Garden Sense

Reduced Water Use Can Go Hand-in-Hand with Beautiful Landscaping

Click Here to request a Garden Sense consultation, or call 707 565 3026.

is a free program offered by the UC Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County.

Our friendly Garden Sense consultants have advanced training in water management, irrigation systems, site assessment, low-water use plants, and sustainable garden practices. We can show you how to easily conserve water (and save money) by creating a climate-appropriate garden that is healthy, environmentally sound, and most of all – beautiful!

While visiting your garden, our Garden Sense Consultants will provide:

How-to information about lawn conversion and converting sprinklers to drip irrigation
Plant suggestions based on your site conditions
A sketch of a planting layout
An assessment of your existing irrigation system

Garden Sense Publications

Websites:

Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership: http://savingwaterpartnership.org
Find a Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper (QWEL): https://www.qwel.net/
For Water Smart, Weekly watering schedules: http://www.srcity.org/watersmartyard
Use of Graywater in Urban Landscapes in California (ANR Publication 8536): http://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8536.pdf

289 In 2021 our Garden Sense consultants completed a record number of visits for a single year, providing information on low water use gardening and sustainable practices to 289 Sonoma County home gardeners. Undaunted by the pandemic, the team switched gears from in-person to zoom visits to continue to meet the community’s needs during this exceptional drought.

Garden Sense awarded the Irrigation Association 2020 Outstanding Public Engagement Award

This is a photo of a water efficient landscape that was transformed from a grass lawn. Photo by Leslie Hart

The UC Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County (MGSC) Garden Sense program via its sponsoring organization, Sonoma Water, was named the recipient of the Smart Water Application Technologies (SWAT) Outstanding Public Engagement Award.
This award recognizes a water provider that has a successful program of education and public engagement on efficient irrigation technologies and practices.

Do Your Part – Be Water Smart!

Did you know . . . .

that a low water-use garden in Sonoma County uses, on average, a third of the water that a lawn requires?

A 1,000 square foot water-wise garden uses only 5,000 to 10,000 gallons of water per year, while a same-size lawn uses more than 22,000 gallons per year.

Before lawn removal

After lawn removal

Garden Sense is a cooperative program between the
UC Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County and Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership