Friday, June 25, 2010

Your Plants' Watering Needs Change With the Seasons

As the seasons change, so do the needs of the plants and lawn in your yard.

During winter months, when days are short and usually wet, you don’t need to water you lawn, shrubs or trees at all.

During summer, when the days are long and there’s and not much rain, you need to water your yard. How much is enough to keep your grass green and healthy?

The Contra Costa Water District has a new handy guide appropriately called the “Lawn & Landscape Watering Schedule” that tells you exactly how much water you need. Most modern automated irrigation systems make it easy to change the settings each month, and the schedule guides you.

For example, in July water your lawn three or four days per week. If you have pop-up sprinklers, run three cycles of three to six minutes each, a few minutes longer if you have impact or rotor sprinklers. For trees, shrubs and groundcover, you need only two to three days per week. With pop-up sprinklers, run three cycles of three to six minutes each.

While your are on the page, sign up to get a water scheduling reminder through an e-mail each month.

Water Your Plants Early

What’s the best time of the day to water? Set your automatic sprinkler system to water between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m. The sun is down, the temperature is cooler and the wind is usually calm. This allows the water to do the work you want it to, soak to the roots and nourish your plants.

If you’re watering during the day, up to 30 percent of the water your spraying is lost to evaporation.

Coupons Help You Save Water & Money

CCWD has water-saving coupons online for car washes, and buying mulch.

The car washes all recycle their water, and mulch is the best way to save water in your yard and prevent weed growth.

Look for the blue “Smart Car Wash” and brown “Mulch-Mulch-Mulch” buttons on www.ccwater.com, find the deals that most appeal to you, print out the coupon and you’ll start savings water right away.


Free Home Water Surveys


Have you had one of our free home water surveys? This is a great way to start saving water immediately.

One of our water conservation experts will do everything from measure how much water your sprinklers are using, to check for leaks in your toilet and tell you about our water saving rebates for washers and toilets.

It’s absolutely free, and you’ll start saving water before our expert leaves your home.



1 comment:

  1. i am definitely agree with all you said. we must save water and Water Surveys is a great way. thank you for the tips.

    ReplyDelete