Days of unlimited water are coming to an end

Friday, August 11, 2006

By Dean Fosdick
For The Associated Press'Tis the season for fast-growing vegetables, full flowerbeds and showcase yards. It's also the time of year to expect notices from city hall mandating lawn-sprinkling limits — even community-wide water rationing.

Prolonged drought conditions and an increasing population mean the day is ending when you can expect to turn on the tap and use all the water you want, inside and out, the year-round. That's especially the case in population centers operating at a water deficit, or with residential yards, which account for anywhere from 30 percent to 60 percent of a typical family's water use each year.

Many cities already have posted watering bans this summer, restricting use to certain hours of the day or perhaps to odd- or even-numbered days. For many communities, it's simply a case of priorities: Water reserves are more important than neighborhood curb appeal.

"It's a public safety issue if you don't have the water supply to fight fire," Wayne Houle, director of public works for Edina, Minn., told the Star Tribune recently. "You'll have a nice green yard, but your house will be burnt down."

Limiting the amount of water you pour into the ground doesn't have to mean abandoning thirsty plants. A few commonsense steps taken now can help them survive the searing summer sun.

Perhaps the easiest way to start is by correcting the obvious:

Repair all leaks around faucets and hoses.

Adopt nature's schedule along with your own. Interrupt your watering schedule for a couple of days if you received a measurable amount of rain overnight.

Use a broom to sweep your sidewalk of grass clippings rather than a hose to wash them away.

Group plants according to their needs. Some require water two or three times a week. Some daily.

Take advantage of any shade, particularly with your potted plants. Many flowers and container-grown vegetables thrive in partial or dappled shade. Select your stocks accordingly and you'll save on overall water usage.

Go native. Plants already habituated to your region, its climate and its average rainfall have a greater chance of survival and usually need less care.

Improve your marksmanship. Lawn sprinklers can be wasteful things — especially if aimed at sidewalks, driveways and less productive portions of your yard.

Be willing to let the grass go dormant. That doesn't mean dead, although it may turn brown. Chances are, your lawn will green up again with the return of cooler weather or the next soaking rain.

Mow your grass higher and don't collect the clippings. They will serve as mulch, gradually adding nutrients to the soil and helping keep what water you do have closer to the roots.

Water the youngest plants first and frequently. They need a steady supply of water to get established.

Place your plants where they can take advantage of runoff from slopes or rain gutters.

Use drizzler hoses or drip buckets. They're much more efficient than spray from the end of a typical hose. Make your own by punching a small hole in the bottom of a bucket, filling it with water and then setting it alongside a tree or shrubs. Allow its contents to seep slowly and deeply into the ground. Repeat the cycle as you do other things around the yard.

Mulch. Use straw, wood chips, newspapers, peat moss, coir (shredded coconut hulls) and water retaining polymers, or a combination thereof.

"Coir is a good alternative to peat moss," said Thijs Millnaar, president of PlantBest Inc. in Markham, Ontario. "It's a good base supplement that can add up to seven days between waterings. It works well indoors and outside with edibles, flowerbeds and container plants. It's also terrific for window boxes and hanging plants.

"It doesn't contain any additives," Millnaar said of his two flagship products, "SoilSponge" and "PeatEliminator."

Another company, Zeba, uses cornstarch to absorb upward of 400 times its weight in water but the mixture remains loose enough when mixed with a garden soil to release that water as needed. It is being used as something of a water reservoir on golf courses, farm fields and container gardens, the Albany, Ore.-based company says.

And then, there are the polymers and other additives used in so-called "premium soils." Scotts Miracle-Grow, among others, sells a number of bagged garden soils "specially formulated with composted materials, sphagnum peat moss, a wetting agent and added nutrients."

"Soils have to have structure to them, air spaces or growing spaces over the length of the growing season," said Bruce Augustin, director of agronomy for Scotts Miracle-Gro, in Marysville, Ohio. "It's all the better if they can hold water. That locks the nutrients in place."

Just when is the best time of day to water your lawn and garden?

"Water early in the morning or late in the evening to avoid evaporation," Millnaar said. "It's amazing how often you see people standing out there in the blazing sun, watering. I prefer morning although you're good with both. Watering is a therapeutic way to start the day."

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