One of the big joys of landscaping is finding creative ways to maximize your space or improve your property through strategically using your plants, trees, and so on. But you can also conserve water with clever landscaping tricks, which helps you maintain that beautiful yard you worked so hard to cultivate and lowers your energy bill. Not to mention it’s great for the environment, too!
Mow High Instead of Low
This minor tip can have more of an impact than you might think. By mowing your grass too low, your grass’s roots will stay high and won’t reach water that seeps deeper into the ground. On the flip side, mowing your grass a little higher than average will encourage grass’s roots to go deeper. They’ll require less hydration overall.
Don’t forget to keep your lawnmower blades sharp – sharp blades cut grass cleanly and reduce the water the grass loses over time.
Choose Plants That Don’t Need Tons of Water in the First Place
Colorado has plenty of natural plants you can use to decorate your yard or property that won’t guzzle tons of water. Think of things like succulents or cacti. There are also other beautiful or colorful plants you can use to make a landscaping dream out of your yard. Here are some examples:
- Fringed sage
- Apache Sunset Hyssop
- Rocky Mountain penstemon
- Blue Avena grass
- Angelina Stonecrop
- Chocolate flower
Use Mulch and Compost
Many of us already have mulch and compost we can use from our eating habits or coffee drinking. Use any mulch or compost you have to cover any planting areas, particularly those for trees or larger plants.
Compost acts as an insulating agent in these cases. This prevents water from evaporating from the soil and makes every watering session that much more effective. When you do this, just make sure you leave enough space around the base of every plant so you don’t create mulch mounds – these can cause their own issues.
Drip Irrigation, Not Sprinklers, Are the Way to Go
Regular sprinklers are inefficient no matter which way you look at it. On the flip side, you can set up a drip irrigation system. This involves setting up irrigation tubes or pipes that drip water to your plants’ roots beneath the ground.
The result? More efficient watering across the board and more aesthetically pleasing landscape, to boot. Ultimately, you’ll see water savings between 20 and 50%, which translates to around 30,000 gallons per year. This also saves you plenty of money!
Reduce Your Turf Areas
Turfgrass is arguably the number one water guzzler for homeowners across America. But it’s also a staple of American lawns – it’s the traditional green grass we all see on TV, after all. If you really want to save water through creative landscaping, get rid of this stuff from your lawn. The Colorado climate doesn’t really support it, anyway, since it requires frequent watering.
If you absolutely must have some turfgrass for your kids or dog, try to limit the area to a small patch of land that integrates well with the rest of your landscape. Or you can choose water-saving or drought-resistant grass, like several of the Colorado species mentioned above.
Conserve Water with Xeriscaping Landscaping
Xeriscaping is a form of landscape design that requires little to no irrigation. This is used in tandem with hardscaping, which is solid and unchanging elements of the landscape. A popular form of hardscaping is colored and different sized rocks to design different areas to the yard and provide a year-round aesthetic. When done well, xeriscaping can provide great dimensions to the yard and provides long-term cost savings.
Use Water-Saving Pots/Containers
Here’s another minor but effective tip: classic water pots often have small leaks at the bottom or holes at the pot sides. This wastes water right in front of you as you hose down some of your flowering plants or young shrubs.
Instead of using classic pots that waste water, go for terra-cotta containers or other water-saving containers that don’t have holes in their sides are at the bottom. This will result in the plant utilizing much more of the water you give it and reducing how frequently you have to water said plant overall.
In fact, do yourself a favor and replace all of your classic plant pots across your yard for a more aesthetically unique landscape and a water-efficient space.
Conclusion
Any and all of these creative techniques will help you conserve water with landscaping over the long-term and make your yard a healthier place overall. We’d recommend considering at least a few of them – all it takes is a few minor landscaping changes to really make a difference, especially during drier months in Colorado.