Q. I have a patch of grass in my back yard and I would
like to put plants, shrubs and flowers around the perimeter. Can you tell me
what type of plants to put since they will be getting their water from the
sprinklers? I follow the watering
schedule for my area and during the summer months there will be a lot of water
so I would need to know what plants and shrubs like a lot of water.
A. This is not how we should be thinking of watering in
the desert. Plants that grow on the perimeter of a lawn survive because of the
over irrigation of the lawn. If we give the lawn precisely the amount of water
which it needs, there will be very little water left for plants growing along
the perimeter of it.
.JPG) |
| This Siberian elm has died back because it was surrounded by grass and now was replaced with desert landscape and rock mulch |
Lawns
are watered frequently and with small volumes of water because of their shallow
root system. Other shallow rooted plants, like annual flowers and vegetables,
are watered in the same manner and require the same frequency of irrigation.
Deeply
rooted trees and shrubs are watered less often but with a higher volume of
water so that their entire root system is wetted when the irrigation has been
completed.
I hear what you are saying, as there is an assumption that it is OK to add much water. Seems the lawn should be not only efficiently irrigated so there is little "overspray", but allowed to live but perhaps go dormant some until fall?
ReplyDeleteThough in all practicality, if the irrigation oversprays, it is not being applied more than is necessary, isn't it OK to take advantage of the overspray that exists?
The problem is the lack of uniformity of the irrigation system. This is the part where waste occurs. You are right. Only enough water is added from overspray but the question then becomes how evenly is the overspray applied? Since overspray has poor uniformity then where overspray is just enough it is fine but overspray that is too much due to poor uniformity is wasted.
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