Water-Wise Landscape
BACKGROUND
Water is one of our most precious resources. Of the water those of us living in the western part of the United States use at home, about 50% goes to our gardens. While most of our rainfall comes in the winter, many garden plants need irrigation (watering) in the summer during our driest months. If we are to have enough water in the future, we must try to stop wasting water in our homes and gardens. However, that does not mean that we cannot still have beautiful landscapes anymore, it just means that we have to choose plants that are ideal for our climate, improve the quality of our soil, water more efficiently, and take advantage of the latest irrigation technology in order to conserve water. Before designing your landscape, check out some samples at http://waterwisegardeningsb.org/tours.php.
TASK- The “Creators”
Create a water-wise landscape using Gardena.
Once you open Gardena (link provided at the end of the instructions), you will:
- Read the “My Garden Quick Start” pop-up to get started.
- Choose a TEMPLATE to begin designing.
- Using the Garden Plan objects on the left side of the screen, begin designing a water-wise landscape by dragging and dropping items from the menu.
- Make sure to include a variety of the following items: ground cover, trees, shrubs and plants, flowers, paving and ponds, and irrigation (sprinklers).
Here is the link: https://my-garden.gardena.com/uk#
HINT: You can design a water-wise landscape by not filling the entire area of your yard, using gravel or mulch for ground cover, reducing the size of the lawn, by planting drought tolerant plants, and by using drip irrigation.
REFLECT
In your notebook, reflect upon what you enjoy or do not enjoy about the freedom and flexibility to be creative.
RIASEC CAREER CONNECTION
Click on the following career titles to learn about careers that align with this topic:
Landscape Architects
Graphic Designers
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