March 29, 2005 Weekly Water Saving Tip

As the days grow longer, it is certainly time to be active in the garden. With daylight savings starting Sunday we will even get an extra hour of daylight in the evening.

The irrigation right now is on a as needed basis. We have received some rain, but it may not be enough moisture for your area to replace an irrigation. So, make sure to check your moisture level before turning on the irrigation.

As your plants begin to grow and the seeds that you have planted start to emerge, it is time to look to putting mulch around them. This will help to moderate the temperature and conserve their soon to be increasing need for water. Mulches of composted material is best. Do not use lawn clippings. They have a tendency to settle and will actually stop water movement into the soil. They also start to mold and will many times serve as a source of disease for your garden. An ideal mulch is one that is not to small in size but that has a mixture of all sizes from the fairly larger size down to the very small. This mulch will not move with the wind or water like the mulches that have been screened to the more uniform small size. The varied sized mulch will also take longer to break down and will have a much greater effect on the changing of a poor soil to one that is desirable.

The soil temperature is at about 60 degrees F. This is an ideal temperature for the roots to start growing, the shoots have been growing for some time so be sure to hold off on the fertilizer if you haven’t fertilized yet. Wait another month to fertilize you lawn so that you don’t get that flush of growth accompanied with an early spring fertilization of nitrogen. This flush of growth gets energy from the roots, they will never regain this loss until next fall when the air temperatures are moderate again.

The Weekly Water Saving is provided to Washington County Water Conservancy District by Dr. Frank Williams of the BYU Horticulture Department. For more information, call Julie Breckenridge at 673-3617.