Water Wise Landscape Design
A water-wise landscape is one that is functional, attractive, and easily maintained in its natural surroundings. A water-wise landscape also helps to conserve water. If you live in Utah, you have undoubtedly heard that Utah is one of the driest states in the nation, second only to Nevada. This fact, along with our relatively high level of water consumption and our population growth, has brought water conservation to the forefront of those natural resource issues currently facing the state. In Utah, approximately 65% of our annual culinary water consumption is applied to landscapes. Our irrigated landscapes provide us with many benefits that include beautiful surroundings, natural cooling, and the cleansing of our environment. However, Utah landscapes are often over-irrigated and a great deal of water conservation may be achieved by keeping a few water-wise landscaping principles in mind as we design, install, and manage our landscapes.
Water-wise Landscaping Principle # 2: Soil Preparation
The most basic component of your landscape is the soil and many landscape problems can be avoided if an adequate amount of time is spent on properly preparing the soil before the landscape is installed. The types of plants that you are growing will have a bearing on the characteristics you require from a soil, but there are some general guidelines to follow.
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Most plants do well under a range of soil conditions, however many plants have an optimum pH range, salt tolerance level, and soil moisture requirement. In choosing plants for Utah, remember that most soils have an alkaline (high) pH and some have moderate to high salt levels.
The most basic component of your landscape is the soil and many landscape problems can be avoided if an adequate amount of time is spent on properly preparing the soil before the landscape is installed. The types of plants that you are growing will have a bearing on the characteristics you require from a soil, but there are some general guidelines to follow. Using plant species that are adapted to the soil will help minimize maintenance and water required. Two major concerns are adequate depth of topsoil and the quality of topsoil. A depth of 8-12″ is ideal and will solve many problems in the future.
Plant growth and ease of maintenance are improved immensely by high quality soils. Landscape soil quality can be improved by keeping it clean during construction, tillage to reduce compaction, and amending with fertilizers and organic matter. To amend soils correctly requires an understanding of the following characteristics.
