I am not sure that everyone is aware of the Metropolitan Water Districe rebates on the new lower flow heads and smart timers. You can go to the Metropolitan Water Districts website for information: www.bewaterwise.com. You will also see on that website the save 20 gallons per day challenge. It really is easy to save 20 gallons per day especially in your garden. Just by using the new water saving heads, reducing the time and the number of days you water. Spot water plants that need a bit more water by hand. Remember that hose you have? I encourage everyone to get out into their garden and pay attention to what is going on with water and with your plants. Believe me it reduces stress! And in these times we all need a little help with stress reduction. As always, we are here to answer any questions you have. 

As promised, i said I would tell you want you need to look for to see if you are watering too much. The most important thing you can do is actually get out into your garden - regularly.  At least once a week do a walk through looking for wet areas, moss growing, and algae growing on walls. In your lawn, you may see muddy areas and areas that are collecting water. 

You should also look out for dry areas as well and make note of them. 

Once you find them you need to either adjust the heads, and/or the timer to use less or more water. You may need to replace heads or move heads to address the water problem. 

 Note - you should never have your heads spraying towards your house and getting the building wet. Heads should always spray away from the house. 

The most important thing is to be a participant in your garden. Don't leave it up to the gardener. 

We offer classes in irrigation and a variety of other topics. Call us to get on our email list to get our recent schedule of classes. Also, sign up for our newsletter that we do quarterly that tells you what you need to do in your garden for that time of year and new ideas happening in the wonderful world of landscaping!

 

We know the familiar scent in the air - ah yes, cow manure. Well it is that time again when your gardener will over seed your lawn with winter rye grass. Why is this a bad idea? It is a bad idea for a few reasons, one it is winter and your summer grass is going to go dormant so why not just let it and stop watering your lawn for most of the winter thereby saving you money and saving water to boot? You can go with a somewhat brown lawn for a few months in the name of the environment and saving some cash can't you? The other reason it is a bad idea is all that nitrogen which is what cow manure is. If it stayed where it was and did not get into our waterways then it would not be so bad. But the nitrogen runs off when you water and runs into oceans. lakes and rivers. It causes the plants in the water to have a burst of growth and takes the oxygen from the water - which kills fish. We need to make sure our water is balanced and artificially pumping our lawns and plants with fertilizer is not good for them or an environment. So call your gardener now and tell him not to over seed the lawn this fall.

Stay tuned for my blog on mycorrihizal fungi - the natural way to have healthy plants and lawns.

As promised I said I would do a basic overview of setting your sprinkler timer. Most timers are set up basically the same way. There is clock at the top and either a dial or buttons that allow you to set your clock, the days that you want to water and the minutes. Many timers have the ability to set multiple times of day for your sprinklers to go on if you so choose. 

 Before I get too ahead of myself - let me just explain what a timer does. It electronically turns on your sprinkler valves so you don't have to. You may or may not remember the days when you had to go out with a key and manually turn on the valves yourself.  Valves control your sprinkler heads and are divided into various areas that need similar water if done correctly. 

Okay, so hopefully you have found your sprinker timer and are looking at it. First thing to look at is - is the time correct? If due to a power outage or work done on your house where the circuit was shut off it may not be correct. Note: many timers will automatically readjust themselves to come on everyday for 10 minutes when the power goes out even for a minute. So you periodically have to look at your timer to make sure all is well if you aren't around when the sprinklers go off.

There will be  + and - buttons somewhere on the panel normally that will allow you to adjust the clock. In order to do that you may need to move another button to set, or the dial to time or clock. Similar to setting a clock radio.

Once you have the time correct we want to check the time that the sprinklers are set to come on. In my last message I said that early in the morning is best. The reason for this is there is less wind so less chance of evaporation, and the plant leaves will have a chance to dry out before it gets dark therefore less mildew.  So make sure the time is sometime between 5 and 8 ideally.

Next you want to check the days that the timer is set to come on. Somewhere you should see days of the week - if you move the dial to the day you should see an on or off indication. Since in my last email I said to adjust to every other day now you will need to do that and you do it by using the same + and - buttons. Some timers have an every other day option that you can just turn on.

Now you want to go to the stations themselves - stations equal valves. So you will be setting the time for how long you want your valves to run (sprinkler heads). In my last email I suggested at this time of year 6 or 7 minutes is plenty. Again you use the same + and - buttons to adjust. 

That is pretty much it - don't forget to set the timer back to run.

While you are at it, just make sure you know how to turn the timer off - this is  a good thing to know when it rains or if it has been especially cool or overcast and you really don't see a need to water that day - you are in control and you can just shut if off for a day or two until you need to run them again.

Next blog - how to survey your garden to see if areas are too wet or too dry and what to do about it.

 

As summer officially ends and fall begins it is time to adjust your sprinkler timer. Your gardener will probably not do it automatically unless you ask him to. You should have your sprinklers coming on every other day now that the days are shorter and it is cooler in the mornings and evenings. No need to water every day in most cases. 

I suggest for my clients that you have your sprinklers run for about 6 or 7 minutes - longer than that most soils cannot absorb it and it just runs off. The best time to water? Early morning - anytime between 5 and 8. Now remember - in the city of Los Angeles you cannot water between 9am and 4pm.

You will be cutting down on your irrigation water by half just be resetting your sprinklers. Saving water makes sense and saves you money.

 Tomorrow - how to set most timers. 

 

 

In my quest to find the best technology available to help my clients save water, I was given a tip from Jim Folsom who oversees the landscaping at the Hungtington Gardens in San Marino Ca. to check out ET Water  (etwater.com) my customers. I spoke with them yesterday and they have a selection of timers that receive weather reports so that the timers can automatically adjust based on the weather. Very cool! 

These timers are most effective for large properties - at least an acre and that spend a significant amount on water. So they might be applicable for some of our clients. The timers start at $1500 and then you have a subscription fee that you can sign up for yearly or for longer periods. The subscription fee is for the weather reports.

Make it a great day and watch the water! - Anne