Saturday, December 18, 2010

7 WAYS TO USE WATER WISELY OUTDOORS

Here are 7 tips to help inspire you to conserve water outdoors in your landscape.

1) Use Drip Irrigation - delivers water right to the soil surface and the root zone which is much more efficient than spray heads.

2) Add Soil Moisture Sensors - probing the soil with either a manual rain sensor or one connected to a controller will allow you to adjust your irrigation settings for each zone you are testing.

3) Rain Sensors - when used with a Smart Controller they can overide the default settings in order to save water based on rainfall or regional weather data.

4) Smart Controllers have a computer that you can program making a regular controller a "smart" controller, helping reduce water usage and efficiency in delivery so that you don't have to keep turning the controller on or off yourself.

5) High Efficiency Nozzles - spray heads can be efficient for shrubs and lawn areas by using low precipitation rate nozzles.Irrigation manufacturers are really up to speed with water conserving technology these days.

6) Permeable Pavers - Hard surfaces displace the area where rainwater could otherwise percolate into the soil. By using pavers that are made to capture water, you can either direct it back into the soil or into a RainXchange underground storage system where the water can then be pumped to use as you wish.

7) Capture and Collect Rainwater - use rain barrels or larger storage tanks so you can utilize the captured water during periods between rains. Raingardens and Bioswales use the natural runoff from a site to irrigate the plants.


John Stuart Leslie

Monday, December 13, 2010

Rainwater Harvesting - Is it Worth It?

The correct terminology is actually Rainwater Catchment Systems, i.e. rain barrels and storage tanks.

A new home without any landscape (a clean slate to work with) allows for all of the sustainably progressive principles to be implemented without the need to retrofit and is usually the more feasible option. The only limitations are the site characteristics and the budget of the homeowner depending on the level of systems designed into the landscape.

Anyone with a roof without rain gutters and downspouts will soon find out their problem areas and where the water tends to accumulate on the ground due to inadequate surface grading and drainage. That water may or may not fall in a desirable location. It may have to be drained away either on surface drainage or underground lines. In order to capture that rainfall for reuse, however, downspouts and gutters are a must.

Having no gutters or downspouts however allows the homeowner or landscape designer to design a rainwater catch system and integrate the location of the downspouts with the storage devices whether they are rain barrels or larger cisterns or storage tanks.

The irrigation system for the planting areas can be designed around the use of rainwater. If an automatic irrigation system is used, the pressure being delivered to the valves must be of sufficient pressure to allow the valves to function. Conversely, a low flow drip system set up based on gravity flow can work for certain areas of the yard where the elevation distances are adequate.

Most homeowners who start out rainwater harvesting using a barrel or several soon realize they are actually losing out on capturing a large amount of water. A typical 55 gallon barrel can fill up in only one hour with a 1/8” of rain on 1000 square feet of roof area.

A more aesthetically designed rainbarrel an be found
Not only does it fill up quickly thus losing out on the rest of the potential water, but you will soon use up the water in the barrel far in advance of the periods of no rain when having saved water for use during the dry periods is really the whole point in storing water. Water catchment systems should not be looked at so much as water harvesting systems, but as water catchment storage systems. It’s like when a squirrel saves nuts for the winter hibernation.

With a larger storage capacity a more sophisticated system is required, one with booster pumps that can be used to pump water for use in the automatic irrigation system as well as for hoses to wash cars, or other garden hose activity requiring a certain amount of pressure to function.

The low tech benefits of capturing rainwater include a passive gravity fed drip system for a specific garden area, containers or other plant irrigation needs that is downhill from the barrel. You can also tap the spigot and fill up a watering can and water houseplants with the rain water. But you must ask yourself, if I am using this water now, will I have any during the periods between rains?

This is the point where serious rainwater catchment systems replace the novel rain barrel. One quickly realizes that the point is to not just capture the water, but to store it for the dry periods between rain.

The question of feasibility is both a factor of your site suitability and economics. Here are some site suitability factors:

  • Adequate roof catchment (sufficient area and fitted with gutters and downspouts)
  • Suitability of area at base of downspouts to accommodate the plumbing necessary to channel the water into barrels or a storage device
  • Number of suitable downspouts relative to required storage desires.
  • Aesthetics of plumbing, tanks and trenching needs

The cost of implementing a system that is designed to pump water out to a garden, an accessory garden hose or other high pressure use can significantly add to the cost of an otherwise passive gravity flow system. Most serious rainwater storage systems pump the water to where it is designed to be used, otherwise, you must rely on gravity flow alone and the use must therefore be down hill from the output elevation of the storage tanks.

You may compare the cost of a rainwater catchment system vs. the cost savings of paying for the water and realize that water is so cheap that you will never break even. In this case, the economics is not important, rather, its the lifestyle and ecological stewardship values that drive your decisions.

