As irrigation season ramps up, we sat down with the Water Authority’s irrigation specialist to ask a few questions about the utility’s new FREE Efficient Irrigation Consultations.
Why is the Water Authority offering this service?
In ABQ, 40% of our drinking water is
used on landscapes.
Improperly maintained irrigation
systems often apply twice the water the
plants need in order to compensate for system inefficiencies.
Often, relatively simple maintenance
or scheduling changes have a big impact on how much water our irrigation
systems use to water plants.
It’s often difficult for someone not
trained in this field to detect irrigation problems, since the systems usually
run at night and most components are hidden.
Empowering you to better understand your landscape and
irrigation systems will help all of us steward our valuable water resources.
How does a typical
consultation go?
A trained specialist will:
Arrive at your home at the scheduled
time to review your landscape goals and plant material.
Check your irrigation system’s
performance and controller settings.
Create customized recommendations for
irrigation settings to help you save money and water.
Review rebates that are available
through the Water Authority that could benefit you and your landscape.
Turn on your irrigation system after the last chance of freezing temperatures has passed (typically late March in the greater Albuquerque area, but possibly as late as mid-April). This will prevent damage to your irrigation system.
1. Turn on your irrigation system. Then observe and listen.
If you turned off the main valve for your irrigation system over the winter to prevent freezing, turn it back on slowly, only part way. Then wait a few minutes until the system is fully pressurized. If it is not leaking, turn it fully on.
Caution: turning it too fast can create a water-hammer which could break pipes.
Irrigation valve box with backflow preventers.
Check the backflow preventer for leaks by inspecting it and checking for wetness.
Open the valve box (it usually has a green cover) and make sure there is no water in the box itself. Look for leaks in the valves, connections, filters and pressure reducers.
Run each zone for several minutes (long enough to see every part of it up close). Walk along each irrigation system pipe and inspect all sprinkler, bubbler and/or drip zones.
For sprinklers:
Look for signs of a leak, such as at the risers to the heads, the heads themselves, the emitter lines, or the pipes.
Look for heads not spraying correctly, such as spraying in the wrong direction, spraying too low, or other signs of breakage or misalignment. It is very common for them to go out of alignment when the system was turned off for the winter.
Spray head with minor leak
For drip and bubbler systems:
Look for missing emitters and/or bubblers. Emitters or bubblers may be hard to see due to plant coverage so listen carefully. Hearing a whooshing sound means an emitter or emitter line has blown off.
Drip emitter
2. Re-check the valve boxes again for water leaks now that the system has been on for testing.
3. Perform any necessary repairs and re-check for leaks after repairs are complete.
4. Set the timer.
Typical Irrigation Timer
The key to irrigation is to supply enough water to replace evaporative
losses from the ground root areas and from the leaves or stems. Too much or too
little water can harm your plants. It
is important that you set the timer correctly.
Follow the water recommendations guide to help you set your timer. Mixed zones like lawns and desert friendly landscapes are hard to water together. They usually need different run times. Large trees do not do as well being watered as if they were a lawn. Lawns have shallow roots (1” to 6” is typical) so usually need less water per application than trees with their deep roots (up to 24”). They require longer, deeper watering. Sign up for a FREE Efficient Irrigation Consultation at 505-289-3003 for help with your timer settings.
Do not confuse start times with zone numbers. Remember that every start time (4 am, 11 am, 5 pm….) on a program (A, B, C…) will run all your zones in series for the program you are running.
Attach a written copy of your schedule showing programs, zone number and corresponding location to the inside of your controller box.
Sprinkler heads or emitters vary greatly as to how much water comes out per minute. A slow watering head may need 2 to 4 times the watering time of traditional faster water delivery heads. For example, emitters can be as low as ½ gallon per hour but could be as high as 14 gallons per hour. The same watering time will not work for all zones or all emitter types.
Bubblers typically deliver 1 or 2 gallons per minute, compared to emitters that can be 1 or 2 gallons per hour. Many people over water when using bubblers for small plants. If you see pooling, run-off or recognize the flow is too fast, then replace the bubbler with a smaller one.
