Hydro Literate Landscaping

The holy grail is a lush landscape that needs no maintenance or watering and feeds you as well. That won’t happen in the real world, because plants are alive and need care. But you can cut way back on imported water and still have an attractive and productive garden.

At the March 2014 San Francisco Flower and Garden Show, a “hydro literate landscape” designed by Nathan Beeck and Chris Lopez of Clearwater Designs offered ideas for creating a productive, ecologically responsible landscape that uses no city water.

The most obvious part of the system is eight tanks that collect roof runoff. Each tank holds 280 gallons. These tanks, Beeck said, are recycled shipping containers that cost around $125 each and are light enough when empty for one person to roll around. Each tank comes with an access port in the top and a shutoff valve near the bottom, both with 2-inch pipe fittings. 

Two tanks, stacked, fit comfortably under the eaves of a house. The patio in the show garden featured the tanks as pillars around a patio. When filled with water, the tanks collect heat during the day and radiate it back at night, Beeck said, which is an advantage on cool summer nights. You can spend more time on the patio without getting chilled, warmed by the gentle heat radiating from the tanks. 

Another way to set up the tanks is to stack two tanks under each rain gutter. A typical house has five rain gutters, so with ten tanks, you could store 2800 gallons of water, Beeck said. The wire grid that forms the structural exoskeleton of the tanks could be used as a trellis, he said, to grow vegetables.

Beneath the permeable pavers in the show garden was a 4500 gallon cistern. Rain falling on the patio, as well as overflow from the roof once the tanks are full, fills the cistern. A tank this size is expensive and requires more space, but it’s worth considering as part of a patio or landscape renovation.

Even in a year with scant rainfall, Beeck said, the tanks and cistern could reach capacity with about 3 days of normal rainfall collected from the roof of a 2000 square foot house. The eight tanks in the show garden, plus the cistern, can store 6740 gallons of water. This can go a long way toward watering a well-mulched, well-designed landscape of drought-tolerant and edible plants, depending on the size of the garden, but it probably won’t be enough to last until the rains resume. 

To supplement the stored water, Beeck waters his own seven fruit trees with a laundry-to-landscape system. Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) offers rebates for these easy-to-plumb systems. Greywater (sink and shower water) is another possibility to explore for watering trees and shrubs.

At Beeck’s house, a pond that’s used recreationally in the warmer months can be diverted to landscape watering from September to October, before the rains return. It holds 20 to 30 thousand gallons. With a biofilter, there’s no risk of harming plants with treated pool water.

The show garden also featured a dry streambed to channel rainwater and keep it onsite, and a rain garden to take advantage of winter rain.

copyright 2014 Tanya Kucak

Lawn Gone

Ready to rethink your lawn? Start planning now so that in the fall you'll be ready to start. Your options are “intoxicatingly plentiful,” according to the authors of the book Reimagining the California Lawn: Water-conserving Plants, Practices, and Designs (Cachuma Press, 2011). 

Carol Bornstein, David Fross, and Bart O’Brien detail the compelling reasons for replacing lawns and offer a variety of garden styles featuring low-growing plants. For each garden style, the authors show examples of landscapes and discuss maintenance considerations for some of the plant choices. They talk about the historical background of lawns and the alternatives and mention public gardens where you can see more variations of a given style. 

A short list of plants for each garden style is augmented by detailed plant profiles that fill over half of the book. The book is well-designed and written, easy to use, and authoritative, and at 154 pages, compact enough not to overwhelm readers.

Whether you want to do the work yourself or hire it out, you’ll want to consult this useful manual at every step, from reducing or removing existing turf to deciding between, say, blue grama and red fescue. You’ll be guided to analyze the uses and functions of existing lawn areas, and look closely at whether problem areas could be managed more intelligently by choosing different plants.

The plants highlighted in this book are better adapted to California’s mediterranean climate, so they require fewer resources and less work than traditional lawns. Many of these plants also attract birds and pollinators, creating a livelier and more interesting place to live. Gorgeous photos of plants in the landscape by John Evarts and others offer inspiration and a hint of the endless possibilities if you lose the lawn.

If you’re interested in California natives, you can narrow down your plant list by looking for the plant names printed in green ink. This book offers a nice selection of drought-tolerant plants from other parts of the world as well.

The simplest garden style is the greensward: a sweep of grasses or sedges that requires less water, infrequent or no mowing, and no fertilizers or pesticides. If you use natives, you can also increase the habitat value of your landscape. Greenswards can often accommodate foot traffic and serve as a play surface.

