Winter Watering in Colorado
- Keith Funk
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
By Keith Funk:
Q: It’s been such a dry winter I’ve been watering my landscape about once a month. Should I water more often now?
A: Good for you taking the time and care to winter water your outdoor plants. We have just been through one of the driest winters on record and the snow pack we rely on is severely lacking. It’s time to take a serious look at what that means for our landscapes this spring and summer.
As we move into spring weather, the landscape starts to lose water more quickly. That means stepping up your watering regime responsibly. Adjusting your sprinkler clock as needed throughout the growing season. Don’t just set it and forget it. A great free tool to use is the Denver Water website for the previous week’s evapotranspiration rate (ET). Check out this link: www.denverwater.org
Another very good way to check soil moisture is with a trowel or moisture meter. Use the trowel to dig down 3-4” deep to check soil moisture. Repeat around the landscape in different exposures because the entire yard doesn’t dry out at the same rate. You will probably find out that certain zones could use some water while others are just fine and could be turned off until needed.
Watering by hand is very ineffective. Use a simple frog eye sprinkler at a fairly low volume. If you see mist rising above the sprinkler pattern, turn the volume down. Duration is determined by your soil type.
Start with 15 minutes and check to see if water is still soaking in, or running off. If it’s still soaking in, continue until runoff occurs. Once you notice runoff occurring, move the sprinkler to another location and repeat. Again, you’ll find you probably have different soil types in different parts of the yard which means runoff will occur sooner in heavy soils, and later in sandier soils. Adjust accordingly. And always mulch bare ground to reduce water loss. A 2-3” layer is plenty thick and has the added advantage of reducing weed growth.
Finally, planting drought tolerant, lower water use plants will go a long way to saving water, both in this upcoming season and years to come. Check out the Plant Select website, www.plantselect.org, for plants tested and recommended for our high plains desert climate, by CSU and the Denver Botanic Gardens. Keep in mind that newly planted plants will require regular watering and won’t be drought tolerant until they are well established which can take a year or more.
Read our Q & As with Keith Funk answering common Colorado gardening questions here. You can also hear him on the Garden Wise Radio Show
