August is a good month to review ways to conserve water in the Seattle landscape. Despite our reputation for rain, summers in Seattle can be extremely dry. During summer months, the city of Seattle (and others in growing populations) tiers its water rates, which means the more you use, the more it costs. So there’s incentive to save money by saving water. Here are some ways to conserve water in your landscape:

Evergreen huckleberry. Photo by Ecoyards.

Pick drought-tolerant or low-maintenance plants. Rosemary, oregano, lavender, sage and other herbs are some obvious choices, but they’re certainly not the only ones. Consider beautiful woody shrubs such as viburnum or the strawberry tree, which has glossy green foliage, white flowers and red berries; flowering perennials such as astilbe and penstemon; or edible fruiting plants like the native evergreen huckleberry. Take a tour of the Waterwise Garden at the Bellevue Botanical Garden to check out more ideas. You’ll be amazed at how lush and beautiful a garden can be while still conserving water and reducing the need for fertilizers and chemicals. Now is a good time to start thinking about what you might want to plant in the fall.

Install an efficient sprinkler system. We’ve written before about how a smart sprinkler system can save you time and money. It can prevent sprinkler overspray and other water problems, such watering too much or too little. Ecoyards has been working with customers get water rebates from the city of Seattle by installing smart, water-saving sprinkler systems. Read more about how we helped one customer get $480 in irrigation rebates earlier this year. If you’re not ready for a sprinkler system, or you have a much smaller area that needs watering, consider a drip irrigation system. A drip system saves water because by slowly applying it directly to a plant roots. If you do water by traditional garden hose, try to do so early in the morning or later in the evening to avoid water evaporation. The city of Seattle has a lot of great resources to help you save water.

Sprinkler over-spray; photo by jellaluna via Creative Commons license

Ever walk by a sprinkler system where everything but the plants are getting irrigated? The sprinkler unintentionally sprays water all over the sidewalk, pavement or building, rather than directing the water to the base of the plants. That’s over-spray, and there are many ways to fix it if you have a sprinkler system.

The first thing to do is to make sure the sprinkler nozzles are clean, properly aligned, and pointed in the right direction. Sprinklers can become misaligned over time as parts vibrate during operation, or get bumped by mowers and foot traffic.

Sometimes, over-spray is just a result of an improperly designed system. Sprinkler heads may be positioned in poor locations or incorrect sprinkler nozzles may be installed.  Variable arc nozzles are available for those spaces with unusual angles of sprinkler coverage, but care must be taken to match the precipitation rates with other sprinklers on the zone to ensure proper distribution uniformity.  Some sprinklers may need to be relocated, or, in some cases, simply removed and capped.

Converting shrub and planting beds to drip irrigation will eliminate over-spray in those areas because it delivers water directly to a plant’s root zone.  Drip irrigation is efficient and will help you save water, and ultimately lower your water bills. In fact, it’s so efficient that many cities that put restrictions on home watering use during droughts often exempt drip irrigation. You’re able to water the plant’s roots, rather than spraying its leaves, foliage and branches, and you’re also able to water the plants more deeply because the drip system releases water more slowly than a sprinkler or spray.

If you have an existing sprinkler system that needs a tune up or you want to convert sprinkler zones to drip, contact us at Ecoyards.

At Ecoyards, we pride ourselves on our professionalism, knowledge, and high standards in the landscape industry. This year, owner Andy took the extra step to become a Landscape Industry Certified Manager through the National Association of Landscape Professionals. On Sept. 21, the National Association of Landscape Professionals announced that Andy has successfully earned his certification. He is now a nationally-certified landscape manager in Seattle. the National Association of Landscape Professionals is an international association serving lawn care professionals, maintenance contractors, installation/design/build professionals, and interiorscapers.

To get his certification, Andy underwent an exhaustive written examination that tested his knowledge, skills and theory in all aspects of working in the landscape industry. He had to demonstrate mastery of seven topics covering leadership and corporate citizenship; production operations/horticulture; sales and marketing; strategic planning; human resources; risk, law, and contracts; and corporate financial management. The program requires that he maintains certification through mandatory continuing education.

For our customers, it means you can expect the same high quality and professionalism that you’ve come to expect from Ecoyards. Andy’s certification, however, means he’s taken the extra step to validate his skills and knowledge in the industry.

For more information, visit landscapeprofessionals.org. 

If you have a sprinkler system installed on a hilly or sloped area of your property, chances are you may have a system that leaks water at the sprinkler heads for a short time after the system is turned off. This is something called low head drainage. With ups and downs in the sprinkler system, water tends to find the lowest points in the pipes when the system is off. Water then drains out of the lowest sprinkler heads and spills out onto walkways and sidewalks or collects in a puddle. That’s all wasted water; it could add up to a lot of wasted water. The slope doesn’t even have to be that extreme for this to happen; even a change in elevation of about a foot or less can cause this problem.  The other problem with low head drainage is that it pulls air into the lines, which results in noisy, spitting sprinklers each time they start.

