Around here, every year at this time, municipalities begin to implement their summer watering restrictions. You may have heard of them: people with odd-numbered addresses can water on one day, those with even-numbered addresses on another. In my town, we even restrict watering after 9 pm. As if you could see well enough in the dark to water!
Watering Restrictions
As a responsible person, I would normally encourage people to follow these rules. But in this case, that’s not possible. Because these laws are ridiculous! Someone explain to me how I save water by watering on Mondays instead of Tuesdays. If I use the same amount of water, it makes absolutely no difference. On the other hand, I find it frightening how people waste water on their properties. Some yards are watered so much, even though they comply with the regulations, that it’s hard to believe their house isn’t floating!
Personally, I admit to cheating. I water whenever I feel like it, whatever the day. So I’m an outlaw, and proud of it. And I don’t feel irresponsible. On the contrary, I find that I save far more water by being lazy than by following the rules.
How I Save Water in the Garden
First of all, I never water my lawn, except for newly reseeded sections. Why should I? Grass, once well established, is perfectly capable of withstanding drought. Sure, it turns gray-green in dry spells, even beige if the drought lasts a long time. But as soon as the rains return, it becomes as green as… a golf green. As for the lawn, I rely entirely on Mother Nature. I know it will turn green in a few days or, at most, a few weeks. So far, my municipality and I are in perfect agreement: there’s no danger of the watering police coming to arrest me.
I’m also a good citizen, because I don’t have a swimming pool. Did you know that filling pools and watering lawns monopolizes over 90% of the water used outdoors? Already, I’m saving enough water to hope that the watering police feel guilty about arresting me.
Watering Edible Plants
I do, however, water my vegetable garden abundantly, without the slightest hindrance. And the law agrees with me: since these plants are intended to feed people, municipalities don’t restrict this type of watering. After all, imagine the repercussions if some poor vegetarian family were reduced to begging for carrots in the street because the wicked city wouldn’t let them water their garden! Even then, I’m a good citizen: I mulch my vegetables abundantly, which reduces evaporation and soil temperature, and therefore the garden’s watering needs. Unlike lawns, vegetables can’t tolerate a lack of water. Even minor stress caused by occasional water shortages reduces the quantity and quality of the harvest.
Where I really cheat, however, is in the flowerbed. At least, in some parts of the bed. I don’t bother watering established shrubs and perennials, no matter how hot and dry it is, because these plants simply don’t need it. Their long roots seek water deep down.
Granted, their growth and flowering may slow down in hot weather, but there’s no long-term damage and I’m far too lazy to water just for the sake of it.
Watering the Flowerbed: My Cheat Sheet
Instead, it’s along the side of the house, under the eaves, where not a single drop of rainwater reaches the ground, that I cheat. I’ve installed soaker hoses (a kind of garden hose made from recycled tires and pierced with tiny holes through which water can seep). I turn them on whenever I want, any day of the week, at any time. A real criminal at work! Let the police come and arrest me: I don’t feel the least bit guilty. I’ve done more than my share everywhere else in the yard, and I’ve saved a lot of water by not watering lawns and plantings that don’t need it. And the soaker hose wastes less water than the usual sprinkler, which throws the water into the air, where most of it evaporates before it even reaches the roots. (If there’s anything that should be illegal, as far as I’m concerned, it’s watering your lawn!) So for once, let me make my own little exception, because these plants can’t survive without watering.
Besides, I don’t expect the police to come any time soon. You see, with an oozing hose hidden from view by a good layer of mulch, there’s no outward sign that I’m watering. I connect the hose to a timer, run it for about two hours once a week and, under the mulch, the soil replenishes its water reserves. Even my nosy neighbors (if I had any, of course: my current neighbors are all very kind and understanding) wouldn’t know.
There’s only one danger left: an internal denunciation. So far, no problems, but to be on the safe side, I never tell my wife, children, cat or dog when I go out to water. After all, you never know!
Larry Hodgson published thousands of articles and 65 books over the course of his career, in both French and English. His son, Mathieu, has made it his mission to make his father’s writings accessible to the public. This text was originally published in July 2000 in Fleurs, Plantes et Jardins.
Water restrictions have been annoying in California probably longer than in most places, but what should we expect with so many people living in chaparral and desert? They are more annoying because those who complain the most came here from somewhere else. Not only do they contribute to the problem, but they should have known what they were getting into when they came here. What is even more annoying than all of it is the disregard for the situation.
It always boggles my mind when I see lawns in your part of the continent.
Watering lawns is a contentious issue everywhere. Larry has it right when he says only your edibles need a drink. With water shortages everywhere we need to be cognizant of where every drop goes.