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The 505 Outside Blog covers topics on desert friendly landscapes practices, landscape maintenance, irrigation principles, and seasonal tips.
Greenscape Landscape Plan: Evergreen Plants Provide an Ever-Beautiful Front Yard
Creating a landscape plan is a complicated endeavor. Luckily for home gardeners, landscape architects specialize in designing outdoor spaces. Today, we’re sharing a unique plan by New Mexico landscape designer David Cristiani to give you some inspiration and ideas for...
How to Research and Hire the Right Landscape Contractor for Your Project
Sometimes you need help to create your perfect desert friendly landscape. Many times, this involves hiring a landscape contractor. The Water Utility Authority is committed to helping its customers. Below we share some tips to help you choose a landscape contractor....
Albuquerque Soils
Albuquerque has a variety of soil types. Learning what type of soil is in your yard is a critical step to understanding how water will infiltrate the soil and how long specific plants need to be watered to get the water to the correct depth. VALLEY SOILS Valley soils...
Wildscape Landscape Plan: A Celebration of Wildlife in Your Landscape
A lot goes into designing a landscape; hence, there’s an entire profession called landscape architecture devoted to designing outdoor spaces. We won’t be able to make you a landscape architect today, but we’re sharing a unique landscape plan designed by New Mexico...
Coolscape Landscape Plan: A Cool and Calming Southwestern Oasis
A lot goes into designing a landscape, hence there’s an entire profession called landscape architecture devoted to designing outdoor spaces. We won’t be able to make you a landscape architect today, but we’re sharing a unique landscape plan designed by landscape...
How to Build a Trellis
One of the questions the Water Authority xeriscape inspector gets asked most often is how to inexpensively build a trellis for vines. You can make a DIY trellis from materials that are easy to find at your local hardware store. Off-the-shelf trellises can be...
Cultivating Inner and Outer Climate Resilience
It’s been a rough few months in the 505. We’re having a challenging gardening season, to say the least. Dry. Hot. Intense. The unraveling of our climate has been on full display. Whether you’re choosing more adaptive plants and creating habitat or beginning your...
DIY Xeriscape Conversions that Use Wood Chip Mulch
As Albuquerque area homeowners convert their high-water-use turf grass to desert friendly xeriscapes, many are opting for wood chip mulch rather than gravel or other aggregate, which can be hot and allow weeds to pop up. The Water Authority checked in on two...
Xeriscape Conversions on the West Side that Use Wood Chip Mulch
As homes around the Greater Albuquerque Area are converting their high-water-use turf grass to desert friendly xeriscapes, many are choosing to use wood chip mulch instead of gravel or other aggregate, which can be hot and allow weeds to pop up. The Water...
Wildscape Landscape Type
The Albuquerque metro area has a wide variety of landscapes. These include desert friendly landscapes, lush pollinator friendly xeriscapes and wildscapes or prairie plantings where native grasses and wildflowers bring the feel of a prairie to a yard and attract...
Xeriscape Conversions That Use Shredded Wood Chip Mulch
As homeowners around the Greater Albuquerque area are converting their high-water use turfgrass areas to desert-friendly xeriscapes, many are choosing to use wood chip mulch instead of gravel, which can be hot, expensive and also very good at cultivating weeds. Gravel...
Efficiently Watering on a Slope Requires a Few Simple Steps for Your Plants to Thrive.
Regardless of how you water, you will want to create a berm, or raised “dam,” on the downside when planting on a slope. This berm captures any rainfall coming down the slope, detaining it long enough to soak in, and also holds water that comes from irrigation or...
Rain Garden Landscape Type
The Albuquerque metro area has a wide variety of landscape types, which include desert-friendly landscapes, lush pollinator-friendly xeriscapes and wildscapes or prairie plantings where native grasses and wildflowers bring the feel of a prairie to a yard. Rain gardens...
The “Wow Factor” – Summer Containers Simplified
One of our favorite things to do at Bennu Organics is design container gardens. We like to talk about the “wow factor,” and containers are a fantastic way to add stunning, season-long color to our landscapes without digging a single hole in our hard, unforgiving soil....
