Best Lawn and Garden Sprinklers for Every Yard Size

Strategies to reduce evaporation and get water to where it counts your plants' roots.

Dramatic fluctuations between wet and dry soil can slow plants' growth and harm the quantity and quality of the fruit.

A layer of mulch straw, grass clippings, shredded leaves, and bark chips helps keep the soil consistently moist. Organic matter, such as compost, mixed into the soil, when you plant, helps to hold moisture, too.

When is the best time to water your garden?

In the morning, the plants can drink up during the heat of the day. Evening is the next best time, so long as you get the water to the roots foliage that stays wet during humid nights invites diseases and fungi to move in.

Watering during midday is wasteful because much of the moisture evaporates before the plants can take it up.

Where is the best spot to water plants?

Directly on the roots.

How much water do plants need?

About 1 inch per week is a standard rule of thumb. A single weekly soaking is much better than daily sprinklings because shallow watering encourages the roots to stay in the top 4 inches of soil.

Shallow roots make plants more susceptible to water stress and weed competition. Wet the soil to at least 1 foot deep (that's 1 foot down from the soil surface, not the mulch layer).

Signs of water stress

• Leaves have brown edges
• Leaves are smaller than normal
• Fruit is undersized or misshapen
• The plant looks droopy in the morning or late evening

Learn about Xeriscaping, the term for landscaping without supplemental watering- and get tips you can use in your garden.

Xeriscaping, the term for landscaping without supplemental watering, was coined in Denver where water usage is one of several extreme gardening challenges in this mile-high Zone 5 city.

Altitude and wild weather, says Judy Elliott, Education and Community Empowerment Coordinator with D.U.G., also contribute.

Both Elliott and Clari Davis, a landscape designer specializing in small city gardens, prefer the term "dry land" gardening.

Dryland gardens must be watered correctly for two years, once established they need very little water. Elliott and Davis join Ann Montague, a horticulturist with DBG, to offer growing tips honed from years of experience.

• Practice hydro-zone gardening. Group plants with like water needs together so as not to over water or underwater. For example, never mix cactus & ferns.
• Use organic mulch such as chopped-up wood chips, rather than stone mulch, to keep down weeds.
• Do not mulch a shade garden. Touch test the soil for texture, only watering when needed.
• Never water at night, as slugs are a huge problem. A local nursery, Timberline Gardens, recommends Sluggo and Power Gard, products safe for animals. Broadcast before the plants come up to avoid slug devastation.
• Quickly mist (don't water) for 5 minutes in the evening. This uses the least amount of water and gets moisture on the leaves, without encouraging slugs.
• Try the footprint test on the lawn. If your foot is pressed on the lawn and the grass bounces up, it doesn't need water. Bluegrass rye and fescue do well.
• The very long season requires a strong structure in the garden. Use shrubbery evergreens, and plant material that will look good in winter when it defoliates. Plant river birch, woody ground covers, emerald gaiety euyeumous, Euyonomous coloradus, and Euyonomus sarcoxi.
• Arbors, trellises, and large pots (planted with evergreens, mugos, boxwood, and arbor vitae) add structure to your garden. Concrete pots with a substance that keeps them from cracking do best through Denver winters. Glazed pots from China don't crack.
• High altitude makes hardening off essential to prevent plant wilt.
• Plant by soil temperature rather than air temperature. Don't plant seedlings or seeds below 45-degree soil temperature. Hail and very strong winds cause desiccation of plant tissues. Extreme temperature swings that vary as much as 50 degrees in one day make it difficult to know what to plant. In the morning use a soil thermometer measured down to 4" to plan planting.
• Consider wind buffers such as hoop houses. They work well against wind and hail. Plant windbreaks of tall grains (wheat or barley) in double rows next to crops. Tall grass prairie plants shelter flowering plants and are like living mulch.
• Compost heavily as heavy clay soils means there is very little air space. Plant buckwheat cover crops that grow fast and add green material.