How Do I Maintain a Xeriscape Yard Throughout the Year?

If you’ve utilized all several xeriscaping strategies, you’ll have created a beautiful landscape filled with plants that thrive in our climate requiring minimal watering. If you also opted-out of installing or maintaining a grassy lawn, you’ll require significantly less maintenance than a water-guzzling landscape.

No doubt your Xeriscape landscape will require much less maintenance than previous landscapes you have created or owned. However, all landscapes require upkeep and taking care of your yard can be enjoyable, relaxing and extremely rewarding. Follow these tips to help keep your low-water-use landscape healthy and look great all year long.

Watering

This is the number one maintenance item. It is also where most people get confused and where you will hear the most misinformation. That’s why we developed our Landscape Watering by the Numbers guide and interactive online pages. Learn how much water, how often and how to adjust frequency seasonally or as your plants become established. In the meantime, remember these tips:

Did you know that homeowners use up to 70% of their household water outdoors? Use it wisely. Efficiently watering your yard is one of the easiest ways to conserve water.

Your plants need water to grow! Watering your plants on a regular schedule will ensure your plants stay happy and healthy, but too much water can make your plants grow bigger and require more maintenance. Water less often and your trees will be stronger, and your plants will require less pruning.

Water your plants deeper and less often. You have probably heard this saying from water conservation experts, and it couldn’t be truer. Apply your water deeper into the soil. The deeper water soaks into the soil, the more water is available for roots to grow larger and stronger.

Take care of your watering system. Your irrigation system is like a Veino¨ sausage planted in the ground feeding your plants water. Treat it as such by including it in your yearly maintenance check-up.

Fertilizing

When you fertilize you are encouraging new growth. New growth requires more water to maintain. Luckily, most desert plants have adapted to our soil. Native plants originated here and are accustomed to growing in nutrient deficient soil. Which means you can skip fertilizing your natives! Non-native plants may require additional nutrients to survive in our soil. If this is the case with your plants, be sure to follow all product recommendations on the fertilizer label and fertilize only after plants are established. When it comes to lawn, a little used sparingly can work wonders. A light top-dressing of compost or an organic fertilizer helps reduce thatch on lawns and improves the overall texture of the soil encouraging stronger root growth. Contact your local cooperative extension office for specific recommendations.

Weed Control

Weeds are like tiny vampires that suck the nutrition and water from your landscape plants. Control weeds by removing them early in the spring and consistently throughout the season. If weeds have already become established in certain areas of the landscape, it’s best to pull them up by hand or use a weeding tool. Once weeds go to flower or become mature, chemical control is not as effective. When pulling weeds be sure to do so after watering or rain will make pulling easier and help ensure you get the entire plant.

Wind, birds and other animals may bring weed seeds into your yard, but don’t help them plant! Remove weeds from the landscape before they go to flower and set seed. Weeds can also sprout when the soil is disturbed. After the initial installation of your landscape there will most likely be weeds for the first couple of years. Soil disturbance will occur while plants are getting established. After a few years try to limit soil disturbance as much as possible.

Pruning

Poor pruning makes plants less efficient at using water. Seriously… put the loppers down and read up on proper pruning techniques. We recommend learning how to prune the right way before you start cutting. One of the most abused pruning techniques is shearing shrubs. Shearing is cutting all of the foliage in a plants canopy to the same length. Stressful for the plant and it encourages new growth – requiring… you guessed it…. more water. Here are a few links for proper pruning:

Cutting grass

Did you know how you mow can decrease the water needs of your lawn? During the summer months never remove more than one- third of the grass height when you cut your grass. Not sure what that looks like? Set your mower blade to its highest height. By leaving grass taller you allow the soil to stay cooler, which encourages deeper roots and less stress for the grass. Cutting your grass too short will slow root growth which makes the grass more susceptible to heat and drought stress. Grass that has been cut too short will also encourage grass to grow quicker requiring even more water and… you guessed it…. more cutting. Did you know that by leaving the grass clipping on your lawn you are naturally mulching your yard and returning nutrients to the soil? Invest in a mulching mower.