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Time change also means change in sprinklers

Winter water-use rules for City of Sacramento go into effect Sunday

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED OCT 28, 2020

Time to get reacquainted with that device controlling the sprinkler system. Sacramento city residents

can water just once a week starting Sunday and through February. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

It's time to roll back – not just your clocks, but your water use.

Sunday, Nov. 1, marks the end of Daylight Saving Time. Remember to set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed Saturday night.

But Sunday in Sacramento also marks the start of winter water use restrictions. Sacramento city residents will be cut back to only one day of outdoor watering per week.

According to the City of Sacramento, residents can turn on the sprinklers any time of day or night – as long as it’s a Saturday or a Sunday. Unlike the rest of the year, residents are not restricted to “odd” or “even” days, dependent on their address. Instead, they can choose Saturday or Sunday (but not both).

No sprinkler use will be allowed during weekdays. Drip irrigation is exempt.

This rule is in effect through the end of February. Two-day-a-week sprinkler use will be back in March.

According to Sacramento’s water rules, “No over-watering (excessive water running off properties and onto sidewalks or gutters, or ponding of water on properties) is allowed, nor is watering allowed within 48 hours of measurable rain (1/8 inch).”

(If you get cited, don’t say you weren’t warned.)

Why watch our water use? Although officials are holding off calling 2020 a “drought year,” it remains very dry. Starting in October 2019, the official water year for Sacramento totaled only 10.87 inches – about 8 inches below normal. Sacramento has received only 0.35 inches of precipitation since April.

For more on Sacramento water rules: https://bit.ly/2TAayIi

Residents of Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, Folsom, Galt and Rancho Cordova, as well as of the unincorporated parts of Sacramento County, should check with their local water districts for potential winter watering changes.

- Debbie Arrington

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Keywords:

runoff gardening Sacramento sprinklers drought fall weather water conservation rainfall irrigation

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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