The Ecoyards crew often sees a lot of low head drainage issues in Seattle landscapes, which tend to be hilly or sloped. When clients approach us with this problem, we install a simple device called an anti-drain valve, or check valve, at the sprinkler head. These valves prevent the water from draining out of pipes through the lowest sprinklers. On new sprinkler system installations, we use sprinkler heads with built in check valve to prevent this problem. The devices close and holds the water in the pipes when the sprinkler system is off.

Contact us for help dealing with the problem of low head drainage.

Even though it rains a lot in Seattle during the fall, winter and spring months, the summer months can be dry, dry, dry. So saving water is an important goal for homeowners in the region. Water conservation during the summer and early fall months can not only help homeowners save money on their water bills, but also ensure there’s an adequate water supply for salmon, habitats and other wildlife — while also keeping your plants and lawn watered and healthy.

Conservation is so important that the city of Seattle and other local utilities will pay homeowners to save water. Yes, the city will give you money to save water! The Saving Water Partnership offers many rebates to homeowners inside and outside of the house, including rebates up to 50 percent of project costs for rain sensors, smart controllers, drip irrigation, sprinkler heads and more.

Weather sensor provides temperature and rainfall data to the controller for daily irrigation schedule adjustments.

Ecoyards recently helped a conservation-savvy client in North Seattle apply for and receive $480 in irrigation rebates from the Saving Water Partnership. We did that by designing and installing a smart irrigation system that reduces water use by more than 50 percent. The basic idea is to have an in-ground sprinkler system with sophisticated technology that knows not only when to shut off the sprinklers when it rains, but also when to restart it for precisely the right amount of time based on recent rainfall amounts, while factoring in everything from soil type, plant type, to the slope of your lawn to the amount of sun exposure different areas receive.

For our North Seattle project, we qualified for rebates by using drip irrigation on the landscape beds that slowly release water directly to plant roots; rotary spray nozzles on the lawn sprinklers that increase watering efficiency; check valves on heads with potential drainage problems; and a smart controller equipped with a weather sensor.

We installed a state-of-art smart controller system from Rainbird, which knows when to water only when the landscape requires it. The sprinkler system automatically turns on and off based on different factors: the plant and soil type, the climate for your specific zip code, the allowed watering days and times, the slope of the lawn, and sun exposure. There’s a weather sensor installed on-site that accurately tracks your local weather condition as it changes around-the-clock and adjusts your watering schedule accordingly. This prevents over watering and under watering.

Classifying soil type for each irrigation zone.

Once we were done installing the new smart irrigation system, Ecoyards helped our North Seattle client fill out the rebate application and coordinated with Seattle Public Utilities for an on-site inspection. Needless to say, the home-owner was pretty pleased. Ecoyards is excited to help you water smartly. Email Ecoyards for help installing a smart irrigation system.

When I was growing up, one of the chores my dad assigned us four kids was to keep the front and back lawn evenly watered and emerald green. My dad never installed an automatic sprinkler system, let alone put a timer on it. Why would he need to? He had four perfectly capable children whom he could assign to hand-water the lawn. I remember countless mornings when my siblings and I would take turns going out to water the lawn before the hottest hours of the day descended. We would methodically move the spray nozzle from section to section, making sure to moisten but not over-saturate the grass.

Thank goodness for advances in technology. My dad was trying to be efficient with his water use — i.e., watering in the morning so as not to lose too much to evaporation; avoiding excessive run-off by not watering too much — but smart irrigation technology has made the whole process so much easier. Much like smart technology that has allowed us to set and control the thermostats in our homes, smart irrigation technology allows us to set how often and how much we water our lawns or landscape beds.

Traditional timers allow you to set a sprinkler system to turn on and off when you want. Smart irrigation technology senses weather changes and adjusts the irrigation accordingly. If it rains, it stops watering. (How many times have you seen sprinkler systems running when it’s raining out? This would certainly put an end to that.) If it’s hotter or the soil is drier than usual, the controller will increase watering. The controllers do all the work, and they are a much more efficient and sophisticated way to reduce outdoor water use. Studies show that weather-based irrigation technology help reduce outdoor water use anywhere from 15 to 30 percent, depending on the type of controller and where it was used. One study involving Denver, Colo. and two locations in California found that average individual homes save between 7 and 25 percent in water. If you’re interested in reading more, the U.S. Bureau of Interior did a literature review of studies involving smart controllers.

