- (Focus Area) Yard & Garden
- Author: Jim Farr
(Editor Note: This blog first appeared in August, 2021 - it has been slightly modified for our current heat wave in July 2024)
This current July heat wave may have stressed your irrigation effectiveness and made you question your landscape plant selection. Even in this type of heat, being water-smart is a good strategy and we have tips that you can begin using today.
According to a University of California Report, residential landscape irrigation is estimated to account for about 50% of annual residential water consumption in California. While that amount varies widely from about 30% in many coastal communities to 60% or more in various inland suburban communities, bottom line, that is a lot of water.
So what can you do right now to save water and make a difference? You might be surprised by the steps you can take immediately that do not take much time or cost and will make a noticeable difference in your water usage. These steps apply to container gardening as well as in-ground landscaping. Some references specific to container gardening are given at the end of the article.
Where to Begin Saving Water In Your Garden
Tip One: Find Out How Much Water Your Landscape is Using
This will give you a benchmark to measure the impact of your water-saving efforts which will help encourage and motivate you as you see the things you are doing are really making a difference.
Measuring your landscape water usage can be a little difficult but there are ways to do it without spending a lot of time with paper and pencil.
If your city subscribes to Aquahawk your task is simple. Aquahawk is an online tool that can measure real-time water usage and makes figuring out your water usage as simple as logging in with your id and password. Unfortunately, only a handful of cities (mostly in the Tri-Valley) have access to Aquahawk.
If you don't have Aquahawk, then another way to estimate water usage is to pull up your water bills (hard copy or get online) and review your historic water usage. Assuming your landscape watering is minimal in winter, compare average water use in winter with average water use in the summer months. Given that other habits remain relatively constant, like washing dishes, laundry, showers, toilet flushes etc. then the difference will be primarily the water you are using for your landscape.
The Center for Landscape and Horticulture offer several online water calculators but these can be a little daunting to work through.
Now that you know your water usage, let's see how you can start to save water.
Tip Two: Mulch, Mulch, Mulch
This cannot be emphasized enough. Mulching has been described as the gardener's best friend and this is not an exaggeration. Imagine being able to minimize water usage by helping to slow down evaporation, reduce maintenance and weeds. In addition, cool the temperature of the soil and improve soil quality and fertility and even improve the look of your landscape! This is the magic of mulch. Mulching works for soils in raised beds and containers too.
What is mulch? Mulch is any material that is put on the surface of the soil to prevent water evaporation. Typically it may be straw or alfalfa pellets, wood chips, barks or hulls, or organic yard waste such as leaves or grass clippings. Mulch can be obtained free from your yard by using leaves or grass clippings or purchased at any home garden store or nursery.
You can learn more about types of mulch from the Master Gardeners of Sonoma County. Here is a website that will give you everything you need to know to start mulching:
To be effective, pile mulch six to eight inches deep, tapering down to three inches deep near the stems or crowns of plants. Mulch should not touch the stems of plants but should be approximately 10 inches away.
Tip Three: Composting
While you are mulching, consider adding compost to the soil or your containers. Compost is essentially organic mulches that have broken down to the point where plants can uptake the nutrients. Composts are typically worked into the soil unlike mulches which are layered on top. Besides improving the quality of the soil, compost acts like a slow release fertilizer. This will minimize the amount of extra fertilizer you use saving both money and water because over fertilizing plants causes excessive growth which uses more water. Additionally, compost helps to retain water especially in sandy soils where there is very little retention of water.
Tip Four: Check Your Irrigation System
Another extremely important step in saving water and eliminating waste is to turn on your landscaping watering system and observe. Check for broken lines and drip emitters and if you are watering grass check that the sprayers are functioning and spraying where they are supposed to.
While you are checking irrigation sprayers and lines, see if any water goes onto the sidewalk and down the gutter. Water down the gutter is water wasted. If necessary adjust your sprayers and irrigation timers to avoid any runoff.
Tip Five: Adjust Irrigation Times
Another step that takes only a few minutes but can make a significant difference is to set irrigation timers to water only between the hours of 9 pm to 6 am. This will minimize evaporation from the daytime heat and will utilize the irrigation water much more efficiently.
When you do this, consider adjusting your run time down some. If you have been watering outside of these hours chances are very good that you will be able to shorten your run times for each station on the timer. Water dedicated to landscape can often be reduced by 20 to 40 percent because over irrigation is very common. Gradually reduce the amount of water applied over a few weeks - giving lawns, trees and plants time to adjust.
To measure if you are applying enough water, the surface of the soil should be dry between watering but slightly moist about 2 inches down. Use the finger test, put your finger in the soil down to the second knuckle and if the soil feels slightly moist but not damp and a little bit of the soil sticks to your finger, then you are applying the right amount of water.
Many people overwater their landscaping so cutting back may actually improve the health of your plants. The signs of overwatering or under-watering are similar so checking the soil is the best indicator of whether your plants are being over or under-watered.
