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In an attempt to crack down on excessive lawn watering, the City of Los Angeles has implemented a new law – no watering between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4p.m.  That not only applies to lawns, but all vegetation.  That means vegetable gardens as well.  While admittedly vegetable gardens require more water than, say, cacti or succulents, they produce food that help us reduce our carbon footprint.  That said, there are even ways to reduce water consumption in the garden to help lighten the load even further:

Use drip irrigation – Using ½” or ¼” tubing with drip emitters gets water right where you need it – the base of the plant.  Remember, you lose 50% or more of your water to evaporation by overhead watering.  [gasp!] You can hook up drip tubing to a regular garden hose spigot using a simple adaptor.

Get a timer – If you don’t have a built in sprinkler system, you can also hook up that drip tubing to a timer – available at many hardware stores – that connects to your hose spigot.  The battery operated timer has two dials: one for how long to water, the other for how often.  Using a timer ensures that you’ll never forget to water before 9 or after 4.

Mulch is your friend – Another great way to cut back on evaporation is to mulch your garden.  Mulch keeps the soil surface cool and dark – great conditions for moisture!  Many cities, including Los Angeles, offer free mulch that has been made from tree trimmings throughout the city.  So if you can get ahold of free city mulch, not only are you bound to save water, but you’re recycling as well.

Invest in a rain barrel – sure, you could put buckets out in your yard every time it rains, but let’s do the math here: if it rains 1”, a bucket will collect about 1 square foot of water, but a roof that measures 8 x 15 (the size of a small shack) will collect 120 square feet of water, or about 10 cubic feet of water. That’s nearly 75 gallons!  You can then use the water to irrigate your garden during the dry season.

Here are a few additional water conservation tips for your garden this spring:

• Tomatoes only need to be watered once every 7-10 days once they set fruit. Trust me – it’s really true.
• Planting lettuces in the shadow of taller plants will help keep them producing into the hot season, plus you won’t have to water them as much.
• Try out the Native American tradition of the 3 Sisters: Corn, Beans and Squash.  The beans climb the corn and use them as a trellis, while the squash forms a living mulch underneath – resulting in less evaporation and lower water needs.

Using even just one of these water-wise gardening tips this spring will ensure not only lower water bills and happier plants, but happier gardeners as well.  

Bio: Christy Wilhelmi is founder of Gardenerd.com, the ultimate resource for garden nerds.  She is a board member of Ocean View Farms Organic Community Garden in Mar Vista, California, and gardens almost entirely with heirloom vegetables. Christy teaches organic gardening classes and offers hands-on garden consulting and food garden design.

Tags: Christy Wilhelmi, gardenerd.com, Water - Use It Wisely