What is sustainability?? Water Conservation

Ok back to business..recent events of the last week had me a little off course!!

So water conservation .....what does that entail.....well I will let you in on a few tips and tricks!!

Hopefully you have seen blog about the "self watering garden", this is one tool to help conserve water used for your landscaping and gardens ( if you didn't read it you don't have to tell me just go ahead and do that!)  I also think it is very important to incorporate as many perennial plants into your landscape as possible. If you can get native perennial plants even better!! These types of plants will grow longer roots than annuals and so they will have access to a wider range of water in the soil. ( these two things will be the subject of an upcoming blog ..so stay tuned!)

One thing that baffles me to this day is how people will basically scalp their lawns in the middle of the hot summer and wonder why it is turning brown and then they will water it and complain about having to water cause it is so hot outside. If you are guilty of this please stop!! Just raise the mower deck up a few notches! This will save water 2 ways.....1 it won't be so short ...therefore the grass will not have to "work" so hard to regrow and will have less stress..... and 2nd the grass actually provides shade to the soil underneath it so the evaporation of water will be less if the grass is a little longer ...this will lead to little or no water necessary!!  ( we have had an exceptionally dry summer where I live and there is a lot of brown lawns...this doesn't mean you are a bad home owner it has just been HOT and DRY...not conducive to a green lawn.)

Now that we have taken care of the outside what can we do on the inside???

I have seen lots of advertisements for fancy gadgets you can put in your toilet tank to displace the water....the cheap way....why not just use a brick or similar size rock...same effect...lower cost!!  There are also new water save flappers for the inside of the toilet also...and relatively cheap about 2-3 bucks.

Low flow shower heads and aerators for the faucets are also savers....in some places you can actually get these for FREE by going to your electric companies website and taking a free home energy audit. ( I did this a few years back and got a box of goodies in the mail...light bulbs, aerators, foam light socket insulators etc.!)

This little tidbit may shock some of you....it actually saves water to run a full load of dishes in the dishwasher instead of washing them by hand...good reason to get a dishwasher if you don't already have one!!

Many washers these days are also much more efficient in their water usage...some saving many gallons a year...but they can be some what pricey..so this would be more of a long term goal but keep your eyes out for scratch and dent models at your local stores......just be sure to ask that they are in no way defective besides the cosmetic damage...trust me on this... I will spare you the details!!

Oh I forgot to mention earlier that keeping your grass longer will also cause less erosion. When the soil dries out a crust develops and it is harder for the water to penetrate that crust so when it rains the water will have more of a tendency to run off the surface instead of soaking in .....and if a very hard rain comes along more soil particles will be displaced...and even more on hilly regions ....which is erosion at work!!

Ok I think that is it for now! If I forgot to mention anything you do or know about water conservations let me know!!!