Step Six: Consider Using Cycling and Soaking Settings on Your Irrigation Timer
Step Seven: Check Your Irrigation Frequently
After the initial check of the irrigation system, it is a good idea to check the system occasionally looking for any water that is going down the gutter or hitting the sidewalk. Sometimes water pressure changes slightly or sprayers get a little clogged and water goes where it is not intended even though they were fine a few weeks prior.
Step Eight: Consider Planting Drought-Tolerant Plants
Drought-tolerant plants are sometimes misunderstood, “drought tolerant” doesn't mean they look like desert plants but many drought-tolerant plants have a surprising amount of color, pleasant fragrance, attract beneficial insects, and some are even deer resistant. Remember to plant drought-tolerant plants in late Fall so they can take advantage of the winter rains. All new plants require more water to get established, even drought-tolerant plants.
There are a number of great resources for identifying drought-tolerant plants. Below are a few resources that are available by just a click away. One of my favorites is the Alameda County Outstanding Plant brochures which are available online.
I find these particularly helpful because the plants are narrowed down to the plants that are proven to grow well in Alameda County, most are drought-tolerant and are readily available at local nurseries. Because these are nice, compact lists of plants that fit onto one piece of paper, you can easily take them to a nursery and use them as a guide for choosing plants. Keep a copy in your car and you will never forget to bring the list to the garden store.
These are steps you can take right now that will save water and lower your watering bill without affecting the health of your plants. Most of these steps can be completed in under an hour and a few others can be a nice weekend project, such as mulching your garden. So start saving water now and you will be doing yourself and the state of California a very big favor!
Water Saving Tips References
Water Calculators
Water Use Research
University of California Urban Water Use Study
Drought-Tolerant Plant Selection
- Outstanding Plants for Alameda County
- UC Davis Arboretum All-Stars
- EBMUD Water Smart Plants
- Water Use Classification of Landscaping Species (WUCOLS) – Very comprehensive database with a great searching tool
Water Wise Tips for Container Gardens
- Self-Watering Containers - University of Maryland Extension
- Growing Vegetables in Containers - Master Gardeners of Contra Costa County (pdf document)
- Container Gardening 101 - Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County (pdf document)
Have a gardening question? We'll help. You can reach us by:
- Emailing acmg@ucanr.edu. Please include a photo of the problem, if you can, plus your name, phone number, city and a description of the problem.
- Using our online form.
- By phone, during our office hours, 10 am to noon Wednesday and 11 am to 1 pm Thursday: 510-670-5645. At other times, please leave a message and we'll return your call during our office hours.
- In person at our Hayward office, during our office hours, only by appointment.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
One potato, two potato, three potato, four...
You never know what will pop up in a pollinator garden.
Meet Mr. Potato Capsid, Closterotomus norvegicus, often found on nettle, potato, clover and cannabis.
We spotted him (or her) in a Vacaville pollinator garden, where there is no nettle, potato, clover or cannabis. But it also feeds on chrysanthemum, carrots and members of the sunflower family, Asteraceae.
It popped up on a chrysanthemum blossom. The insect is green and probably a nymph as the color changes, when it's an adult, to reddish brown.
It belongs to the family Miridae. Entomologists point out that this family is the largest of true bugs belonging to the suborder Heteroptera.
At first we thought it was a lygus bug, which is also a myrid and a serious pest of cotton, strawberry and alfalfa.
But no, a potato capsid, an insect originating in the Mediterranean region. It prefers to feed on flowers, buds and unripe fruit.
Same family, though.
Gardeners looking for a drought-tolerant and highly disease-resistant native shrub might consider adding the blue elderberry (Sambucus cerulean also known as Sambucus Mexicana) to their landscape. This species of elderberry is native to the West coast of North America at elevations ranging from sea level to 10,000 feet from Baja to British Columbia. Although it is drought tolerant, it can be considered riparian because it prefers moist locations near rivers or springs. It will also show itself to be particularly thankful for fertile, nitrogen-rich soils.
The elderberry can be identified through its flowers in late spring, and bunches of blueish berries in mid to late-summer. Typically, hundreds of tiny flowers comprise what appears to be one light cream-colored flower in skyward-facing bunches. A waxy coating on the purple berries gives them their blueish finish. Another distinctive characteristic is that the elderberry is among the first shrubs to show green shoots, sometimes in late fall after the first rains and even well before the California buckeye, another early blooming native.
The plant's flowers and berries are valuable for native wildlife. Nearly two dozen moths and butterflies seek the pollen from the fragrant cream-colored elderberry flower. The berries are an important source of food for native birds in California. Once birds eat the berries, they return the favor by helping the plant propagate, spreading the un-digested seeds far and wide.
According to UC Cooperative Extension advisor Rachael Long, the elderberry is one of several natives that provide nectar and pollen for native bees, honey bees, and other insects. “I see a lot of green lace wings (predators of aphids, spider mites and other pests) in elderberry” she notes. The berries are edible for humans if properly prepared. They contain a mild toxin which can easily be cooked out.
