By Cindy Poore
Our governor has sent out a proclamation throughout the land to conserve water in this drought. While final rules are not yet determined, there are some things we can all do to “make it better” and do our part.
As much as we would like to avoid thinking about it we ARE in a drought. Since this planet is the one place we all have in common, I guess we should really pay attention. There are so many questions about the drought. Why me? How long will it last? What can little ole ME do about it?? What is the first things we can do?
Drought Control for Dummies
Ok having questions doesn’t make you a dummie. We all have questions. Problem is, we often get conflicting answers. Drought has more to do with the snowpack than the rainfall here.
Snowpack is our water storage system. Some of it melts into reservoirs to be piped to Los Angeles area and some of it melts and replenishes the underground aquifers were most of us in the desert get our water.
No or low snow = drought.
How long will it take before we will be out of drought conditions. Tell me when and how much it will snow and I can answer that for you.
For the present, we will have to have an attitude change towards water use in order to keep things going along smoothly.
Here in the high desert, most of us have already been working hard to minimize our water use. Some of us would loose a lot of landscaping if we cut back by 25%. So what are the first steps?
#1 is to review where we are today in water use compared to say… last year or the year before same time. Are we up or down? If down, great!! If we are up, great also!! Why? Because there is always room for fine tuning and that is the next step.
Audit your water use. Of course, your landscape uses the most of your water use and that is the first place to start, especially if you have a lawn. The desert is a great place to live, but it is nicer with a bit of green.
Can you live with less? If so, think about the cash for grass program. 50cents per square foot rebates for converting your lawn to a drought tolerant landscape. You do not have to put rock or gravel down.
There are lots of plants and groundcover that will bring the feeling of cool green that won’t require a ton of water (or labor)
to maintain. Keep dirt wells around your plants so that the water from the system or a random storm stays near their roots. Fertilize with a slow-release fertilizer to keep your lawn green but discourage excessive growth. Cut your lawn with a mulching mower that leaves clippings on your lawn to keep lawn moister and the clippings will decompose and become a mini fertilization each time your lawn is cut.
Some of you have already converted your lawns. What now? Check your water system for leaks. Start with the valves and look for moisture around them BEFORE they have run for the day or week to see if there is any leaks on the main line. Look for emitters or sprinkler heads that are constantly wet even when they are off. This could mean a seeping valve that needs repair. Check your schedule. Could your plants get by with less water and still remain healthy and look good. Most of the time, the answer is yes. Start conservatively and reduce water by 10% and see how your plants look and respond.
And for all you water-saving nerds out there, you can see the proper water needs for many plants at this link from the University of California at Riverside: http://ucanr.edu/sites/WUCOLS/
Don’t forget the inside of the house. Leaks and drips use a lot of water. Look for this. Don’t run the water unnecessarily while rinsing dishes, brushing your teeth or waiting for the hot water to come out the tap. Capture the water you are not using while waiting for it to come to temperature in a bucket or bowl and use it to water your trees, fill the dog bowl or scrub the car.
Call Us if You Need Help. We Are Here to Help You With All Your Landscape Needs
(760) 868-6104
By Cindy Poore
I can feel it. I can taste it. Spring. Yes, it is still cold and occasionally wet. But just enough sunny days out there to warm up the earth for optimum growth potential.
And the weeds have heard as well. They have taken over in droves in so many of the places that lay fallow all winter long. We are systematically knocking them down, yard by yard. If you need help with your weed issues, give us a call. We have been busy with weed control, but will be glad to help you.
The best news is that it is finally warm enough to venture outside and survey the damage from winter. Time to tidy up the yard. You have been patiently waiting to cut back the dead leaves and stems of your perennial plants. Iris, daylilies, sages and the like need their dead foliage removed now to allow the new green growth to pop up and get growing. Rake up the drifts of wind-blown leaves to clean up the yard.
How do you know how much to cut back? When you are not certain how a plant will respond to cutting back, lightly prune back in the fall. In the spring if it is mainly sprouting near the base, then you can safely cut it back to the sprouts. If it is leafing out all over the plant then leave it alone and only cut it back to control size.
If you have not yet pruned your fruit and deciduous trees, there is still time, so go ahead and get that done before they are completely leafed out. Much easier to prune the trees when you can see the branch structure without the leaves.
Next up? FERTILIZE. Especially for lawns, now is the time to give them a feeding to green them up and help them recover from the winter cold. Fertilize your trees, shrubs and perennials as well.
You should see spring annuals in the stores now. Still time for some nice color from some pansies or Iceland poppies which could last until June with tons of color. Put them in large pots in select places around your garden. Plant the pot with a landscape shrub with room for the annuals on the side. Or spend your money on some perennials. Perennials are a good investment as they come back year after year but they will be a bit scarce for a few more weeks.
We Are Here to Help You With
All Your Landscape Needs
(760) 868-6104
March Checklist
Watch your plants carefully for small aphids. They will appear in droves this time of year. The best way to deal with them is to wash off the plant initially a couple of days in a row. If that is not possible or if that does not work, apply a systemic insecticide and that will give a longer term control. Aphids normally will not kill your plants, but will make a sticky mess and attract ants as well.
