DIFFERENT TYPES OF IRRIGATION SYSTEMS

In the world of landscape irrigation there are several types of systems.  Spray (Overhead) systems, drip, rainwater harvesting, laundry to landscape and soaker hose.  With these options how do you know which is best for your landscape?  The answer is simple.

If you have large planter beds then an overhead system is best as it mimics natural rainfall.  In this video Hunter Industries explains their Pro-Spray product guide.



If you have small planter beds where an overhead system will not work well then I would suggest you consider a drip system.  This video will explain your options.



Remember that each garden is different.  Your unique situation will dictate exactly what type of system you have.  How often you water will also depend on the type of plants that you have.  If you are using California native/drought tolerant plants then you should be watering twice weekly for 10 minutes for the 6-8 months and then taper down as needed. 

In regards to the rainwater harvesting and laundry to landscape option is also doable alongside of the the above two.  You should just be careful if you are going to connect your gray water to your landscape that you do not connect it to your edible plants as the dirty water is not safe for ingesting.  You cad read this post here to see my favorite rain tank.

MY CURRENT FAVORITE RAIN TANK

I am normally not bias to any one company.  I try to remain neutral in favor of all options.  But this time, I actually do have a favorite in the rain tank sphere and that is the Bushman rainwater harvesting systems.  What I like most about this companies product is variety.  You have many options in terms of color and size.  There are a total of 3 colors and 8 different sizes.  This means that in any garden you have options on what size to pick depending on what fits best in the space you want to put it in. 

This video is of a garden in Tustin, where we used several Bushman rain tanks. 

TOP 5 TIPS TO REDUCE YOUR ENERGY BILLS

I can tell you from my 10+ years of designing landscape that one of the things my clients want is to spend less money in the long run.  What can we do to use less energy watering and maintaining our garden as well as saving money inside?  There are many things you can do to reduce your energy bills and in this video I talk about the top 5.

If you are inclined to do any of these tips I would suggest you first look at your lifestyle and determine which is most suitable for you.  Not everything will work for everyone, but these tips are tried and true.

These tips are...
1. Kill (or reduce) your lawn
2. Plant properly
3. Water efficiently
4. Harvest rainwater/graywater
5. Plant deciduous trees

This video explains more in detail.

DESIGN STORIES - OLD TOWN TUSTIN CLIENTS GARDEN UPDATE

This garden was a really fun collaboration between me, Nicholas Holmes who designed the rainwater harvesting / laundry to landscape system and Landscape Contractor Ben Green of Down to Earth Lawn and Garden.  The clients were open to lots of drought saving ideas.  This garden features a laundry to landscape system that uses the laundry water to irrigate the fruit trees.  4 Bushman rain tanks and a swale in the front allow for water percolation and collection.  There are also many drought tolerant plants as well as 3 raised garden beds and many other features.

The plants are a mixture of drought tolerant California friendly plants as well as some California natives all mixed in nicely to create this beautiful rain garden.  I am very pleased with the outcome! In face when we had really heavy rains the client told me that the rain garden water filled to the brim with water as were the rain tanks.



If you have done any sort of rain water harvesting in your garden then comment below and let me know.  I would love to see what you have done and possibly feature it on this blog.

DESIGN STORIES - MISSION VIEJO CLIENTS PROJECT UPDATE

This garden was installed in 2015 and is going to be on the Orange County California native plant society garden tour on April 8, 2017.  I thought I would give a tour for those that can't go on the garden tour and a sneak peak for those that are attending.

I can't even begin to explain how happy I felt when I pulled up to this garden.  My jaw dropped!  It''s moments like these when I truly feel blessed to get to do what I do for a living.  Not to brag (well maybe a little) but I love my job.



If you live in Orange County I am offering a complimentary design consultation.  Contact me to get started.

DESIGN STORIES - TUSTIN CLIENTS GARDEN UPDATE

I recently spent a day going to a bunch of gardens in the city of Tustin that I had designed to check up on the project and see how things looks.  I made videos of each garden and will share with you weekly to give you a sneak peak at the gardens that I have designed.  This particular one was a descent sized front yard that used to have a lot of lawn and not much of anything else.  The clients had killed the lawn and wanted to replace that with drought tolerant plants.  They also wanted to explore the idea of a dry creek bed.

