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All In Adams - Landscape Tips During a Drought
21 Plays17 days ago
In this episode, Cassey Anderson, CSU Extension Horticulture Specialist, shares simple tips on watering, avoiding common mistakes, and keeping your yard healthy while using less water.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to All In Adams, the official podcast of Adams County Government. where we're all in for our residents, our employees, and our community. So whether you live here, work here, or you just want to know more about what makes Adams County a great place to be, thanks for tuning in. We're all in, Adams.
00:00:22
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of the All in Adams podcast. My name is Carson Forsman. I'm a communication supervisor with Adams County, and we are joined with Cassie Anderson um from our CSU Extension office.
00:00:35
Speaker
Cassie, so great to have you in. And unfortunately, we're talking about a very serious topic, right, which is the drought conditions that we're currently in. And I would just love to just hear more about that. But can you first just introduce yourself? And you've been with the county for
Cassie Anderson's Role and Experience
00:00:49
Speaker
a while now, right? and What do you do with Columbus County? I'm Cassie Anderson. I'm the horticulture specialist for Adams County. So I do all things horticulture for both green industry and for homeowners. i love working with homeowners. I also work with the Colorado Master Gardener Program, which is a volunteer program of outreach and education in the county.
00:01:06
Speaker
um And I've been with Adams County for 11 years now.
Impact of Driest Winter on Growing Season
00:01:10
Speaker
So it's been it's been a minute doing various things. And I like to talk about plants and how people can get the best out of their landscapes and get the best out of their plants.
00:01:20
Speaker
which is sometimes hard in Colorado. Yes. And I have learned that being a homeowner too, it is very difficult. And I'm glad you're here today because I have a ton of questions, but so kind of just set the stage, right? Like we've, did we really have a winter this year? I mean, it's been, it's been so weird. And how long have you lived in Colorado? I mean, have, have we had something like this before in Adams County or just in Colorado in general? grew up in the West, but I grew up in Utah. So it was a little different from Colorado, but I've been here since 2008 and this is Definitely the driest winter we've had um in my experience. I know in 2002, 2003, there was a somewhat comparable event, but the winter had been, they'd gone into it with a better winter than we are going in at the moment. So it kind of goes to, we'll have to wait and see what our season is going to shape up to be like for the growing season. But we are averaging about a month, or three to four weeks early for most of our plants at the moment. um And our soils are about 10 degrees warmer than they ought to be this time of year.
Effects of Mild Winter on Pest Pressure
00:02:19
Speaker
ah Soil temperatures really help designate when seeds start to germinate, when plants start to bloom. And so soil temperatures are a little more indicative of what's going on for our plants than air temperature can be.
00:02:31
Speaker
But yeah, we haven't had a lot of freezes. ah The likelihood is that we will have higher pest and insect pressure this year because some of our insects didn't get killed off in the same way as they normally would with cold temperatures. I don't think we even got below zero in most parts of the Front Range.
00:02:47
Speaker
which is very uncommon. We normally get down to like negative 15
Water Restrictions and Plant Care Advice
00:02:52
Speaker
so. So it's kind quite a different not to get very cold. yeah We've seen across the front range. We're recording this on April 1st that there's some water restrictions going on right now. Yes. um For our Adams County residents, like what what do what should we be telling them, right? What do they do when they're seeing, hey, maybe it's time to pop on the sprinklers or like what how do we do the right thing? Yeah, and some of the right thing for your your water provider is going to be different than the right thing for your landscape plant. So there's a little bit of a tension there. The main thing is you want to follow the guidance that you're being given by your water provider because they're making the rules of how you get your water. um And every water provider is having slightly different rules and regulations right now. Denver water is different from the city of Thornton and different from Brighton. So there's different rules and regulations in place. Make sure you double check what your local regulations are.
00:03:46
Speaker
um But at the moment, the big thing to be concerned about are our woody plants, our trees and our shrubs. yeah they we Since we ah had a relatively dry and very warm winter, our soils are at ah a water deficit at the moment. And we need to make sure that our trees are getting the moisture they need to go strongly into what could be a dry season. we don't like We can't predict the future, unfortunately. Yeah.
00:04:09
Speaker
Um, and if we do go into a dry season, we want to give them the resources they can. So watering our trees and our shrubs really well in the next month or so is a good, good place to start. You can do that by hand or with a drip line. If you have one set up on your trees.
00:04:25
Speaker
Um, I really like just a basic sprinkler, like the frog eye sprinklers on the end of a hose. You can run that, uh, Not at the trunk of your tree and not at the edge of the branches, but in between that space between the trunk and the branches, the majority of water gathering roots are in between those two areas. So if you can water in a wagon wheel shape around your tree the best of your ability, that's where the majority of the the benefit is going to be. You don't need to get those spikes that go 25 inches deep into the soil. Most water gathering roots on our trees and shrubs are in the top 12 inches of the soil profile.
