Maintain your landscaping while saving water
Did you know that city resident water consumption more than doubles from 8 million gallons per day in the winter months to 19 million gallons at the peak of summer? Much of the increased water use can be attributed to the watering of lawns and landscaping during the summer months.
It doesn’t take much to reduce water consumption—just a few simple changes to planting and yard maintenance practices. So, if you’d like to save yourself some green and do the planet a favor in the process, consider following a few of the following tips:
- Plant drought-tolerant native species. In general, native plants that are adapted to the local area, soil, and sun exposure only require natural rainfall for survival.
- Retain soil moisture. Spreading a few inches (deep) of shredded wood mulch, wood chips, or compost over your plants root system can help hold moisture in the soil by slowing evaporation and can help control weeds. Be careful to pull the materials back from trunks and stems to prevent decay.
- Reduce lawn size. Turf requires much more water to maintain than plants in a mulched area. There’s no need to strip your sod—instead, smother it with ten layers of newspaper topped with four inches of mulch. Part the mulch next spring to install new plantings.
- Capture water. You can use rain barrels and rain gardens to capture water from your roof, driveway, and yard. Turning your downspout toward your lawn uses water that would otherwise end up in the street (water plants, not pavement). Be careful not to direct runoff toward your neighbor.
- Add some shade. Areas with a little shade will often tend to stay greener during the summer. Adding some trees and tall shrubs can help give your yard a little relief from the summer sun once they are established.
- Choose the right plant for the right place. Remember water-wise landscapes don’t need to be barren. A little planning and effort can help keep your yard cooler and save water as well.
| Common name | Scientific name |
|---|---|
| Trees | |
| Bur oak | Quercus macrocarpa |
| Hackberry | Celtis occidentalis |
| Kentucky coffeetree | Gymnocladus dioicus |
| Hawthorn | Crataegus spp. |
| Quaking aspen | Populus tremuloides |
| Shrubs | |
| Smooth sumac | Rhus glabra |
| Gray dogwood | Cornus racemosa |
| American hazel | Corylus Americana |
| Common ninebark | Physocarpus opulifolius |
| Sand cherry | Prunus pumila |
| New Jersey tea | Ceanothus americanus |
| Dwarf bush honeysuckle | Diervilla lonicera |
| Wildflowers | |
| Prairie smoke | Geum triflorum |
| Wild columbine | Aquilegia canadensis |
| Wild lupine | Lupinus perennis |
| Butterfly milkweed | Aesclepias tuberosa |
| Pale coneflower | Echinacea pallida |
| Fragrant hyssop | Agastache foeniculum |
| Grasses | |
| Side-oats grama | Bouteloua curtipendula |
| Little bluestem | Schizachyrium scoparius |
| Prairie dropseed | Sporobolis heterolepsis |
Love your lawn? You can have a lush lawn and save water! Follow these tips:
- Use grass mixes with drought-tolerant fine fescues when seeding a new lawn or repairing an old one. Many of these mixes are also shade tolerant and may require less frequent mowing.
- Add a sensor to your irrigation system to avoid unnecessary watering. Rain sensors are generally inexpensive and easy to install and help avoid watering in the rain or when the soil is already wet.
- Improve your soil. Aerating your lawn in the fall helps allow water to penetrate into the soil and also helps incorporate organic material into the soil that will help retain moisture. If you are seeding or sodding a new lawn, make certain you have at least a 4 to 6 inch layer of loose (but firm) topsoil. Compacted subsoil usually requires more watering (and fertilizer) to maintain turf grasses and other plantings than good loosened topsoil.
- Avoid fertilizing your lawn in the summer. Have a soil test done before applying fertilizer to your lawn to see if it is needed. If needed, fertilizers are best applied to turf grasses in the fall when the weather is cooler.
- Mow high. Set your mower at 2.5 to 3.5 inches and keep your blade sharp. Short grass and frayed ends increase moisture loss. Mulching mowers return grass clippings to the lawn helping to retain moisture and nutrients in the soil. Mow often enough to avoid removing more than 1/3 the height of the grass blade with each mow.
- Follow watering restrictions. Watering in the morning or late afternoon is more efficient and better for your lawn and other plants. Remember no watering is permitted between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. and watering is restricted to odd/even days according to your house number. Hand watering is permitted at any time. Check the Water Restrictions page for details.
Know your invasive species
We’ve heard that native plants are low maintenance and better adapted to the local environment than non-native plants. However, a very small percentage of non-native plants are invasive and exceptionally successful—so successful they require no watering or care to proliferate on their own. They’re worse than weeds because they will invade undisturbed habitats. Don’t plant them! For more information on invasive species visit http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/terrestrialplants/index.html.
