby Karen Billing

The Rancho Santa Fe Association is pushing back against the Santa Fe Irrigation District’s proposed water rate increases. The water district is proposing three percent water rate increases over the next three years and is scheduled to vote at a Dec. 20 hearing. If approved, the new rate would be implemented on Jan. 1. “The Rancho Santa Fe Association is protesting the rates,” said RSF Association Manager Christy Whalen at the Nov. 1 Association board meeting. “We are one of the largest users in the district and we are looking for a more equitable rate structure.”

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Love Your Lawn-Conservation Corner-Love your lawn organically

The Right Way to Remove Your Lawn

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If you have made the decision to replace your thirsty, water-guzzling grass, you need to plan your grass removal process carefully to ensure you leave healthy living soil ready for new landscaping in its place.  

Here’s how to do it: 

First, keep your grass moist until you remove it. Don’t withhold irrigation and let it turn brown as it dies off. Healthy microbes in your soil will die off along with the lawn. You want to work with those microbes to help create healthy soil for your new plants. It’s also a lot easier to remove fresh, moist grass than to try and pry out dead dry grass and weeds in hard dry soil.  

Keep your soil microbes healthy to support your new landscaping

Along the same lines, don’t “solarize” your landscaping in the effort to remove your lawn. Solarizing is sometimes used as a way to remove grass with chemicals. It uses a covering such as a heavy black plastic tarp to broil the lawn at high temperatures using sunlight and kill it. But that process kills everything, including healthy microbes you need for healthy soil. Yes, you can replace them with compost, but you will need to invest in a lot of compost to restore the good microbes after you’ve removed the grass by solarizing. 

 Solarizing also backfires because sterilized soil is ideal for weeks. The moment you remove the plastic, opportunistic weeds will move in fast to try and take over the ground. It isn’t because you failed to kill the weed seeds in the soil. New weeds can arrive in a flash, and there is nothing to prevent them taking over.  

Avoid compacting or tilling your soil when removing old turf

Avoid compacting your soil. If you use heavy equipment to remove your old turf, the weight of the equipment will compact the soil underneath. Try to minimize the use of heavy equipment and use walk-behind equipment with hand tools where possible, reserving the use of a tractor or scraper only where necessary.  

Avoid tilling your soil. Tilling soil breaks up and kills your soil microbes. Without the microbes, you’re guaranteed to have those weeds pop up for a long time until new soil microbes develop.  

When removing your grass, protect your trees. If you want to preserve your healthy trees while removing your lawn, you need to be careful with their roots. Don’t use any heavy equipment to remove turf around your trees. Avoid the entire area under the canopy of the tree’s branches. Tree root structures extend all the way out to the drip line at the edge of the leaves. Keep your trees well-watered during the removal process to help minimize root shock.  

Guard against shock to trees from reduced irrigation

When your new sustainable landscaping is installed, your previously existing trees may go into shock when irrigation is reduced overall in your garden. After all, this is one of the reasons for removing your lawn. Pay special attention to keeping the trees watered during the first year after your grass is removed, even if you remove the surrounding original irrigation.  

A good way to hand-water trees is to punch holes in a five-gallon plastic bucket. Fill the bucket, set it down at the edge of the tree canopy, and let the water slowly seep into the ground. Repeat the process three to four times to water your beautiful mature trees. This mimics the natural rainfall Mother Nature provides.  

READ MORE: Gardening Like A Wise Old OWL

This article was inspired by the 71-page Sustainable Landscapes Program guidebook available at SustainableLandscapesSD.org. Hardcopies are available free of charge at the Water Authority’s headquarters, 4677 Overland Ave., Kearny Mesa. The Water Authority and its partners also offer other great resources for landscaping upgrades, including free WaterSmart classes at WaterSmartSD.org.