We were able to give them everything they were looking for within their budget and create a garden that not only suits their every lifestyle but also benefits the environment.  This garden uses existing paths, new decomposed granite paths, California native plants with a few California friendly plants, a dry creek bed to water retention and an energy efficient irrigation and lighting system.  Overall the clients were very happy and I am thrilled at how this garden turned out.



For a limited time I am offering a complimentary landscape design consultation to any Orange County resident.  Contact me and let's get rolling designing your dream garden.  

MISSION VIEJO GARDEN

Kill your lawn and increase your property value! This has been my motto for the past few years and I stand by it.  I get that if you need lawn for kids or dogs then by all means have it and hopefully you utilize more sustainable lawn options like Carex pansa.  But otherwise I just don't see the point.  In this case my clients in Mission Viejo had lawn and cracked concrete that they wanted to replace. The kids had fled the nest and having the lawn was no longer necessary.  Their driveway was cracked and needed to be overhauled as it had also created various trip hazards.

In this case there was only one solution...  Gut everything and start from scratch.  The design intent was to use soft set flagstone throughout most of the garden and only mortar set it where it was necessary to do so.  We also used California native plants to help bring in the local wildlife and added two rain barrels to catch whatever water comes out of the gutter.  That combined with some boulders and accessories makes this a true sustainable garden.



The materials we used are:

• Flagstone - color butternut (formerly known as oaklahoma buckskin) from Resource Building Materials in Lake Forest.  They also have several other locations.   
• Rain barrels - provided by the homeowners local water agency.  
• Boulders - already existing on site and re-purposed.
• Plants:
• Existing Crape Myrtles
• Arctostaphylos densiflora 'Howard McMinn' - McMinn Manzanira
• Calylophus hartweggii - Sundrops
• Eriophyllum nevenii - Catalina Silverlace
• Galvezia juncea 'Gran Canon' - Baja Bush Snapdragon
• Mahonia aquifolium - Oregon Grape
• Oenothera speciosa 'Rosea' - Pink Evening Primrose
• Salvia clevelandii - Cleveland Sage
• Salvia clevelandii 'Alan Chickering' - Alan Chickering Cleveland Sage
• Salvia greggii 'Coral' - Coral Autumn Sage

SHE WENT LAWN LESS

Just as the title states a Huntington Beach, CA resident named Dori killed her lawn and had California native plants and other organic materials installed instead.  Her kids have fled the nest, she has no dogs and therefore has no use for the lawn.  She was also tired of wasting money to maintain it.  Dori happens to volunteer at the Golden West College native garden and one of the college instructors who designed and maintaines the garden was the mastermind behind Dori's front yard design.
What was once water sucking lawn is now a great habitat friendly, energy efficient garden that is pretty to look at.  At first glance it may look like there is not enough plants but this garden was planted for eventual plant growth.  The addition of a dry creek bed also helps.  Overall I was pleased with this garden and am looking forward to seeing it when the plants are more filled in.

A lawn less garden is very much possible in any home.  Now you may be thinking that well you have kids or a dog that may want a place to play.  On that note there are several lawn alternatives that are safe for dogs and kids to play in.  If you are interested in determining if a lawn less garden will work for you then do not hesitate to contact me and I would be happy to show you how it will work.  Such a garden will even increase your property value.

5 TIPS TO REDUCE YOUR WATER BILL

I count myself amongst most Americans who are living upside down. Where you owe more on your house than what it's currently worth. Yep! I am right there with you. But just because the economy has gone to shreds does not mean that your wallet has to. Consider these 5 tips to give you ideas on how to reduce your water bill and add a little more "green" to your wallet. These tips may even add some "green" to your property value.

Tip #1 - Kill Your Lawn
Let's face it and accept the reality that lawns are a waste of money and valuable real estate. The amount of water you spend to water the lawn and money you spend to mow and fertilize it is not well spent. You could rather use up that valuable real estate to create a low water meadow garden or create a habitat attracting California native garden. You will become the neighborhood trend setter and the local wildlife will love you to pieces.

