Water is for humans, not the yard especially during droughts! However, by using some of the water saving landscaping ideas on this page you may not have every blade of grass turn brown or lose all of your plants every summer.
One of the best ways to not be tempted to waste water watering your yard and plants in the landscape is to plant drought resistant plants. Learn more aabout xeriscaping, mulch all landscaped beds and plant native species.
To give you an idea of how much of our precious water supply is wasted outdoors; reports estimate that in the United States over half of residential water used is used to maintain landscape and lawns. That's pretty sad for a country that I believe to be one of the greatest on the planet!
One of the ways that we can make that number (and citizens of North America) look better is to religiously engage in xeriscaping. This practice can reduce use of water to maintain landscaping by as much as 50 to 75%.
What is Xeriscaping?
Xeriscaping is the name give to a style of landscaping specifically designed to save water. These methods are nothing new. In fact they have been used for centuries to grow food in areas prone to drought conditions. It finally dawned on some landscape designer that xeriscaping might be something of interest to the modern homeowner.
The benefits are many! Xeriscaping:
- saves water
- saves money
- is low-maintenance
The drawbacks are truly not worthy of consideration but I will give you the main objections of those who hold back. Xeriscaping:
- often involves (what some perceive to be) less attractive plants
There you have it; the only negative is that native plants are not as exciting as plant species that were never meant to be in drought stricken areas to begin with. People should not be planting ferns where cactus grow naturally; get it?
If you landscaped your lawn long before you heard of Xeriscaping, chances are that your bushes and plants are established and no longer require as much watering as they once did. Rather than dig everything up and start over, the next best thing is to mulch like your life depended on it! Don't laugh! Our lives DO depend on having enough fresh water to drink.
If you have any profound water saving landscaping ideas that you would like to share with readers of my green living blog, please drop them in the comments section! We would also appreciate tips on where we might see pictures of areas landscaped using native or drought resistant plants so post the address if you know of any that we should see!
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4 comments:
The thing about landscaping to save water is that it's an age old recipe that was traditionally handed down among those living in arid countries, until us westeners came along thinking we could do a better job. Planting on raised beds/ steps, adding basins around the roots of plants- they're all techniques thousands of years old and fantastic for climates closer to the equator. We should really be looking more closely at what we like to term 'developing countries'. I suspect that in reality, we're the ones developing and there may be a few tricks we can learn,.,.
Just a tip. Dishwashing is a relatively small part of your water footprint— less than 2% of indoor use, but there are always ways to conserve. Using a machine is actually more water efficient than hand washing, especially if you run full loads.
If you are after a more economical and green landscape project, then here’s a good article for you! Having enough knowledge about landscaping can help you make wiser decisions about designing or decorating, say your patios for instance.
Having an herb garden is both aesthetically pleasing and practical. You get to enjoy the fresh air with the help of your plants and you can also have organic tea whenever you want to. Thanks for sharing your ideas!
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