00:05:00
Speaker
So if you can get water eight inches down, that's going to be really good for our
Lawn Care Tips and Watering Strategies
00:05:05
Speaker
plants. Almost just soak it, right? Yes. Is there like a time, like set the hose out for 10 minutes or like, I guess it depends it's going to depend on your water pressure. It's going to depend on what kind of system you're you're working with. um And we've I actually had a big discussion with this with a bunch of urban foresters and arborists yesterday.
00:05:23
Speaker
And we don't have a precise number of what trees need. But by and large, if you put about an inch of water onto your onto your soil, um you're going to that inch of water will penetrate about eight inches deep.
00:05:37
Speaker
So that's kind of a metric you can look for. You can figure out, if you're using a sprinkler, you can figure out how much an inch of water is by putting containers out and running your sprinkler and seeing how long it takes to get to an inch.
00:05:48
Speaker
yeah ah If you're doing drip, then you need to do a little bit more math. If you're putting if you're drip ah if you have like an inline drip emitter, each one puts out half a gallon an hour, you'll need to do a little bit of math to figure out how many gallons you need to put in to get that same coverage.
00:06:03
Speaker
But... Yeah. Well, let's talk about the lawn then a little bit for all of our residents or homeowners out there. um i mean, it's like for me, my lawn looks in tough shape right now. And it's like, do I get out there and just water the heck out of it? Or like, what would you recommend? Or even some of those bare spots too? Like, should you start planning right now? Because we've got such an early start to the season. Yeah. So the lawn is a little trickier. It depends what kind of lawn you have. Most people have a cool season lawn, primarily with Kentucky bluegrass.
00:06:33
Speaker
I've been kind of saying that Kentucky bluegrass has a superpower because it can go dormant and stay dormant in times of stress. um And it can tolerate much lower water than we often give it to have it like golf course lush and green. sure um So right now, no need to water your lawn, even though they look brown and crispy and pitiful. Do you think they're still dormant? There's still there' there's still dormancy there. Yes. um and so And a lot of water providers are actually saying, please.
00:07:01
Speaker
I've seen some that are saying, don't water your lawn until April 15th. Some are saying, don't water your lawn until May 1st. Um, so that's going to be some ah guidance that you might be getting from, from your providers, those trees and shrubs a little bit more important.
00:07:14
Speaker
Once we get into active growing season, May or so, um, watering our lawn, the way you water your lawn is so important. Yeah. A lot of people go more for, well, I want to give my, my lawn a lot of like regular, regular water. I'm going to water it in the morning and the night every day.
00:07:32
Speaker
And I see that a lot. um And unfortunately, that is the opposite of what our lawns really benefit from. Interesting. okay ah Realistically, when we're getting these water restrictions saying only water twice a week, that's about how often lawns really can benefit from watering the amount they need.
00:07:49
Speaker
We like to say water infrequently, but water deeply. yeah And so you want to try and put an inch of water down in an irrigation event, get that deep penetration of water, and then aim in peak heat of summer when we're getting hitting like 95 plus degrees.
00:08:06
Speaker
a Kentucky bluegrass lawn doesn't need more than two and a half inches a week. If you do that math, you're not watering more than once or twice plus a week. yeah yeah ah So it's not as much as people think.
00:08:17
Speaker
And a traditional cool season lawn, if you're watering one inch a week, it will still
Grass Types Suitable for Colorado
00:08:23
Speaker
survive. It's just not going to look wonderful. The main time that you need to consider watering a little more is if you have a lot of traffic on it. If you have kids playing on it, if you have dogs in your yard, it's going to be less tolerant of low water situations than when you have a Um, if you have an area that's not getting a lot of traffic, the only time that you're on it is to mow it.
00:08:47
Speaker
then you can cut that water down pretty, pretty well. What are any other grass types than Kentucky bluegrass? I'm curious because obviously that's like the one we all know, right? That's like, going to hold up, but what about like turf type tall fescue or what other ones might work for Colorado? So there are a lot of good options. They all have pros and cons. Kentucky bluegrass is the one everybody knows. Everybody knows how to manage. Tall fescue can be a really good choice. It is more drought tolerant. It can tolerate less water, but it doesn't have that superpower of Kentucky bluegrass in extreme drought. It will die if there's a period where it gets absolutely no supplemental water.