The flip side of the cost savings is not letting all of that water go to waste, capturing it and using it wisely while at the same time, curtailing your need for municipal water supplies.
John Stuart Leslie

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Curb Appeal is Your Home's First Impression

Curb appeal has a dramatic impact on the way a home appears to everyone who sees it from the vantage point of the street. If you are selling your home, from a real estate valuation perspective, curb appeal must be geared towards the prospective buyers.

In a buyer's market, curb appeal is even more crucial since there are many other homes on the market competing for attention. It makes sense to invest in making certain improvements so these prospective buyers don't keep driving by when they pull up in front and are disappointed.

Just as the inside of the home is 'staged', the landscape can also be staged. The underlying premise is to not only appeal to buyer's emotions, but deal with practical aspects as well.

Here are some tips :

1) Remove overgrown vegetation that blocks a clear view of the home, the front door or otherwise takes away from an open, welcoming feel as seen from the street

2) Remove all the clutter by taking out shrubs and trees that do nothing to enhance the property

3) Clean up, prune trees and shrubs and remove any dead growth

4) Enhance the front door and/or path leading to the main entrance by adding color or walkways


5) Fix or repair any obvious flaws that take away from the appearance of being well maintained

6) If there is a lawn, make sure its as nice as you can get it by dealing with brown spots and fertilizing it to make it lush and green weeks before you put the home on the market

Once you get your prospective buyers out of the car and into the home, you don't want to disappoint them by neglecting the backyard. Be consistent with fixing problem areas, pruning overgrown shrubs and covering the ground with either gravel or new sod so it appears finished yet allows the buyers to visualize living there or perhaps customizing things to their liking.

Think of the outside landscape as just another space that needs to be 'staged'. Put all personal items such as kids toys, rusty bbqs and tools behind closed doors. Remove all yard art that the buyer may not find so amusing as you do.

Stand out on the curb and imagine you are looking at the home for the first time just as a prospective buyer would. This is the home's first impression. What do you feel? Would you enter the landscape into a "best on the block" contest? Does the landscape enhance the appearance of the home? Does the landscape have an overall 'neglected' feel to it as if the current owners didn't really value having nice landscaping?

Most all sellers who are in the position of dealing with their front landscape curb appeal invariably say they don't want to spend a lot of money. I deal with this all the time and the solution is not necessarily the cost, but the value of what is actually done to the property. Often, the simplest things can make a big difference.


Someone who sees the problem areas from a designer's perspective and who has knowledge of plant materials, curb appeal principles and real estate awareness is the key to providing the best solutions to making your home a property with great curb appeal.

Curb appeal is an emotional response that is difficult to measure. One thing is for sure though. Properties that we have created curb appeal or otherwise enhanced, have sold more quickly than others according to feedback I have received from the listing agents.

Nativescapes - The Ulimate Green Landscape

A type of landscape design that uses mostly native plants is often called 'Nativescaping'. It is actually a more descriptive name in lieu of Xeriscape, which to many people, means nothing.

What is a Native Plant? A native plant (also referred to as indigenous) is a plant that has evolved over many thousands of years in a particular bio-region. Throughout their evolution within a particular area, there have been challenges placed upon the survival of the plant, mainly influences of soil, hydrology, temperature extremes and degree of sunlight.  Native plants make up a part of their bio region in which they share the climatic factors with other plant species to form a plant community. A community of native plant species differentiate the habitats that animals and other creatures inhabit. 

What is a Non-Native Plant? Non-native plants (also called non-indigenous plants) are plants that have been brought into an area in which they did not evolve. Introduction of non-native plants into our landscape has been both accidental and intentional. For example, Purple loosestrife, was introduced from Europe 200 hundred years ago as a medicinal herb and ornamental plant. It quickly spread and can now be found in 42 states.

Just like an exotic animal being brought into a non-native habitat, a plant can become overly aggressive and out compete other native species because it often has no competition or predators to control it. Such plant species in our natural ecosystems can be a real problem. But in our own gardens and landscapes, we tend to have virtually all non-natives comprising our plant palettes. That's the fun of gardening - that you are not limited to native species.

However, because they are not native, such plants require much more intense care, water and energy. A green approach to landscape makes use of native because of the lower water requirements, energy expenditure and the like.

Here are some reasons why native plants can be a benefit:
 
  • Native plants do not need fertilizers.   
  • Native plants require fewer pesticides.   
  • Native plants require less water.   
  • Native plants help reduce air pollution.   
  • Native plants provide habitat and food for wildlife.   
  • Native plants respect the natural biodiversity or our lands.   
  • Native plants save money.  

So now, it should seem a no-brainer to have at least a part of your yard or garden full of native plants. The best way to have native plants is to not remove them in the first place! If possible, don't look at your native vegetation as an overgrowth of weeds and scrub. Natives can be pruned effectively to integrate with your introduced non-native species for a garden that is sensitive to the needs of people.