Tip #2 - Harvest Rainwater and Greywater
If mother nature is giving us free water then why are we not harvesting it? If you are going to have to use water to wash your cloths in then why not use the left overs to irrigate your garden with. Think for a minute and try this on for size... Get a large decorative pot in whatever color suits your fancy. Cut a whole at the bottom of the pot where a spigot will go into. A small hose attaches to the spigot. Put some mesh with thin holes at the top so the bugs don't get in and whoa-la! Place the pot under the gutter or attach a hose from the washing machine that leads outside to the top of the pot. You could even have the water connected to your irrigation system.

Tip #3 - Understand What You Have Planted
My mother is the classic person that always over water's her garden. As often as I tell her that the plants in her garden don't need much water she still insists on watering more often then necessary. By understanding what is planted in your garden and how much water each plant will need will better help you in using the right amount of water. If you have hired a designer then he or she should tell you all the details about the your plants and if you have had an irrigation system installed then your contractor should educate you on how to use it.

Tip #4 - Plant California native plants (assuming you live in California)
California native plants are from... Guess where? They are already adapted to the California climate and the gnarly clay soils that we have. They require much less water then any other type of plant material and the local wildlife love them. If you must have grasses in your garden then try these California native options.

Tips #5 - Sweep it
I have a front porch on the second floor of a condo complex and I would not dare use water to wash my front porch in. I just grab a broom and sweep. Gives me a good upper body work out and helps save our precious resource. Just imagine that the water you use to wash hardscape with is going into the storm drain and possibly destroying our watersheds.

Photos are of a lawn less garden I designed in Costa Mesa, CA.

RAINWATER HARVESTING PRODUCTS

60-70% of water is used for irrigation, and considering we are in a drought it becomes more imperative to do what ever we can to save money. Having said that I saw these two companies at the landscape industry show that just might have the right product for your rainwater harvesting needs.

The first is a company called Bushman Rainwater Harvesting (above image). They are manufactured in Temecula which makes them local American made. These systems can connect right to your gutter. The nice part is that you can use the water you collect to irrigate your landscape with thus reducing your water bill.

The other company called Eco Rain offers a different product aimed at collecting rainwater (see left image). All of their products are made using recycled materials. As with any product I may blog about bear in mind that I have not used it. If it is a product that I have used then I will state as such and offer my general opinion and thoughts. Otherwise take any product for what it's worth and use at your own risk.

Addition to this post: A day or so after I had publishedd this post I received an email from a company called Rainwater H2OG that also offers a rainwater harvesting system. The info is taken from their website... "Rainwater HOGs decentralize rainwater storage — their slim profile means water can be stored at each downspout and used locally. A single large cistern requires reticulated pipework linking all the downspouts to the tank and then back to the irrigated areas, often involving expensive installation and maintenance, not to mention garden replanting. The modular screw together fittings combined with the robust ¼ inch (6mm) wall thickness of the HOG tank mean you can use the modules over and over, redeploying them to suit your changing needs."

If you have used any of these products then please post your comments for the benefit of others.

COLLECT (HARVEST) RAINWATER

People in general tend to use more water outdoors, but if you collect rainwater then you can use that water to irrigate your garden, thus reducing your water bill.

A full rainwater system consists of several parts.

• The retrieval system
• The collection system
• All the required parts

Fortunately, homes already have a rainwater retrieval system in place, which is the roof, gutters and downspouts. Tying into this system is easy and affordable.

If you buy a rainwater collection system make sure that it is free of dust, leaves, bird droppings or bugs which may be washed into the system from your roofs. Keeping your storage tank free of debris is critical if you want to maximize water pressure and ensure that the system lasts a long time. You can cover the system with a simple mesh screen (one that has small holes) which is good for filtering out debris. Be sure that the screens are accessible to make the cleaning and maintenance of the system easier.

"Anything that you can do to collect rainwater is always a good thing and not to mention that what ever you spend on your system is a huge savings that you will get back as you find yourself spending less money on your water bill."