00:09:27
Speaker
So it will tolerate less water longer and still be a little like still grow, still be the present. But it if it goes through extreme drought, it will die off instead of going dormant.
00:09:41
Speaker
Um, and then there's also warm season grasses, warm season grasses have evolved in ecosystems like we have. And so what that means is they don't brown up until later in the season. Uh, usually mid May you'll, you'll start seeing good growth on them this year. It might be a little earlier. Um, and then as soon as we get our first frost in the fall, they go brown and dormant and they look dead.
00:10:04
Speaker
Um, So it's a different look, it's a different aesthetic for sure, but they can use substantially less water. um Common ones for those are buffalo grass, blue grama, and then there's a be ah Bermuda grass called Tahoma 31 that's new a little bit newer on the market. This is going to be probably its fourth or fifth season of being regularly available.
00:10:26
Speaker
I think I saw like a billboard or something. Yeah. It's being it's being advertised pretty well. It's a really good option um for a lot of situations. It tolerates traffic really well. Buffalo grass and blue grama are not as tolerant of a lot of traffic.
00:10:39
Speaker
um And it feels more like a traditional turf lawn with the exception of that late to green and and early to brown. um And it uses about 60% of the water that a bluegrass does once established. Yeah. The thing to know with any of these is that they're going to need water to establish.
00:10:58
Speaker
So if water restrictions are in place, this probably isn't the best season that so nice to really start yeah getting things established. Some water providers will offer you a certificate, an exemption certificate.
00:11:09
Speaker
um But a lot of them are somewhere between 21 and 28 days of exemption to establish. That's not correct. quite long enough to establish, especially from seed. um From sod, you might be able to establish like a Tahoma 31 turf, but it's a little, it like it's a little short.
00:11:25
Speaker
Really for establishment, you need a full season of good watering practice. Mm-hmm.
Planning for Landscape Changes
00:11:30
Speaker
So maybe this year isn't the best this year to plant. This year, um especially if people are wanting to go away from turf entirely, I've had a lot of questions on that. yeah And I've been encouraging folks to spend the summer planning and prepping and get an idea in place so that they can do a planting in the fall. Because that 21-day exemption, you can get a lot more benefit from in the fall right as we go into cool and dormant season. Yeah.
00:11:57
Speaker
and so The fall is better to plant. for The fall is a great time for perennials, especially. right yes Right. What am I missing? I mean, this has been such a weird winter, a weird year, an early start to spring. Do we have a winter? We might skip spring. It's already summer. Like, it's just crazy. I mean, the main thing is Colorado has gone through things like this before. We will figure it out.
00:12:20
Speaker
If you have specific questions, you can reach out to us. We have Master Gardeners on staff a couple times a week and covering our email all all all but all week long.
Master Gardener Events and Resources
00:12:30
Speaker
um I'm happy to answer questions. We do site visits as well if you have very specific questions.
00:12:35
Speaker
um So we are we are ah happy ah we are happy to act as a resource on a lot of specific questions. But you can also go to the CSU Extension web website. We have resources on there. We're getting we're we're overhauling some of them from the 2002-2003 drought to put get get them up on our website so that they're available for homeowners who are concerned about keeping their landscapes going and alive. Yeah. Any other like questions you're getting, like common questions too, that you wanted to cover from, from residents right now? or I mean, mainly it's been, should I convert my landscape now? And should I be watering my lawn? Those are kind of the the big ones.
00:13:13
Speaker
And I think we covered most, covered those pretty well. And you have some events coming up, right? I'm kind of putting you on the spot here, but you have some Master Gardeners. The Master Gardeners will be holding tours at our demonstration gardens, the third Saturday of the month, starting in June. Okay. Um, they, we also have a rose demo garden. They're going to be doing some demos in April, um, April 17th, I believe, but I'd have to double check. It's on our, it's on our website, on our calendar. yeah
Episode Conclusion and Engagement Call
00:13:40
Speaker
Um, and then we're just, we have folks out in various community places like the any anything libraries. And, um, if you, if you want talks or presentations, that's also something that we offer.
00:13:52
Speaker
Awesome. This has been fun chatting with you. I'm kind of a lawn nerd. So it's been great getting the expert in here and we so appreciate your time. Thank you so much. Of course. Yeah. That's a wrap for this episode of All In Adams.
00:14:05
Speaker
Thank you for joining us as we explore the people, programs, and the policies that make Adams County a great place to live, work, and thrive. If you enjoyed the show, be sure to subscribe and share with your friends, neighbors, and colleagues.
00:14:18
Speaker
Have a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know. We're all in for bringing you the stories that matter most. Until next time, take care of each other and stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor, and X. We're all in, Adams, and we're all in for you.