After watering, test to see if you provided enough, too little, or about right amount of water to the plants. Use a soil probe or a long screwdriver to test soil moisture. Push the screwdriver into the soil about an hour after you’ve watered your plants. It will go easily into moist soil. Mark and measure how far it went into the ground. That will tell you how deep you have watered that plant. Every yard is different, but once you figure out how long it takes your watering system to water to certain depths, you’ll be set.
If your controller is getting old, you would be wise to install an up to date one. There are lots of options. Some are “smart” controllers and can do many irrigation tasks well and can be operated from your phone or home computer, allowing you anywhere, anytime control. Check out the Irrigation Efficiency Rebates here to help you with the cost.
5. Observe your irrigation system the first month of the season.
We suggest the run times for the first few weeks should be during times of day where you can observe the operation of the system. When you are sure everything is running well, then you can have the system run at times you would not normally be observing. However, we suggest manually running the system zones for a few minutes every two months just to stay on top of any problems that may occur.
Many homeowners want to put a lot of water on at the beginning of the year to make sure the dry roots from the winter get thoroughly soaked. This makes some sense for the first watering of the year. Once the roots are soaked, you can go to shorter run times and number of runs per week to adequately irrigate your plants.
If you are uncertain about the any of the start-up tips, or need help, contact us for FREE Irrigation Efficiency Consultations at 505-289-3003. Or consider hiring a landscape contractor to help you get your system up and running correctly.
Author: Richard Chapman of Smart Use in Albuquerque, NM.
March is the perfect time to clean up your landscape to prepare for the spring growing season. In fact late March is the best time because new growth hasn’t completely emerged, making it easier to see the structure of the plants.
For the same reason, this is also the best time of year to check the irrigation system. Once freezing temperatures are no longer a threat, get the irrigation system back up and working to support new spring growth. The greater Albuquerque area occasionally gets a freeze as late as the middle of April. So although you may be eager to crank on the irrigation system and begin automatic irrigation, don’t forget that pipes may be susceptible to bursting if there is water in them and we receive a late frost.
One of the first steps to Spring
landscape cleanup is to walk around your yard and observe your plants and how they
grew last year and how they will continue to grow this year. Based on the success
of those plants consider if you’d like to:
Remove: Cut back or
dig out dead or dying plants or plants that have outgrown their space.
Replace: If the plant
has not been successful, think about what factors made it this way. Replace plant
material with an alternative better suited to the location.
Divide: Break up one
plant into multiple plants for distribution in other places in the garden or share
with friends and neighbors. This is a great chance for you and your neighbors to
try new plants.
7 Basic Spring Landscape Tasks
1. Cut Back Perennials and Flowering Plants
It is good practice to leave perennials intact over the winter, leaving stems, dried leaves, and seed heads on the plant. This helps insulate the plant over the winter, can be aesthetically pleasing, and provide forage for wildlife. Come Spring, it is time to cut back the perennials and clean up the debris around and underneath them. Pruning shears, a wire rake and gloves are good tools for this task. An example of a typical perennial is listed below.
Valerian (typical of many flowering plants and perennials): prune dry stalks just above any live growth to allow the new leaves and stems greater access to energy-producing sunlight.
2. Trim Ornamental Grasses and Rake Out Turf Grasses.
Ornamental Grasses – Spring Trimming:
Most ornamental grasses are deciduous and
produce new growth each spring. These grasses should be cut back around this time
of year for best aesthetics and to allow new growth to emerge unencumbered. Most
grasses fall into this category.
Other grasses and grass-like plants will
respond negatively to being cut back in the spring. These include yucca, bear
grass (nolina), and sotol. Selectively
remove tattered or dead leaves from these grass-like plants. Due to the density
of blue avena and regal mist grass, these should not be trimmed down. Instead selectively
remove dead material from these plants.
For
deciduous grasses, follow these steps:
Cut back last year’s growth to the main mass of the grass (typically 3”-6” above the ground) with pruners or scissors, without scalping the top of the new growth.
By hand, remove any of last year’s brown foliage and stems remaining in the middle of the grass.