The joy of meadows, according to Fross, is that they are ever-changing. This is not a garden style for micromanagers. Adding annual and perennial wildflowers and bulbs to greenswards creates meadows. Though meadows are informal and naturalistic, they require a lot of attention to weeds in the first couple years.

Four other garden styles featured in the book are

* Rock gardens, which need plants that complement the rocks and don’t overwhelm them. 

* Succulent gardens, which take advantage of the colors and forms of the plants.

* Carpet and tapestry gardens, which use drifts of colorful plants or mounds of foliage. Some carpet plants, such as yarrow, can be planted between pavers and tolerate occasional foot traffic. 

* Kitchen gardens, which can be visually appealing year-round and provide significant yields of herbs, fruits, and vegetables.

The photos above show the range of California natives that can be used as groundcovers.
1. Woodland strawberry is ideal in dappled shade under deciduous trees. 

2. California fuchsia brightens tapestry, rock, and meadow gardens from summer to fall.
3. A carpet of Radiant manzanita cascades down a slope and over the edge.
4. Tufted hair grass is ideal for meadows or greenswards as well as rock gardens.

copyright 2011 Tanya Kucak

Mountain View Neighbors Discuss Waterwise Front Yards

Drought is the gardening theme for the year. 

In February 2014 I sat in on a meeting with Mountain View residents who are exploring waterwise gardening and thinking about taking out their lawns. Alan Whitaker was invited to share what he’d learned about waterwise and native plantings with his neighbors.

Whitaker has lived in and around the Bay Area all his life, and he has been gardening with natives since 2005. His sun-baked Monta Loma front yard is in its fourth incarnation. His grandmother introduced him to plants, and 20 years ago, his water-hungry plants were a reflection of his grandmother’s garden. To reduce water use, he transitioned to succulents, and then to Australian and South African plants, but he missed the birds and bees he’d had before. Finally, in 2005 he planted drought-tolerant natives. The fourth time was a charm. He has been “hooked on [natives] ever since.”

His front yard gets no water except winter rainfall, and is hand-watered this droughty season. Above, sage in the foreground and blue-flowering ceanothus in the background require little or no water once established. Various sages as well as California poppies, tansy-leaf phacelia, clarkias, hummingbird fuchsia, and several buckwheats promised flowers later in the year. At left, the lush foliage and red flowers of a native gooseberry hide the long, sharp spines that make it a great plant for wildlife cover, protecting them from predators. Below, golden currant and especially pink-flowering currant are show-stoppers in this drought-tolerant winter garden. The lovely fragrance from the resinous leaves permeates the garden.

The neighbor who called the meeting was motivated to look for do-it-yourself alternatives after getting  an estimate of almost $5000 to replace 250 square feet of lawn with natives. “You can spend $2000 on mistakes of your own and feel better about it than writing a check,” Whitaker said. 

He learned from experience -- by losing $600 worth of plants -- that natives don’t like soggy roots. To promote good drainage, raise the roots a foot or two using berms. If you mound the existing soil excavated from other projects, you don’t have to buy additional soil. Or you can use a sod cutter to dig up your lawn, flip the pieces of sod, and use them to create mounds.

Whitaker also suggested using urbanite to displace soil in berms or dry streambeds. Urbanite, a plentiful material available for free, is simply chunks of concrete from demolished sidewalks or driveways. It can also be used to make low walls. A dry streambed is often featured in drought-tolerant gardens for channeling rainwater where you want it. If you dig an extra-deep channel for the streambed, you can line it with urbanite and buy cobbles to top-dress it. The deeper channel can handle a larger volume of water, and using urbanite means you can spend less on purchased rock.

Rather than planting single plants, as he did, Whitaker said a more designed look results from choosing fewer varieties. Plant groups of 3, 5, or 7 plants of a single variety. 

Whitaker advised waiting until September or October before planting natives. It takes soaking rains over one to three rainy seasons, plus some supplemental water their first year or two, to help natives grow the roots that make them drought-tolerant.

This summer, he suggested, you can pay neighborhood kids to dig dry streambeds, make mounds, move earth, or sheet-mulch so you’ll be ready to plant in the fall.

For the rest of the yard, Whitaker said, “Know what your neighbors are doing on the other side of the fence.” Because his neighbors water a lot, he never has to water his fruit trees along the fence.

See the facebook page entitled Mountain View Water-wise Gardens, created by Erin Brownfield, for more ideas.

copyright 2014 Tanya Kucak

Edible Gardening in Drought Years

Grow what you will eat in quantities you will be able to use. 

