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Gardening For Birds
Creating the perfect garden for birds begins by understanding the needs of birds. Birds, as with other wildlife, require certain elements in the garden to survive. These elements include: Food Water Shelter Planting for birds can add beauty as...
History of Wild Roses
Wild roses, of the genus Rosa, are those naturally occurring natives found in Northern Hemispheres around the globe. Wild Roses can be found in forests, canyons, logged wastelands and thickets. They have continued to grow throughout the course of...
How To Finance A New Kitchen?
Want to improve the look of your property? Want to add value to your property? Been dreaming of a brand new kitchen? Do not have readily available cash to pay for it? Are you planning an extension to your home, a new kitchen, would you...
How to Grow Flowering Dogwood Trees from Seed
You are welcome to use this article on your website or in your newsletter as long as you reprint it as is, including the contact information at the end. Website URLs must be active links. You are welcome to use this article with an affiliate link,...
Tips for Planning Your Landscape
When you decide to plan your landscape, it does, indeed, require a plan. This means that you should carefully think about what you are doing, and what you would like to do. It also means budgeting and determining how much you can spend for your...
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Tips for Saving Water for Your Landscaping
Do you find your water bill going up each month you water your
landscaping along with the rest of your bills? You might even
question just how much water your landscaping really needs.
Perhaps it's time for you to think about how to make your
watering more efficient so you have beautiful landscaping but
save water as well.
To water our landscaping, we use either some type of automated
sprinkler system or a sprinkler that is dragged from spot to
spot. Right from the big corporations right down to the
homeowner with just a speck of a lawn, most people use or want
to use some type of automated watering system. You have probably
seen water from automated sprinkler systems running off the
grass and running down the street. I don't know about you, but
here in the arid West, when I see this, it makes me quite angry.
This even can be seen in droughts where a typical homeowner may
have to water his plants with saved waste water from inside his
home. This is not exactly an efficient use of water. All around
the country there are problems with having clean water. It just
doesn't make sense to waste water.
Yet most landscaping owners use an inefficient and wasteful
watering system. Here are a few tips to make watering your
landscaping more efficient and less wasteful.
Watering systems for your landscaping vary. Find one that is
most efficient for your needs. A good rule of thumb is that the
larger the water drop delivered and the closer to the ground the
better it is. Using a system that delivers a fine spray up into
the air will lose much of the water to evaporation and to wind.
Surprisingly, hand held hose watering was
found to be the most
water-efficient way to provide moisture to your landscaping. It
uses 33% less water than the average household uses to water
their plants.
Studies found that of the automated watering systems, in ground
sprinkler systems used 35% more and those with automatic timers
use 47% more water than places that did not use such automated
systems. These timesaving devices aren't saving you money or
water.
Adding rain sensors, or better yet, soil sensors to your
automated watering system saves water. You don't end up with the
sprinkler system coming on in the middle of a rainstorm or right
after one when the ground is already soaked.
Automated drip irrigation systems were found to be more
efficient in the study using only 16% more than used by
non-automated watering households. Add the above sensors and you
will have an even better system.
Perhaps the best tip is to not over water. This goes to more
than not watering after a rainstorm. It includes watering to
your landscaping plants' specific moisture requirements.
Consider including less water intensive plantings in your
landscaping. It means watering, as your soil requires. Adjust
your watering schedule from that needed in the high temperatures
of summer to the less watering needed in fall as temperatures go
down.
Copyright 2005, Sandra Dinkins-Wilson
About the author:
Want landscaping tips and information? Check out our Landscaping
and Gardening info website at
http://www.landscaping-and-gardening.info. Get all the latest
information in the world of landscaping.
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