Edible Garden Landscape Type
The Albuquerque metro area has a wide variety of landscapes. These include desert-friendly landscapes, lush pollinator-friendly xeriscapes and wildscapes or prairie plantings where native grasses and wildflowers bring the feel of a prairie to a yard. Rain gardens are...
Drip System in Raised Beds or Veggie Rows
Edible garden landscapes need to have dedicated valves so they can be watered more frequently than our average desert-friendly landscapes. These landscapes should not be watered at the same time as the rest of the drip zones. The key to growing the best quality...
Backyard Composting Basics
Why is it important to compost? Between 30 and 50 percent of residential waste could be composted instead of put in a landfill, which would reduce the volume of trash and the production of greenhouse gas. Compost is nature’s way of recycling nutrients by using...
How to Make a More Efficient Turfgrass Landscape in Albuquerque
Typically, a conventional turfgrass yard includes a few large trees and some planting beds for flowers and shrubs around the foundation of the home. This type of yard often has a couple of existing irrigation valves for sprinkler irrigation. A conventional turfgrass...
5 Ways to Save Money when Transforming your Yard
Are you ready to remove your lawn and create a desert-friendly landscape but worried about the cost? Below are cost-savings tips for transforming your yard. Plant price tags: For homeowners wanting to transform their yards, it’s easy to feel sticker shock when adding...
Xeriscape Landscape Type
The Albuquerque metro area has a variety of landscapes. These include desert-friendly landscapes, such as lush, pollinator-friendly xeriscapes, and wildscapes or prairie plantings, where native grasses and wildflowers bring the feel of a prairie to a yard. Rain...
Steps for Improving Your Irrigation Efficiency
Most irrigation work can be done by the homeowner, except for one component. Tapping into your home's main water line needs to be done by a licensed contractor to ensure it is completed safely. To help homeowners know how to select and work with a contractor, we have...
Improving Irrigation Efficiency Can Be Affordable!
Does the thought of making changes to your yard seem costly? Can you still get reasonable benefits from just changing a few things instead of your whole yard? Do you feel overwhelmed because you don't know where to start? Do you feel like you don't know enough about...
Learn About the City of Albuquerque’s New Sustainability Office!
Have you wondered what the City of Albuquerque is doing to support sustainability? The Sustainability Office is leading the city government’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while growing our economy and protecting residents’ health. What does the...
Tree Pruning: Seven Things to Know Before Making a Cut
There are misconceptions about how to prune a tree. Here are seven things you need to know before you begin. 1. Always have a reason for each cut you make on a tree. A beautiful day and hearing you need to prune now are not the right reasons. The main reasons we trim...
Irrigation Equipment for your Holiday Gift List
Below are some great gifts for that homeowner who likes to tinker in their yard and also save water. Practical gifts are always in style! Xeriscape Guide and Irrigation Efficiency Guide: Check out the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority’s FREE...
Great Plants That Hide an Ugly View
Homeowners are constantly looking for that perfect plant for that exact spot. Unfortunately, there isn’t a simple answer. Landscape designers know there are so many factors that go into placing the right plant in the right place. Sun-loving plants should be planted in...
Junipers, why we love to hate them!
Pinyon-juniper woodlands are the largest forest cover type in NM, comprising 14.6 million acres and representing 65% of NM forests (according to USGS Gap Analysis Program–Land Cover Data). In contrast, the next largest forest cover types in NM are ponderosa pine at...
Fruit Trees for the Homeowner
Thinking of putting some trees in your landscape but also concerned about making good use of the water, space and time? Some people like to plant fruit trees around the home landscape. The obvious reason to grow fruit trees is the fruit! Just like there is no tomato...
Plants That Thrive Under Shade Trees
We all love the feeling of cool shade on a hot summer day, whether it comes from a dense tree canopy growing above the yard or from our home as it shades different areas throughout the day. Quite a few plants appreciate that cool space. There are many options for...
Drip Irrigation Maintenance Checklist
Most irrigation systems have a lifespan of 20 years before they begin to break down. If your house is older than that, most likely you are dealing with issues (water pressure, uniformity of watering, overspraying and possible leaks) that negatively affect the quality...
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Water Conservation Program
P.O. Box 568
Albuquerque, NM 87103-0568
505-842-WATR Option 4
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P.O. Box 568
Albuquerque, NM 87103-0568
505-842-WATR