This is one of the simplest and most overlooked gardening strategies! Because of water restrictions on California farmers, it's likely that produce prices will increase sharply this summer. It will be more cost-effective to grow your own, provided you plant the appropriate varieties and amounts so that your harvest does not go to waste. (And if you do have excess, find out which local food banks will take fresh food to give away.)

As long as you incorporate a bunch of water-management strategies, the drought need not affect your choice of annual crops. Since this is the beginning of the dry season, however, I wouldn't plant fruit trees, brambleberries, asparagus, or other perennial crops that won’t produce a crop this year. They will be better off planted next fall or winter, once the temperatures cool down and the rains (we hope) return. Planted now, they would need extra water to get established and would need extra care to make sure they survived occasional summer heat waves.

Some crops do not need much water once they set fruit, such as dry beans, winter squash, and tomatoes. One of my neighbors at the community garden does not water her heavily mulched tomatoes (3-4 inches of mulch) after July 1. Restricting water improves the flavor of tomatoes. The flavor literally becomes washed out if you water them too much. When I've used less than an inch of mulch, I've generally watered tomatoes every 5-6 days.

Crops that do need regular water are worth growing as well. It takes less water to grow most backyard crops than it takes to grow the same crops on a farm and bring them to market, so growing your own is a valid water-saving strategy. I like to eat cucumbers and snap beans every day in season, and it doesn't take much space to grow enough of them.

Herbs are easy to grow and nice to have on hand. You generally need a small amount at a time, so growing them enables you to take only what you need and accent your food regularly with fresh herbs. Many of them do better when kept on the dry side -- not including basil and cilantro, which like water.

If there is one general rule for drought gardening, it is mulch mulch mulch. This has always been important in our summer-dry climate and is especially important this year. Mulch helps keep the soil alive, reduces evaporative losses, and cuts down on the amount and frequency of watering needed. I’ve used tree trimmings (usually aged in my paths a few months before applying to my veg garden), straw, and garden clippings (chop and drop) as mulch.

A close second general rule of drought gardening is adding compost, which increases the water-holding capacity of soil. I add it under the mulch or lightly raked in, rather than digging it in. I let the worms work it into the soil.

Don’t till. Preserving the soil structure in an established garden is an important way to optimize its water-holding capacity. I also use a humic-acid product to help build soil structure.

Don't overfertilize. Excess fertilizer stimulates new growth, which attracts pests and increases the need for water. Use low-number organic fertilizers or compost. In much of Santa Clara County, the wonderful clay soil needs only some nitrogen for good production. I add alfalfa pellets (from a pet store) in the bottom of the hole when I plant tomatoes, I make the occasional bucket of fermented comfrey tea to feed my plants, and that's it. 

Water the surface, near the roots, rather than using sprays. I occasionally wash down the leaves, but when I'm hand-watering, I direct the water at the base of the plants. I use a water breaker, which delivers a gentle rain of water and does not disrupt the soil or damage seedlings. Watering only the root zone also cuts down on waterborne diseases, which commonly plague squash, cucumber, and tomato leaves.

Another alternative is drip irrigation (checked regularly for the inevitable leaks, clogs, and timer malfunctions!) or soaker hoses, which can be installed under a layer of mulch to further cut down on evaporative losses. Observe your drip or spray system in action to make sure runoff is not occurring. If it is, reduce the watering time, cycle it on and off so the water can be absorbed, or reduce the flow rate.

Watering early or late in the day also reduces evaporative losses.

I like to reserve outdoor watering primarily for edibles. if your ornamental plantings are not drought tolerant, consider whether you want to spend part of your water budget on them, or let them fend for themselves. Ornamentals also benefit from lots of mulch -- up to 4 inches within the drip line of existing shrubs and trees and 6-12 inches or more in unplanted areas. Hold off on replacing ornamentals or even planting drought-tolerant natives until the next rainy season. Every new planting will need to be coddled through the summer, and it makes more sense to spend time and a limited water budget on plants that offer a return.

If you’re starting a new vegetable garden, consider planting at ground level this year rather than building raised beds. The soil in raised beds will be a little warmer earlier in the season, but it will dry out faster than soil at ground level. In arid climates, sunken beds are used to retain as much moisture as possible. 

Containers are a good choice if you don’t have a garden plot, but they will require regular monitoring and will use more water than plants in the ground. If you must use containers, consider a double-wall system (a smaller pot inside a larger one), a system such as the Earth Box or a do-it-yourself equivalent, or a structure where the containers wick water from below. One system features a row of containers sitting on a covered rain gutter, with a valve that fills the gutter when water falls below a certain level. And mulch them!