The elderberry gets its name from Anglo-Saxon words: “auld” or “ellarn”, meaning fire or kindle, because the hollow branches were used to direct air blown into kindling. Those hollow stems also led to their use as musical instruments, among these the "Sambuke" from which the genus name "Sambucus" was derived.
Elderberry references make cultural appearances spanning space and time. In Greek mythology, the Titan Prometheus presented the gift of fire to man in a hollow elderberry branch. In our own time, it is the elder wand, fashioned in part from elderberry wood, which delivers a decisive blow for good over evil in the final chapter of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.
Blue elderberry grows extensively throughout Butte County, favoring streamside locations. For example, in Chico it can easily be found along Big and Little Chico Creeks and Lindo channel. In places along these waterways, there are nearly unbroken stretches of elderberry thickets. The elderberry's tenacity can be seen in the burn-scar area of Butte Creek canyon, where vigorous elderberry canes are re-emerging in profusion.
Blue Elderberry is the only host plant of the Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle (Desmocerus californicus dimorphus), a Federally Threatened species. This beetle's current California Fish & Wildlife Service status is “threatened” due to loss of habitat resulting from conversion of land to agriculture, grazing, and levee construction; competition from non-native species; and loss of land to development for recreational, industrial and urban purposes. The adult beetles eat elderberry leaves and flowers, and the larvae eat the pithy inside of the elderberry stem, where they live for part of their lives. Because of the “threatened” status of the beetle, and the fact that the blue elderberry shrub is its host plant (its habitat, so to speak), the elderberry shrub is protected from being disturbed, destroyed, removed, and even trimmed, if the branches are larger than 1 inch in diameter, since the beetle larvae could potentially be living inside branches of that size or larger. In your yard, the elderberry can be managed by pruning as long as the branches are smaller than 1 inch in diameter. Small elderberry branches are hollow and pithy and fairly easy to cut.
If you have space in your yard for a hardy native shrub that will provide food for beneficial insects and pollinators, consider the elderberry. It's best to enjoy this multi-use shrub in a section of your yard where it will not be disturbed, and where it can grow to its full size (30 feet) without needing to be trimmed or moved.
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's the Fourth of July and what better time to post images of the aptly name "soldier beetles" than today.
These insects (family Cantharidae) resemble the uniforms of the British soldiers of the American Revolution, which is apparently how their name originated. They're also called "leatherwings" in reference to their soft, leatherylike wing covers.
Like lady beetles, aka ladybugs, these soldier beetles make short work of aphids and other soft-bodied insects. We've seen them devour so many aphids on our plants that they should be awarded the Aphid Belt, similar to Joey Chestnut's famed Mustard Belt.
Indeed, soldier beetles are eating machines, just like Joey.
Wikipedia describes Joey Chestnut (who, by the way, grew up in Vallejo, Solano County), as an "American competitive eater" ranked No. 1 in the world by Major League Eating. In addition to hot dog-eating contests, Chestnut has won contests devouring pizza, wontons, chicken wings, and corned beef sandwiches. And even poutine (french fries and cheese curds, topped with brown gravy).
No aphids, yet, though. Not even sprinkled on pizza slices.
Follow these tips for the month of July to prevent pests in the garden and landscape. To see more tips specific to your region, visit the Seasonal Landscape IPM Checklist on the UC IPM website.
- Clean up fallen fruit or nuts to avoid attracting or harboring pests.
- Deter borers by deep watering trees that are adapted to summer rainfall. Avoid pruning or creating open wounds that can also attract borers.
- Cover fruit trees with netting to exclude birds and other vertebrate pests.
- Prevent Eutypa dieback. Prune apricots and cherries only during July and August in inland areas and during August near the coast.
- Look for leaffooted bugs feeding on fruit and nuts such as almonds, pistachios, and pomegranates.
- Maintain a fire safe landscape by creating “defensible space.” Thin out thick vegetation and eliminate fuel ladders that allow fire to climb up trees or structures. Remove dry, resinous or dead plants and flammable debris. Cut branches back 15 to 20 feet from buildings. Use non-combustible surfaces for walkways, patios and driveways.
- Bag apple and pear fruit to prevent codling moth damage. Remove infested or dropped fruit promptly.
- Monitor for redhumped caterpillars. Look for skeletonized leaves or individual caterpillars feeding on sweet gum, plum, walnut, redbud, and other deciduous trees and shrubs.
- Inspect apple, citrus and especially stone fruit for bacterial blast, blight, and canker. Remove entire affected branches in the summer, making cuts several inches away in healthy wood.
- Watch for yellowjackets and other wasps. Keep garbage cans sealed and eliminate food or drinks left outside. Use lure or water traps to control yellowjacket populations.
Don't see your county on the checklist or want to provide feedback? Let us know!