5 tips for saving water in your garden

By the second week of July, we are typically heading into a long stretch without rain, and with higher water bills as summer advances.

With that in mind, here are five tips for saving water in the garden.

1. Mulch

A mulch is like a frosting on top of the soil that seals in moisture. An organic mulch such as compost, bark chips or wood chips is best as it can decompose and improve the soil over time.

2. Compost

You can buy compost in bags at the garden store or have it delivered. But the dirt cheap way to garden is to make your own.

Just layer green material such as weeds and grass clippings with brown material such as soil or rotted leaves and let is all sit in a pile or a hole.

Compost acts like a sponge to absorb and store moisture in the soil. Add it to planting holes but mix the compost well with the native soil to encourage roots to spread out.

3. Right plant, right place

Got a hot spot? Forget about thirsty annuals or plants in pots and grow lavender, a smoke tree and colorful shrubs such as barberry and spiraeas. Water until the roots are established the first year. Then go on vacation and return to happy plants.

4. Design with a cookie in mind

The best cookies are soft in the middle and crispy on the edges. Arrange your plants so that the soft or thirsty plants are in the middle of the landscape close to your house. These are the hanging baskets of fuchsias, the astilbe, petunias and annuals that give lots of drama but do lots of drinking. Plants close to the house are more likely to get watered.

Use drought resistant or “crispy” trees and shrubs along the edge of the property so you’ll never have to drag a hose or sprinkler to the edges of the property to water.

A sweet design can lower your water bill.

5. Recycle water

We waste lots of clean or slightly used water down the drain that could be used to water plants. Saving water used when rinsing vegetables or cooking water that has no salt are examples of how gardeners in other parts of the world recycle precious water. A dish pan in the sink to catch rinsing water and a bucket under the sink to cool cooking water before it goes onto plants is an easy way to capture water for use on plants.

A rain barrel is another way to recycle water from the roof. Then use your recycled water on those thirsty plants right outside the door – because you did design with a cookie in mind and all your thirsty plants are close to the house right?

Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of several books. Reach her at binettigarden.com.