If you have weeds, hoe them out or kill them before they produce seeds. Seeds beget more weeds and you will prevent thousands potential plants by removing weeds and their carcasses off site early before they bloom.
Time to plant! March is a great time to start planting in the ground the standard landscape plants. March is really time to start your seeds. There is still a possibility for some snow in the high desert and the mountain areas and killing frosts in the inland valley this month and into April. Sowing seeds but starting them indoors or in a cold frame outdoors during this month is a smart move. You can transplant them into the ground in April, early or late depending on your location.
I like to start the seeds in cardboard egg cartons that have a hole poked in the bottom and filled with some starter soil. Plant the seeds, a few per eggs space. Place the egg carton on a rimmed cookie sheet and water the whole thing. Put plastic wrap over the top to keep the moisture in and check on every few days to see that it doesn’t dry out. When the seedlings begin to pop up, remove the plastic wrap and allow the tiny plants to grow up keeping them moist. Transplant the seedlings, egg cup and all in the ground or a much larger pot. The cardboard will decompose and allow the plant roots to expand. Keep transplanted seedlings protected until May.
By Cindy Poore
I am always looking for inspirational bits to keep me focused on my goals and I ran across this little gem below. I like it because it demonstrates that growth is not always pretty, some destruction is necessary. That is very true in life as well as the garden. Since my life is spent in one garden or another, I tend to blur the lines of distinction between life and the garden because they actually are one in the same for me. There is nothing more exciting than creating an outdoor space that will allow someone to live a more beautiful life. One that is a reflection of what they are or want to be. One that they can fully love because it is completely tuned to them and their lifestyle and their needs and abilities to take care of it. One of the best parts of my job… So January is all about beginning and planning for the future. I am working with some clients now doing just that and the process is sometimes a little messy, hence the quote below. But it is definitely worth it!
“For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.” Cynthia Occelli
The last few years have been crazy dry ones. California is solidly into drought territory now. Oh, I know, we toy with it every year. We hear the same old stuff like “fix leaks” (duh) , Take shorter showers” (awww) and ”Make every drop count” (YES!), and my favorite “If it is yellow, let it mellow, if it is brown, flush it down” (ugh!).
But this is serious stuff folks. According a recent news report, since California has been mandated to save water, like it or not, we have managed to cut back water use 15%. That is a really good start. And everyone that uses water can help. But those of you who have lawns and gardens are going to have to do the most adjusting.
Your landscape uses the majority of your water bill and starting there will bring the most effect on saving water and money. I still find people who are watering their landscapes twice a day, every day, all year long.
Drought or not, just like YOU need a certain amount of calories to maintain your health and proper weight, so do plants need a certain amount of water to THRIVE. What is the definition of thrive?: To grow or develop well or vigorously, prosper, flourish.
Compare that to just surviving: to continue to live or EXIST especially in spite of danger or hardship. Which do you want for your landscape? Or for your life for that matter?
Below are some quick tips that will help you gain better control of your garden water usage.
♦Walk your sprinkling system while running and check for leaks and repair them. Have a kit for fixing drip systems with plugs and replacement emitters and fittings. Keep them in a small tackle box so you can cart it around with you when you do the check.
♦Watch the weather. Adjust your run days and times according to the heat and wind and rain or lack thereof.
♦Which brings us to the percent button on your sprinkler timer/controller. Most timers have one. And in this busy world who has time to go out and change the time for each station and run days and so forth? The percent button is your friend. Use it. Run times should be set for July, the hottest month and at 100%. Then adjust up or down the percentage for temporary or seasonal conditions. We have a chart we recommend for the percentages for each month. This is convenient for quick and minor changes and will only adjust the time each valve (a station on the clock) runs.
♦ Adjust your watering DAYS so that your lawns and especially your shrubs and trees are not watered daily whenever possible with the conditions. If you can wean your lawn off daily watering in the months building up to the summer heat, Your lawn will respond well when the really hot days hit us. The goal is to develop strong healthy plants which THRIVE in your landscape.
♦Don’t water both am and pm. It keeps the root zone wet. Unless we are establishing a new lawn, we want the upper soil to dry out so the roots have to grow deeper to get moisture. Deeper rooted plants, trees and lawns will weather the hot season better. We want to have a dry space between waterings to encourage deep rooting.
“We are living on this planet as if we
had another one to go to”
The Victor Valley Master Composters are meeting next Tuesday, September 10 from
6:00 – 7:30 p.m. at the Victorville City Hall, Conference Room D. After the
short Master Composter meeting, Cindy Poore, owner of Perfection Landscape will
be giving a presentation on drought tolerant landscaping. The public is welcome
to attend, so feel free to invite your friends. Don Woo, project coordinator has also invited the Barstow
group in case they were interested in the presentation.
- Staying Home May 31, 2020Staying home has new meaning since the tragic and crazy world of COVID-19. While most are keeping a low profile at home, Perfection Landscape knows that we are essential for helping our clients care for their home environments. We continue to do maintenance for our regular and new clients keeping with social distancing guidelines for […]
- Weeds are Back! March 10, 2018Is your yard Exploding with weeds ? You may think a few weeds here or there aren’t much to worry about, but did you know most weeds are capable of producing over a thousand seeds each? Rain and the warmer weather that will follow will make conditions just right for hose little land mines […]