For turf
grasses, rake out and dethatch with a wire rake. For native lawn grasses such as
buffalo and blue grama grass, line trim them then rake out and dethatch.
Ornamental Grass before pruning (Karl Foerster Grass, Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ ) Ornamental Grass being pruned (Karl Foerster Grass, Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ ) Ornamental Grass being de-thatched (Karl Foerster Grass, Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ ) Ornamental Grass after pruning (Karl Foerster Grass, Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ )
3. Prune Shrubs When Necessary
Many native shrubs do not require annual
pruning but some respond well to what is called renewal pruning.
Renewal pruning is not
as drastic as cutting the whole plant back but it does result in a plant with less
old, leggy growth. For renewal pruning,
use the rule of thirds. Cut back to near ground level
about one-third of the oldest stems each year to encourage new healthy growth. This
is recommended for shrubs such as lilac, forsythia,
cherry sage and butterfly bush.
Renewal pruning also will
benefit shrubs that become dense with a lot of dead wood on the inside, such as
Spanish broom. Roses however are unique and require special methods for pruning.
Example plant: Cherry sage: look for the
oldest growth and trim off old growth to about 6” above the ground. This will encourage
new growth in the spring.
Example of appropriate pruning of a shrub. (Photo courtesy of natureswayinc.com)
Another method of pruning is to formally shear a shrub. Formally shearing or hedging of plants should only be done if the intent is to create a hedge. Typical plants used as hedges are boxwood, laurel, photinia, etc. Most plants used in the landscapes do not need to be hedged or trimmed formally, unless there is a clear reason to limit their growth. After pruning, the plant should look like it does in nature, not a box, ball or cylinder.
5. Check Irrigation System. See the Spring Irrigation Start Up Post
6. Restore Organic Mulch.
Organic mulch is a natural covering, and includes such material as straw, chipped wood, shredded wood, or pecan shells. (The phrase organic refers to material relating to or derived from living matter. In this context it’s not related to the food or farming method of food production without the use of chemicals.) Organic mulch spread on the ground around plants has the added benefit of retaining moisture in the soil. Certain types of organic mulch will also enrich the soil as it breaks down. A depth of 4 inches of organic mulch will inhibit weed growth by preventing sunlight from reaching weed seeds. The Water Authority offers a rebate for mulch when used around trees – check out our Treebate here or get information on converting lawn to desert friendly landscape.
Organic mulch in a landscape.
7. Recycle Green Yard Waste. There are a few places to take green yard waste.
Local composting facility (commercial, industrial, municipal).
City of Albuquerque free green waste pick up days. This is typically the last week of April and the first week of May.
Compost green waste at home.
Author: Jill Brown, ASLA Landscape Architect and owner of My Landscape Coach in Albuquerque, NM. Resources: Growing the Southwest Garden by Judith Phillips, Down to Earth: A Gardener’s Guide to the Albuqueque Area, Fourth Edition by Albuquerque Area Extension Master Gardeners, Curtis Smith formerly of NM Extension Service. Consultations with: Chad Peterson, local native plan maintenance expert.
Everyone should consider planting fruit trees in their yard.
Because of our climate, fruit trees grow really well in our area. Besides the
joy they bring when we harvest delicious fruit, they put on a beautiful show
with spring flowers, create shade, and provide shelter and food for wildlife
and pollinators. The Water Authority encourages the planting of fruit and shade
trees by providing a generous annual rebate (click here
for more information). Thinking of planting a new fruit tree? Check out our
blog post about the proper way to plant trees here.
All trees require some amount of pruning, especially when
young, in order to set up good structure. Fruit trees have a few special
considerations related to our intense sunlight, specific pests, and where on
the tree the fruit is produced.
Pruning has been called “one of the best, worst practices
for trees,” because removing branches and leaves limits the tree’s ability to
produce energy. Pruning wounds also create a place for decay to enter the tree.
You should always have a reason for pruning a tree and understand why you are
making specific cuts – not just because it’s a nice day and you remember
reading somewhere that you should prune your fruit tree. Pruning is good
because it reduces the length of branches to prevent breakage from heavy fruit
years; removes dead or diseased branches; and/or reduces limbs to keep them
from rubbing against a wall.