Many cities such as Seattle offer rebates for households that install smart irrigation controllers. In Seattle, the rebates range from $50 to $500, depending on what you install and whether it is on a new or existing sprinkler system. A smart controller on a new sprinkler system can net you rebates of between $225 and $375. You have to submit your rebate application within 90 days of installation. Click here to read about an irrigation project we completed in North Seattle using the latest in smart irrigation technology, which qualified the homeowner for a $480 rebate from Seattle Public Utilities.

Rotating spray-head sprinkler nozzles are also a new innovation in irrigation technology (shown above in top photo). They apply water more slowly and evenly than conventional sprinkler nozzles. The nozzles shoot multi-trajectory, rotating streams that apply water more uniformly. The water that shoots out of these rotating nozzles is less likely to mists and more resistant to wind. Applying water slowly allows soil to absorb it without running off into the sidewalks and streets.

Check out this city of Seattle brochure for more information about how to water wisely while keeping your landscape healthy and beautiful.

Contact Ecoyards if you’d like to have a smart irrigation system installed on your property.

We’ve had an unusually fair amount of sun and hot weather this summer in the Pacific Northwest, and my vegetables have survived solely because they’ve been on a drip irrigation system. Drip irrigation systems are a must for the lazy gardener, which I clearly am. I set the automated timer and forget about it; the plants get watered in the early morning every few days like clockwork. It’s made a huge difference in how the vegetables in my garden have fared. The tomatoes and pumpkins (pictured to the right) that are in the part of the garden where I have established a drip system are doing great; the potatoes that aren’t on the drip system, however, are struggling this season because of my neglect.

A drip system applies water slowly and directly to a plant’s roots. It not only saves time, but reduces soil erosion, water use, fertilizer and pesticide runoff and water loss due to evaporation. It also decreases diseases such as powdery mildew.

I’m not going to lie and say setting up a system is easy breezy. It takes a fair amount of planning and design (and at least one or two trips back to the hardware store). But once you get it installed, you’ll find that you can’t live without it. Start with a small system if you’re unsure of how to proceed, or buy a ready-to-go kit (like this Raindrip kit sold at Lowe’s) that has all the components you’ll need. One brand, Rainbird, has a helpful Web site with instruction booklets to help you decide what parts you need, how much hose you need and so on. The folks at our TruValue Hardware in West Seattle were helpful with answering questions; so check with your local hardware store for advice.

The past week has brought gorgeous sunny weather — even surprisingly high temperatures — to the Puget Sound area. That’s been great for our vitamin D-deprived bodies, but our plants may be feeling the heat. This week has been the perfect time to tap into your 50-gallon rain barrel (hopefully you have at least one installed at your house) to use up the water that you’ve stored from the spring. (For where to buy in Seattle, go to the Seattle Public Utilities Web site; for King County information, check out this site).

Rain barrels allow you to catch rainwater off your roof during rainy days, and to store it to use during dry periods. Seattle relies on mountain snowmelt for its water supply, so water is precious during summer months (especially if we’ve had less snow than usual the previous winter). Water rates also jump in the summer months, so rain barrels can help you save money and conserve water.

We have two rain barrels that we bought from the city of Seattle and have set up in the backyard to water our non-edible plants. Should you use the rainwater from your roof on plants that you eat? We err on the safe side and use the water exclusively for our non-edible plants. We have plenty of other trees and shrubs to water, and our vegetables are already on an efficient drip-irrigation system.

Over the years, I’ve found that the easiest way to water plants, especially trees, is to buy a few cheap 5-gallon buckets, poke a hole near the bottom of each bucket and set them under the rain barrel to fill one at a time.  Once a bucket is full of water, I’ll set the bucket out near the base of a tree that needs water while another bucket is being filled under the rain barrel. Trees, shrubs and other plants like the slow, deep irrigation that trickels out from the small hole in the bucket. The slow-drip allows the water to seep into the soil more deeply rather than just running off the ground surface or evaporating.

Link to Industry News

From U.S. EPA Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program

The National Lawns and Environment Initiative began in 2002 with the goal of encouraging environmentally-responsible lawn and landscaping practices in residential landscape design and maintenance. The U.S. EPA is a member of the steering committee, along with USDA, the Center for Resource Management, the San Antonio Water System, the National Gardening Association, the University of Florida, Audubon International, Professional Landcare Network, and Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

In 2005 the Initiative produced the Environmental Guidelines for Responsible Lawn Care and Landscaping (28 pp, 428 K, about PDF). These practices include appropriate uses of pesticides, fertilizers, water, plants, and stewardship principles that will enhance the value and benefits of residential landscapes to homeowners, communities, and wildlife.

The Initiative’s mission is not only to develop consensus-based guidelines, but also to encourage the public to adopt them. It has supported demonstration projects in EPA’s Region 3 and the San Antonio Water System. These projects will measure their success in comparison to neighborhoods that do not undergo public education campaigns.

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