|
| Water-Wise Landscaping Tips for the Home Garden
|
|
Healthy Soil for a Healthy Garden
- Build Healthy Soil – Till your soils once or twice a year. Use hand tools instead of a rototiller. Amend soil with compost to improve soil condition to hold moisture better and reduce runoff. Compost is a high-quality soil conditioner and a slow-release fertilizer.
- Home Composting – Reduce your garbage bills and reduce green waste. Almost 20% of the waste stream in Alameda County is plant and vegetable trimmings that could be recycled as home compost. Four main ingredients for composting are Browns (dry woody materials such as fallen leaves, woody clippings, pine needles, newspapers, etc.), Greens (moist, nitrogen-rich materials such as fruit and vegetable trimmings, grass clippings, fresh weeds without seed heads, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, etc.) Air, and Water.
- Replenish Soil – Spread compost in a layer no more than 2 inches thick to new and existing planting areas to ensure air and water can easily pass through every 6 months to a year.
- Avoid Soil Compaction – Create clearly defined paths and/or raise beds to protect soil from compaction. Sheet mulch to establish planting areas or pathways, or to control weeds while improving soil.
- Add natural Nitrogen – Grow cover crops such as vetch, fava or field peas to enrich the soil.
- Mulch Basic – Use leaves, chipped wood from trees (do not use diseased trees), branches and garden clippings and pay lower water bills. Mulch planting area heavily with a minimum 3 inches to hold moisture in the ground.
- Mulching around Plants – Keep 1-2 inches from the base of shrub trunks and 3-4 inches from the base of tree trunks to prevent rot or disease. Where tree is planted in the lawn, mulch to the tree’s drip line.
- Fertilizer – Avoid using synthetic fertilizers. Use compost, and use organic and slow-release fertilizers for more targeted fertilization.
For compost class schedules »
For purchasing compost bins »
|
Choose Plants Wisely
- Use Locally adapted plants – Hayward is located in Western Sunset Zone 17. Emphasize Mediterranean climate or California native plants. Try to use these plants for at least half of your garden area.
- Micro-climate – Pay attention to your garden’s shady spots, dry patches, different soil conditions and sloping conditions. Place the right plants in the right place.
- Avoid invasive species – California Invasive Plant Council
- Plant Trees – Deciduous trees will provide shade in the summer and allow the sun during winter. Evergreen trees will provide shade and windbreaks. Plant on the west and southwest side of the house to provide shade.
- Watering Needs/Hydrozoning – Group plants with similar watering needs together.
- Room for Plant Maturity in Mind – Don’t crowd too many plants to areas that plants need to be severely pruned or pulled out. Allow room for plants to mature and fill in. Minimize pruning by choosing plants that are appropriate for the space.
- Select disease resistant varieties of plants.
- Include plants that attract beneficial insects in the landscape.
- Planting Season – Avoid hot summer months for planting. More frequent watering will be required for initial plant establishment. Take advantage of cooler months and pre-rainy months for good soaks.
- Wildlife-Friendly – Plant diverse plants and provide bird baths, water dishes, or a small pond.
- Be Aware of Potential Hazard – Control weeds and weed seed disbursement. Consider and control potential neighborhood hazards – including fire awareness and rodent habitat.
For plant references:
Bay Friendly »
Garden »
Be Water Wise »
|
Practice Smart Watering
- Slow Watering – Allow water to absorb into the soil before continuing to water. Don’t let puddles form on the soil surface. If using automatic irrigation systems, schedule controllers to allow watering time in smaller intervals.
- Watering Schedule – Don’t over water your plants. Turn your sprinklers off during rainy season (mid-November to late-February) except for container growing plants. Watering lawn 3 times a week is plenty. Water between 10 pm and 8 am. Water plants slower and longer for deep root growth. Plant water conserving plants. Water plants only. For suggested watering schedule for Hayward, go to our Seasonal Watering Schedule.
- Rain/Moisture Sensor – Consider connecting a rain/moisture sensor to the irrigation controller that will turn off the watering schedule when raining. To learn more, visit??
- Mulching for Water Loss Prevention – Mulch reduces the amount of moisture that soil loses through evaporation and plant transpiration, moderates the soil temperature in both summer and winter, protects irrigation components and prevents weed growth.
- Irrigation – Drip irrigation has choices of above-ground, subsurface drip, and mini-spray emitters. Sprinkler irrigation offers low volume.
- Less Lawn – Replace lawn with water conserving plants and pay less for water bills. If the lawn is a must-have, use semi drought and heat tolerant grass such as tall and dwarf tall fescue, or consider drought-tolerant groundcovers that would tolerate foot traffic.
- Protect children and the Bay – Don’t let synthetic fertilizers or herbicides wash off to the Bay. Use porous paving such as pavers, gravel, or decomposed granite that allows water to soak back into soil and recharge ground water.
- Use Permeable Paving – Permeable paving for patios, driveways, or other hard surfaces will allow water to soak in rather than run off and will recharge the groundwater.
- Terrace steep slopes – Reduce rainwater run-off and prevent erosion.
More information about irrigation:
h2ouse »
Irrigation Tutorials »
Urban Farmer Store »
|
Maintain Your Garden
- Leak Detection – Check for water leaks regularly.
- Control Weeds – Lay cardboard before placing mulch or planting and mulching.
- Holistic Approach to Pest Management – Take a more holistic approach. Learn to live with low levels of pests. Healthy plants growing in the right conditions are less likely to be attractive to pests. Consider hand-picking slugs, snails, caterpillars, and potato beetles; spraying water for spider mites and aphids; setting traps for slugs and snails with a shallow cup of beer; or setting up barriers like copper strips, mesh coverings or raising planting beds. Consider using least-toxic chemical control in small quantities such as insecticidal soaps, horticultural oils, minerals, botanicals, and microbial pesticides.
- Pruning for Plant Health – Strategic structural pruning improves plant health and can mean less pruning. Avoid shearing, topping or lopping, instead do thinning.
- Grasscycling – Mow the lawn when it is dry and leave the clippings on the lawn. The clippings quickly decompose, releasing nutrients back into the ground. Grasscycling fertilizes the soil and improves the health of the lawn. Benefits are less mowing time, cutting disposal costs, less fertilizer costs, reducing fertilizer runoff, conserving landfill space, and saving on water costs.
- Lawn Care – Allow soil to dry out between watering. A loss of shine or footprints remaining after being walked on indicates the time to water. Water deeply, but infrequently, to moisten the whole root zone. Choose natural organic or slow-release fertilizer.
- Minimize Plant Waste – Do not over plant, over water, or over fertilize. Start composting.
- Leave some areas of the garden somewhat untidy – let flowers go to seed to provide food for birds, and leave dead leaves and stalks to shelter over-wintering insects.
- Use hand or electric tools instead of gas-powered tools.
For composting and grasscycling:
Stopwaste.org »
For step by step instructions to detect water leaks:
H2ouse »
For integrated pest management:
www.ourwaterourworld.org »
www.pesticide.org »
|
Save Energy
- Place trees and shrubs to reduce energy requirements. For example, plant deciduous trees on the west side of the house to provide shade during the summer and allow sunlight to warm the house in winter.
- Shade parking asphalt areas and air conditioners, if applicable.
- Use LED Lighting – LEDs last considerably longer than incandescent or fluorescent lighting. LEDs don’t typically burn out like traditional lighting, but rather gradually decrease in light output.
More information »
- Plan outdoor lighting that is dim or directed downwards to minimize light pollution.
- Select local garden products and suppliers.
- Select pumps for water features that are solar powered or energy efficient.
- Include space in the garden for a clothesline.
|
Landscape Education Classes
The City of Hayward offers Water Efficient Landscaping classes in the Spring. These classes are usually held in April/May. Water bill inserts with the details for upcoming classes are sent one to two months prior to the class. Information can also be found on the City's "What's New" section.
|
Seasonal Watering Schedule Suggestions
Currently Under Construction.
For additional information on water efficient (Xeriscape) landscaping, irrigation, plant selection, etc., please see our Ordinances & Other Links section.
|
| |
|
|
|