There is a ton of great information available online and in books about how to prune specific types of fruit trees. Below are a few resources. But remember that the way you care for your fruit tree will be a bit different than that of a commercial orchard. Besides producing fruit, the tree in your yard will also provide shade and beauty, so keep this in mind when studying resources about fruit trees and deciding which cuts to make.
Unlike in many other climates, our intense sunlight means that over-pruning can to lead to sunscald. This occurs when a branch is suddenly exposed to bright sunlight, causing areas of the bark to become burned and crack, exposing them to disease and rot. In order to avoid this, be careful about removing too many branches from the top, south and west sides of the tree. This exposes remaining branches to intense sunlight, causing sunscald.
Darkening on tree on the south side is a sign of sunscald.
Stone fruit trees such as apricots, peaches, and cherries thrive
in our area and can be really rewarding to grow. Unfortunately, there is also a
pest called a borer (often referred to as a peach borer) that loves other fruit
trees, too. This pest is very common and many feel that it is not a matter of if but when your stone fruit tree will
get borers. Luckily a healthy tree can resist this pest on its own through
natural defenses.
You can support and keep your tree healthy by doing the following three things:
Selecting an appropriate irrigation system ensuring that it is properly watered (see our seasonal plant watering guide here)
Adding mulch (see information about treebates for irrigation improvements and mulch)
Keeping the root collar of the tree exposed. (see tree detail)
Even trees that have borers can continue to live and produce fruit for more than a decade if they are well taken care of. Drought-stressed trees which have borers, on the other hand, often die within a few years.
If you think that you have borers in your stone fruit tree, there are several treatment options. These range from predatory soil nematodes to plant-derived and chemical pesticides that are sprayed, injected, or applied as a root drench. As with any plant pest treatment, the timing is critical. This is especially true with borers. If done at the incorrect time during the borer’s lifecycle, your effort will be completely wasted and you may kill beneficial insects that help your fruit tree. Resources or more information about borers here.
Fruit Tree Borer Infection
Fruit trees are usually pruned in late winter (February –
early March) to adjust the tree’s structure. Summer pruning can also be done,
but this is typically used to control or slow down growth. Removing dead,
diseased, or dying branches can be done at any time of the year. It is
important to remove dead branches so you can determine later if more branches
are dying, and thus judge the general health and vigor of the tree. For young
trees, it is especially important to leave as many small branches as possible. These
help to produce energy for the tree as it is getting established, and can be
removed later if they are not desirable for the mature tree structure. It is
extremely important to never prune living branches if the tree is stressed by
drought conditions.
Most fruit trees bear flower buds, then fruit, on
specialized branch structures called fruit spurs. Fruit spurs will look
different depending on the type of tree. Although variable, these usually occur
on parts of the branch that are at least two years old, and individual fruit
spurs can last for up to 10 years. In general, flower buds located on fruit
spurs are fat, fuzzy and plump, as opposed to leaf buds which are pointed and
flat. It’s important to know how to recognize these so you don’t prune off the
coming year’s fruit harvest.
Because of how damaging bad pruning can be, and how valuable trees are, it may be worthwhile to hire an expert. Be sure that they have experience with fruit tree pruning in our area and are certified arborists by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). To find a local certified arborist, visit this site.
Author: Amos Arber, ASLA, ISA Xeriscape Incentive Inspector for Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority
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 six steps to get you started on a great landscape design.
Brainstorm what you want in your yard.
Think of this as a “brain dump,” which simply means you’ll transfer to paper all the things you are considering, imagining, and dreaming of for your yard. First, find a window that looks out onto a part of your yard. Set up a chair there, grab a pen, clear your mind and set a timer for five minutes. Now write down anything and everything that comes into your head that involves your yard. Ready, set, go.
Make a plan.
As the old saying goes, “All good things start with a plan.” It’s true! Think about how you approach your job; more than likely you have a general strategy about the steps you are going to take to perform the tasks on your to-do list. It’s the same with your yard: Developing a plan will save you time and money, and is more likely to result in a successful end product.
