Water, Water Everywhere, and How to Make it Work for You – The Grass Is Always Greener Designs

We have had a lot of rain lately, and that might lead you to think that Southern California does not need to worry about a drought, but that is correct. If you have been watching any of the water run off during these past storms you will surely realize that we as a state/county/city/gardener need to start thinking about how to capture and utilize this water.
To create a sustainable or even regenerative landscape it is important to realize that you need the right combination of plants, soils, and water. If you want to cut your water cost and help regenerate your garden you can make a few simple changes to your garden to help cultivate a beautiful, drought tolerant yard that can restore the soil, retain water, and lightens up on our storm drains.
By selecting climate appropriate Plants, such as natives or ones that are well adapted to your area properly grouping them by water usage and sun type, and planting them during the appropriate season (think fall into early spring for SCV) you have taken step number one of a three pronged approach.
Next comes taking care of your Soils. Healthy soils clean and absorb water, and will nurture healthy plants that you have selected for your garden. Make sure that you use compost to add nutrients to the soil and create a sponge to absorb water and nutrients. When you top your soil with 3-4” of mulch you will help smother weeds and prevent the water from leaving your soils quickly
Capturing water is the final step of the plan. Start off by installing more permeable surfaces that can capture water and minimize the impermeable surfaces such as asphalt, concrete, and pavers using silica sand, and stabilized decomposed granite (no pavers and DG are NOT permeable unless installed properly for permeability). The permeable surfaces you have should drain into permeable areas, so that you can capture water in your landscape. This leads us to capturing that rainwater, you can create a rain garden, which is my favorite way to capture water because it is a great landscape feature. You can also install rain barrels, or go further and install a greywater system. The main purpose of these rain capture systems are to slow, sink, and spread the water or use as supplemental water in hotter parts of the year.
If you are interested in learning more about creating a sustainable landscape, consider giving me a call to learn how best to create the design that will work for your garden.
Julie Molinare is Landscape Designer living in the Santa Clarita for over 20 years. Julie taught the Introduction to Landscape Design Class @ CSUN Tseng College of Extended Learning and is Owner/Designer of The Grass Is Always Greener Designs 661-917-3521 www.thegrassisalwaysgreener.net.