Water Conservation For Everyone

     Whether you live in a dry area of the country like many states in the west, or you’re just looking for a way to reduce water usage, you’ll find that there are many things that you can do when it comes to conserving water when it comes to your garden, and for your home in general.

     Water conservation is important whether you’re a green gardener or not… especially in the West. And, it’s actually easier than you might think. The first thing to do is think about a good water delivery system. There are several ways to get water to your garden, and you might be surprised to find that one of the best ones is just to use a watering can. They let you target each plant individually and  you can easily control how much water each plants gets because you’re the one doing it. And your directed spout will also take the water to the roots.

      You might also want to consider a soaker hose or drip irrigation. A soaking hose provides water to your plants through the pores of the hose, so the water gets to where it needs to go with virtually no evaporation. You can also set them up with a timer and bury them under mulch as well and once they’re installed they need very little maintenance. And as a bonus, many soaker hoses are made from recycled tires. Drip irrigation gives you the most water efficiency though. It works by setting up a tube along the plants with a release point for each plant.

     And lastly while you’ll always have a hose from your home that isn’t always the best choice when it comes to the quality of water coming out of the tap these days, so you might want to think about rainwater collection and storing it for use in your garden, and for your home for that matter.

     You can install a basin under a gutter downspout, or channel water into a barrel or an underground holding tank. Keep in mind that the container should be covered though, and that the water collected should be used in ten days to avoid contamination or breeding mosquitoes.