Part I — When The Well Runs Dry

Summertime , summertime , sum sum total summer ! It ’s unvoiced to think about summertime without thinking about water . My Los Angeles suburban summers were all about spending the solar day in my dependable friend Scott ’s kitty or bring on our tailbones on a blindingly lily-livered Wham - O Slip ‘ N Slide . With summertime temperature surge past 100 degrees , our water usance was partially about the playfulness and partly about survival .

Meanwhile , my parents were flex on the sprinkler , then forgetting about them . Or dragging hoses around the yard to keep the very non - SoCal azaleas animated .

Water Conservation As A room Of life sentence

Out here in Santa Barbara , we have n’t seen rain since early spring and probably wo n’t get another pearl until November . That ’s our normal Mediterranean weather convention , but this winter was peculiarly dry . Exhibits A and B were the devastatingback - to - back firesthat put Santa Barbara in the national headline in November ’ 08 and May of this year .

If you ’re reading this post from a desert or semi - arid area of the land , you probably know where I ’m heading . body of water conservation has been a way of life since the earliest colonization , though our myopic community planning and landscape gardening practices have not always excogitate the better practices . Not long ago , while I was in Palm Springs , I was shock by the Acre of bright unripened lawns that irrationally festoon the desert . It ’s the same everywhere – since the post - World War II housing bunce , suburbia = lawn .

It ’s Not Just The western United States

But what about the respite of you ? Did last year ’s water affright in the Atlanta area catch you off safeguard ? What about the specter of theshrinking Great Lakesor how upstate New York man-made lake have sunk to their low historical horizontal surface ?

Perhaps it ’s just a passing cycle , just a radar target . Maybe next yr the sky will open up and we ’ll all be o.k. . I ’m usually a cockeyed optimist , but not anymore — not when it comes to the braggy unknowns of clime alteration .

I think it ’s time for all gardeners to valuate how their plant option and water direction practice will be affected by a potentially diminish water supply . How will you triage your share of this sprightliness - give liquid if your water purveyor tell you to get by on half your current allocation ?

Will you check booze , cooking , bathing or wash your dress ? Not in all probability . Will you drive a dirty car ? you’re able to probably survive with that . If you have enough water get out to irrigate your garden , I ’ll bet that your fruit Tree and other edibles will win out over the “ Sweet Juliet ” David Austin rose you sprung for at the garden show . mayhap not . dispatch your lawn ? Worth considering .

start up Adapting Today

Here ’s my point . Although there are still those who deny global climate change , the consuming body of skill tells us it ’s here , now . you may take up creating a more sustainable , water - wise garden today . Here are a few suggestions to help you get started :

In the thirty days that I have been design sustainable landscape for my clients , none have ever feel that they had sacrificed anything . Quite the wayward — their gardens are now more beautiful , more in harmony with the local environs and less of a financial drain .

In the remaining two installments of this serial publication you ’ll instruct how unproblematic alteration to your water management regimen and horticulture practices , as well as minor changes in irrigation ironware , can draw huge benefits . You ’ll lower your water bill , have more time to indulge in the fun part of gardening and help preserve a full of life resource .

So for now , head out to your chiliad and write down three thing you may do this weekend to make your garden a more H2O - wise paradise .

In the words of my governor , “ I ’ll be back . ”

ReadPart II .

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