Baby, it’s cold outside. Or is it? How do you water during the cold and dry winter season?

The weather predictions are in, and we are headed into a very dry La Niña winter season. This means we need to water our plants this winter in order to keep them healthy. Due to our freezing temperatures we recommend turning off your irrigation system for the season and using your hose to water once a month during the middle of a warm winter day.

Watering Tips:

For cool season grass lawns, thoroughly water every other week.

For deciduous and evergreen trees, lilacs, photina’s, euonymous, rose of Sharon, spirea and forsynthia, water once a month to 24” deep.

When watering by hand remember to make sure your hose has a shut off valve or nozzle on the end of it. One hour of hose watering at a trickle is a good rule of thumb. for trees check out this link. To find out how deep you are watering read more here.

Author:   Richard Perce, Irrigation Efficiency Specialist with the Water Conservation Department for the Water Authority. Research: Farmers Almanac, Drought Watch New Mexico State. Have a question about the article? AskAnExpert@abcwua.org