Other strategies include putting a bucket in the shower to collect water, or installing a greywater system to water ornamental plants and fruit trees (not edible crops).

copyright 2014 Tanya Kucak

Low-Cost and No-Cost Tips

Think about where you want to spend your water budget this year. In the garden, natives, edibles, and herbs offer the best return on investment.

Edibles are always a good investment, especially this year when farmers will be growing less, letting fields lie fallow because water is not available. it's likely produce prices will increase sharply this summer, and it will be more cost-effective to grow your own, provided you plant the appropriate varieties and amounts so that your harvest does not go to waste. With a productive garden, you won’t skimp on eating the 5 to 9 daily servings of fruits and vegetables needed for optimal health. 

For container gardening, an EarthBox or a do-it-yourself equivalent is a great way to save water and have a productive crop. As long as you keep the water reservoir filled in such containers, the roots can wick water as needed, and the soil stays uniformly moist.

A drought-tolerant garden is another good investment. Depending on the weather, an established native garden will need no water or infrequent deep watering. Native perennials, shrubs, and trees that were planted in the past year or two often need some water every few weeks to grow the deep roots that make them drought tolerant. The relatively small amount of water they get this summer will pay off for many years. 

Drought-tolerant shrubby groundcovers such as ceanothus (at left), a California native, need little or no summer water once established. 

Trees and shrubs can take up to 4 inches of mulch, and unplanted areas can handle a lot more.

Always pull the mulch a few inches away from stems and trunks so they won’t rot. 

Here are some low-cost and no-cost approaches to having a garden and saving water.

The first step is to stop wasting water. The EPA’s Fix a Leak Week web page (http://tinyurl.com/6pubdq7) offers statistics on the amount of water wasted, as well as helpful guidance for finding and fixing leaks. If you use sprinklers or drip irrigation, be sure to check regularly for leaks or malfunctioning heads.

Runoff is another obvious waste of water. Whether you water by hand, with sprinklers, or with a drip system, all the water should be getting absorbed into the soil. If it’s not, water slower and longer. Cycle an automatic system on and off, with fewer minutes per cycle, until runoff is eliminated. For manual watering, use a good water breaker (Dramm is the best) with a gentle flow.

Don’t water too high, as shown at right, which loses water to evaporation. Instead, direct the flow of water downward and water near the roots of plants.

Protect tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers from waterborne diseases by keeping the leaves dry.

Reduce losses from evaporation by watering early or late in the day, and adding mulch. You can get a free truckload of mulch from tree trimmers. Add 3-4 inches of mulch to established trees and shrubs. If weeds are a problem, lay down a couple layers of cardboard or newspaper (3-5 sheets thick) first. Adding mulch keeps your soil alive and your plants healthy. The only exception is plants native to dry rocky hillsides, which may do better with a thin layer of mineral mulch.

At one community garden, a fellow gardener doesn't water her tomatoes after July 4. Well-mulched tomatoes, winter squash, and dry beans don’t need water once they’ve set fruit, even in our summer-dry climate.  The tomatoes don’t get as large, but the flavor is intensified.

With minimal mulch, watering is needed at most every 5 days. Grow your own and experiment with interesting varieties! Mediterranean herbs such as oregano and thyme are drought tolerant, and herbs in general are easy to grow and a delight to have on hand when all you need is a snippet.

If you grow more than you can use (or even if you don't), give some to food banks, which expecially appreciate donations of fresh fruits and vegetables. For smaller amounts, try the South Palo Alto Food Closet behind Covenant Presbyterian Church (near E. Meadow & Middlefield, 10-2 MWF). If you have more than 4 flats, try St. Anthony Padua Dining Room at 3500 Middlefield Rd., Menlo Park (8-2 daily except Sun.).

Adding compost to your vegetable beds (or your lawn!) will increase the water-holding capacity of the soil. For a lawn, sift the compost to remove larger chunks, then add about 1/4 inch at a time, enough to partially cover the grass but not enough to smother it. Usually the compost disappears within a week. Vegetable beds can take a couple inches of compost, either incorporated into the soil before planting or as a top dressing before mulch is added.

Residents of Los Altos, Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Sunnyvale can get free compost from the Sunnyvale SMaRT Station (301 Carl Road); call ahead for availability and details. Horse stables such as Portola Pastures (1600 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto) offer as much free composted horse manure as you want.

copyright 2014 Tanya Kucak