Monthly Archives: August 2015

Water Saving Tips for Orange County Landscapes

5 Water-Wise Tips for Orange County Landscapes –

Synthetic Turf for Orange County landscapes

Orange County landscapes

 

Did you know that 60% of the water used by the average home in Orange County is for landscapes? We will give you 5 Water-Wise tips for Orange County landscapes.  By hiring the right landscape company, you can save thousands of gallons of water a year, which means more money in your wallet!

Tip 1

Just by irrigating at night or early in the morning, you can save up to 5100 gallons of water per 1000 square feet of landscape per year! This number is based on irrigating twice a week in Orange County landscapes. Water evaporates at a much higher rate during the day than it does in the evening, sometimes as high as 50% higher!

Tip 2

The most efficient way to irrigate is by drip irrigation! You have no over-spray onto sidewalks or streets with drip irrigation. The average sprinkler head uses 2 gallons per minute, so if you have 10 sprinklers per valve, you are using approximately 20 gallons per minute. If 3 of those sprinklers are over -spraying the sidewalk, you’re wasting 6 gallons every minute! If that sprinkler system is running 2 times a week for 10 minutes, you’re wasting 120 gallons a week. Drip lines go right to the base of the plant. Drip lines can be used on grass too. Recent studies show that a drip line under a lawn for 10 years had 95% of its emitters still working. An efficient drip line installed in Orange County landscapes can save thousands of gallons a year.

drip line for Orange County landscapes

Orange County landscapes

Tip 3

Install drought tolerant plants in Orange County landscapes! The important part of this advice is “drought tolerant”, it doesn’t mean cactus or native scrub brush. There are plenty of plants that can survive on a small drink of water a couple of times a week or even less than that in Orange County landscapes. FREE Tip – After installing these plants, mulch your planter down. We install an average of 3” inches of mulch on landscape planters. It doesn’t matter if you have new plants or an old landscape, mulching holds moisture into the soil and it helps controls the weeds in.

Tip 4

Eliminate grass when possible! Green grass does add great value to a water-wise landscape. We’re just saying you don’t need a football field in your yard. A professionally designed landscape can provide some small areas of grass in a balanced landscape. Even small areas of Synthetic turf will provide a green drop for your landscape. Synthetic turf will save water all year round in Orange County landscapes.

Hardscape for Orange County landscapes

Orange County landscapes

Tip 5

Add hardscape! We know the first thing you think of is a concrete jungle. Once again, with the proper design, an elegant Flagstone patio surrounded by drought tolerant plants will set your landscape apart from all of the others. A very popular trend right now is installing concrete, pavers or Flagstone with spaces of dirt surrounding them. This helps break up the hardscape and allows the water a way to run back into the dirt. Contact your local water departments for rebate information.

TRU Landscape services is a landscape company located in Orange County. We have been in business for over 25 years. We like to say “if it’s outside, we do it” If your looking to save water, Please call our office 1-866-487-1359