Establishing a water wise landscape

I would think everyone realizes that we are in a very severe drought. The drought is causing issues for our farming community and also for our homeowners. When we get in weather patterns such as this, it makes a homeowner wish they had a landscape that was more prepared for drought and was equipped to use water more efficiently. I will be sharing information from a UGA publication that can be a guide for water wise landscaping.

For starters, our publication is going to cover more information than I can cover in major depth in this article so I will try to cover some of the major points. If you truly wanted to establish a more water use efficient landscape you need to map out your area. To do it correctly, you need to draw out the property including the house, trees and established plants for example. Here is where a map may get tricky. You then to put tracing paper over the base map and put in things such as shaded areas, full sun exposures, seasonal wind directions or even areas you would like to screen. Then you use another sheet of trace paper to identify areas in your landscape where you will need to water. Some spots may be frequent watering areas, some may be occasional and then some may be where only rainfall will water that spot. In theory, only 10 percent of the landscape such be zoned for frequent water use with 30 percent or less being occasional water use zones on the property with 60 percent or more be infrequent watering.

When you have this map in place you are ready for a more detailed plan. You may be the homeowner that is saying will I don’t want to go that in depth, but I do want a landscape that is more able to handle a drought situation. I will use the rest of the article to give as many tips as possible. If you have never conducted a soil test of your landscape before that will be a good starting point to make sure nutritional needs are being addressed. You may need to check the soil drainage in a few spots. In an area, dig a hole 12- 15 inches deep and then fill the hole with water and see how fast the hole drains. If the hole still has water in the hole after 12 hours, the soil in that area is poorly drained and could indicate a hardpan layer of soil. To improve you can turn the first six inches of soil by spading or rototilling. This can help improve soil compaction and can help plants develop roots deeper in the soil. In addition, you can incorporate 3 inches of organic mulch into the top 12 inches of the entire plant bed area to help keep water in the area where the plant roots are located.

If you were trying to calculate how much mulch, it would be 1 cubic yard of organic material per 100square- foot of bed.

One point that cannot be undervalued is plant the right plant in the right spot. Will the plant item perform better in full sun or does it need shade? What will the mature size of that plant be? What is the plant growth rate for example? One idea is to group plants together that have similar needs for light, water, soil and nutrient requirements. You may need to look at your landscape layout too and maybe use the higher or drier spots for plants that like dry conditions and use the flat or lower areas for plants that may like moist ground. Planting the right plant in the right spot can lead you to a plant that is able to handle drought times.

Don’t forget about your lawn grass. Our literature states that selecting appropriate turf grass species and cultivars for your site conditions and uses along with good establishment and grass upkeep practices can help create a lawn that will need less water. Bermuda is our more drought tolerate grass, but it will perform better in full sun compared to a shady landscape. Take some time in selecting the right grass for your site. In general, a healthy grass will wilt and turn brown in time of drought, but can turn normal color and growth when rain or environmental conditions improve. This may be in the form of supplemental water by the homeowner even for our most drought tolerant grasses. I will add that you need to know the proper mowing height for your particular grass. If you mow too short, you can slow down root growth, which will make that grass more problematic in times of drought. Again, this article only touched a few area of a water wise landscape. If you would like more information, contact UGA Extension- Gordon County at 706- 629- 8685 or email gbowman@ uga. edu.