IRWD Partners with Tustin Home Depot for Garden-Friendly Water Conservation Plant Event

Location:

Home Depot - Tustin
2782 El Camino Real
March 9, 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.

• Learn how to plant a water-efficient landscape
• Special discounts on select varieties of attractive water-efficient plants
• Local expert gardeners on hand to answer all your questions
• Certified Home Depot Nursery consultants can assist you with your selections
• IRWD staff will showcase incentive programs and services
• Vendor displays, educational demonstrations, giveaways and more

*Print and present this calendar page at the IRWD booth at the Home Depot events for a special prize* 

Garden-Friendly Events

Irvine Ranch Water District and two Home Depot stores are teaming up to assist customers interested in updating their gardens to use less water.

These garden-friendly plant events are scheduled on March 9 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Lake Forest store on 20021 Lake Forest Drive and on March 23 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Tustin store located at 2782 El Camino Real.

IRWD customers can expect:

• Special discounts on select varieties of attractive water-efficient plants
• Lessons from local experts on how to plant a water-efficient landscape
• Vendor displays, educational demonstrations and give-aways
• IRWD staff and Home Depot nursery consultant on hand to assist you

Present your current IRWD newsletter, Pipelines, at the IRWD booth at either Home Depot event for a special prize.

More information about garden-friendly landscapes is available at our website. Please see an example of suggested plants in the photo gallery below.

Using multiple start times to cycle and soak is a smart way to improve efficiency and reduce runoff. Curious how long to water? Let IRWD suggest a watering schedule for you.

Program A – Grass in summer – four days, three cycles of three minutes. Select the four days that you wish to water. Select three start times, preferably in the morning with an hour of soaking in between. Schedule three minutes for each zone.

Program A Example – Watering days: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Start times: 5 a.m.; 6 a.m.; 7 a.m.
Watering duration: three minutes

Program B – Shrubs or trees in summer – two days, three cycles of four minutes. Select two days that you wish to water. Select three start times, preferably in the morning with an hour of soaking in between. Schedule four minutes for each zone.

Program B Example – Watering days: Monday and Friday
Start times: 5 a.m.; 6 a.m.; 7 a.m.
Watering Duration: Four minutes

“Cycle and soaking” with the irrigation controller results in deeper watering and healthier root growth while reducing runoff. Next time, in Sept 5, you will learn how to use the seasonal adjust or watering index feature to quickly make seasonal watering adjustments.

More water efficiency information is available on our website.

Contact: Shannon Reed, Public Affairs Manager
reeds@irwd.com, (949) 453-5500

Did you know that the average sprinkler sprays two gallons per minute? If a lawn with 10 sprays heads is over-watered by five minutes that can waste 100 gallons.

Oftentimes, over-watering occurs because an entire yard is watered on the same schedule despite the fact its landscape is composed of different plants with different water needs. This over-watering can be easily prevented.

The trick is to:

• Have your sprinkler system separated into hydrozones – areas within your landscape divided and defined by grouping plants together with similar needs.
• To use multiple programs and start times – find the zones (synonymous with valves or stations) which water grass and annuals and assign them to Program A on your controller, while zones watering shrubs or other low-water-using plants are placed on Program B.

Program A will then have its own start times and watering lengths independent of Program B. For example, in summer, grass areas (Program A) the sprinklers may need to turn on four days a week, such as Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, while shrubs (Program But) only require water twice a week. If these different zones were to stay on the same program, then water-use efficiency suffers, along with plant health.

Next month, in Step 4, there will be more details on how to program multiple start times to increase irrigation efficiency and reduce runoff.

More information is available by visiting our website.

Contact: Shannon Reed, Public Affairs Manager
reeds@irwd.com, (949) 453-5500