What is a plan? When it comes to landscapes, a plan is a scaled drawing showing your yard from a top-down perspective. To make sure the dimensions are accurate, it’s helpful to start with a “map” of your existing yard. You can use either a scaled aerial photograph or a surveyor’s plat drawing of the lot on which your house sits, or both.
Scaled aerial photograph. Numerous websites provide free aerial photography. Google Earth Pro, which can be downloaded for free, allows you to measure distances and save snapshots of satellite photography with a scale bar included. Though this next step will be a challenge, the aerial photograph can then be opened in a program like Microsoft Paint where you can change the size of the photo and get it to a standard scale (like 1”=10’). Resizing the aerial photograph to a larger-than-normal page size, like 11”x17”, may make it possible to fit your entire property onto one sheet at the desired scale. Don’t forget that you can print large pages at a commercial print shop.
Surveyor’s plat drawing.What is a plat? It’s a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. This should be included in the huge pack of documents you received when you bought your home. It should show overall property boundaries, and basic dimensions of the home. It sometimes includes existing features such as driveways, and exterior structures like sheds. If it does not show these, you can use a tape measure to measure the structures and hardscape areas such as patios, driveways or sidewalks then note them in pencil on the survey plat.
Once you’ve got your aerial photograph or surveyor’s plat, you may want to buy a book of tracing paper, which is see-through and will enable your next steps.
Take stock of what’s in your yard now
You’ve written down what you want to have in your yard, and you’ve got a photo or drawing showing the actual size of your landscape. Now you are ready to take stock of what’s already in your yard. Put a piece of tracing paper on top of your aerial photograph or plat plan, and head outside. You’ll want to populate your tracing paper with information on existing conditions like plant locations and names, patio positions, roof downspouts, and drainage patterns. Be sure to locate any special site features, identify problems such as erosion, excess runoff, ugliness and decline, and identify positive attributes such as a good view, a nice specimen plant or typical travel patterns.
You’ll want to note compass directions on your drawings, since we experience large temperature swings in New Mexico it’s important to note the different levels of sun exposure in your yard. Typically, the south side of your house will receive sun all day long. Compare this with the north side of your house, or northern exposure, where the ground is shaded most of the day. Once you understand the different microclimates of your yard you’ll be able to choose plants that grow best in those conditions.
It may be helpful to use multiple sheets of tracing paper that can be layered to create a full picture of your yard’s existing conditions. For help identifying underground utilities (like water lines) in your yard, call 811 (See https://www.pnm.com/call-before-you-dig1 for more information).
Analyze your landscape — do you have enough space for what you want?
Now that you have identified all the existing elements in your yard, you can reflect on how well those elements are working. Take some time to walk around your yard and think through all your existing elements and spaces. Keep these questions in mind: Why is this located here? How does this space relate to the others? What are the pros and cons of my existing spaces?
These questions will help you analyze your yard. Through that process you’ll discover constraints and opportunities for improvement.
Research other landscape designs to get ideas for your yard
Now that you’ve done the hard work above it’s time to look at other people’s designs for some inspiration. The templates provided here were designed for the Water Authority by local landscape designer Judith Phillips, and landscape architects George Radnovich and David Cristiani. These templates can serve as thought-starters to guide homeowners in creating beautiful waterwise landscapes with color, logic, beauty and purpose.
You’ll want to read through each design and note the aspects of each that you like. Circle your favorite plants, materials and how they shape certain spaces. All of this will help inform your landscape design.
George Radnovich orchestrates an elegant, simple mixture of ornamental plants and features for north-facing xeriscapes.
Draw out your own design
Now it’s time to try this for yourself. Grab your list of wants from your “brain dump,” pull out your plans with all your notes, and lay out the design templates in front of you. A pen, pencil, rule or scale bar, and some tracing paper will be everything you need to start marking up your plan with your new design ideas.
This is the fun part, all the stuff you just brainstormed, inventoried, analyzed and learned can all come together to help you design a really great landscape. Draw out as many ideas as you like and have fun with it. You are now on your way to a beautiful yard!
Author: Jill Brown, ASLA Landscape Architect and owner of My Landscape Coach in Albuquerque, NM.
A correctly planted tree will grow more quickly, will be healthier and more attractive, and will live longer than an incorrectly planted one. A healthy tree will also have a stronger and larger root system better able to draw moisture from the soil. This allows it to better withstand the periodic droughts of arid New Mexico.
When you purchase a new tree from a nursery, it will come one of three ways: As a container tree, a ball and burlapped tree, or a bare-root tree. A containerized tree is simply a tree in a container (usually a plastic pot). Balled-and-burlapped trees are usually larger specimens that have been dug out of the field. After the tree is dug up, its root ball is wrapped in burlap fabric and covered with a wire cage. A bare-root tree, as the name implies, has no covering on the roots at all. This is often the case with fruit trees.
Container tree
Balled-and-burlapped tree
Bare-root tree
To plant a containerized tree, follow the steps below:
Remove soil and roots from the top of the root ball to expose the root collar. Carefully remove the root ball from the container and set the tree on undisturbed soil in the center of the hole. The root collar should be even with the existing grade of the landscape soil after planting. (see sketch for more information.)
Loosen the soil three to five times the width of the root ball (or as wide as possible) and as deep as the root ball. Tree roots grow best in loosened soil that has pore spaces for water and oxygen. The walls of the hole should be tapered away from the hole.
Trim back roots that have begun to circle the root ball.
Partially fill the hole with soil and firm it slightly. Water thoroughly and finish backfilling the hole with soil. Pack the soil firmly but not tightly around the root ball.
Build a small berm of soil around the root ball. Fill the berm with water two or three times to make sure the soil is completely moist. Thereafter, begin a regular watering schedule.
Place a protective circle of mulch, three feet wide or wider, around the tree. The mulch should not touch the root collar and should be installed at a depth of 3 to 4 inches for best results.
To plant a balled-and-burlapped (B&B) tree, follow the steps below:
Remove soil and roots from the top of the root ball to expose the root collar. Carefully set the tree on undisturbed soil in the center of the hole. The root collar should be even with the existing grade of the landscape soil after planting. (see sketch for more information.)
Loosen the soil three to five times the width of the root ball (or as wide as possible) and as deep as the root ball. Tree roots grow best in loosened soil that has pore spaces for water and oxygen. The walls of the hole should be tapered away from the hole.
Carefully place the root ball in the center of the hole. The top of the root ball or bottom of the root collar (see photo) should be even with the soil level. Take note of the tree flair in the sketch.
Remove twine or string, burlap, and if the root ball is surrounded by a wire basket, cut and remove the wire basket. Be careful to avoid breaking up the root ball.
Partially fill the hole with soil and firm it slightly. Water thoroughly and finish backfilling the hole with soil. Pack the soil firmly but not tightly around the root ball.
Build a small berm of soil around the root ball. Fill the berm with water two or three times to make sure the soil is completely moist. Thereafter, begin a regular watering schedule.
Place a protective circle of mulch, three feet wide or wider, around the tree. The mulch should not touch the root collar and should be installed at a depth of 3 to 4 inches for best results.
PRO TIP: If possible, plant trees in valleys and depressions in the landscape so rainwater will naturally collect and give the tree a good soaking. Direct roof downspouts and canals towards trees.
Newly planted trees do, however, need water. Do a thorough watering at planting. Water again about 3 days after the first planting. Then water once a week for the next four weeks. Continue watering once a month for the rest of the winter. Every time you water, make sure it is a deep soak. That means watering to a depth of 24 inches. See how deep am I watering for instructions on how to measure watering depth.
Be sure to add mulch around your new trees. We recommend using an organic mulch installed to a depth of 3 inches around the tree, keeping mulch a few inches away from the trunk of the tree.
Staking a tree is not necessary unless your tree is located in a super windy spot. If you do stake the tree be sure the tie is not too tight. Promptly remove it one year after planting the tree.
Soil amendments are not necessary if you choose the right tree for the native soil conditions in your yard.
