HOME & Real Estate Weekly August 13, 2011 Longmont Times-Call www.HomeandRealEstateWeekly.com Xeriscaping, sprinkler checks help limit water waste Conserve Water Scorched trees due to lack of winter watering July brings Longmont a brisk housing recovery
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Keeping the taps from getting tapped outBy ALyssia PayanLongmont Times-Call
Children running through the sprin-klers, splashing down a Slip ‘n Slide orchasing each other with Super Soakersis what summer is all about.But with all of this fun comes the use
of a lot of water. How should parentsbalance the fun in the sun, watering thelawn and being water conscious?Kate Gardner, water programs manag-
er at the Center for Resource Conserva-tion in Boulder, says we need to con-serve outdoors because that’s wheremost of our water is being used.“Colorado has a semi-aired climate
and we aren’t getting enough rain tosupport our urban landscapes, so this isputting a lot of strain on our water re-source,” she says.Most homeowners use sprinkler sys-
tems to keep their lawn looking golfcourse-green because they don’t havetime to be out there with the hose.So, what can you do to keep the taps
from running dry? No, you don’t haveto rip up all of that blue grass and put in
some rocks.“The first step when people want to
save water, is not to make big changes,but to get as effective as possible,” saysAlison Peck, owner of Matrix Gardensin Boulder. “Make sure your sprinklersystem is watering evenly.”This is important to prevent dead
spots in areas and over-watered spots in
others. An evenly watered landscapewill be able to hold in moisture and willkeep your landscape looking beautifulall season.
“When you start your sprinkler sys-tem for the season do a walk through tocheck that everything is working prop-erly and fix problems promptly,” Gard-ner says.
Instead of getting all wet and messingwith your sprinkler heads, the Centerfor Resource Conservation offers freesprinkler or irrigation audits throughtheir Slow the Flow Colorado Inspec-tion Program. This program helps resi-dents in Longmont and surrounding ar-eas become more aware of their land-scape water usage.These water assessments determine
problems with irrigation systems, soiland root composition, and how muchwater is being used. At the end home-owners receive a customized water planrecommendation for their landscape,says Gardner.“With (the sprinkler system as) a
time-saving invention, comes great re-sponsibility and water consciousness.”Often, the only need is a slight adjust-
ment to the sprinkler system settings tomake water usage more efficient.“A smart controller can lead to a 40
percent of water savings. These deviceschange in accordance with the weatherand seasons, which will get you morefor your water,” Gardner says.
Courtesy Center for Resource Conservation
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Conserve with these tipsLawn• Cycle and Soak Method – When watering your lawn andlandscaping, water three cycles/day. Generally, for pop typesprinklers, each cycle should be four to six minutes in lengthwith an hour between cycles. For rotating sprinkler heads,the water cycle should be 10 to 12 minutes long with an hourbetween watering cycles.• Adjust sprinklers so only your lawn is watered.• Water your lawn and garden in the morning or eveningwhen temperatures are cooler.• If water runs off your lawn easily, split your watering timeinto shorter periods to allow for better absorption.• Adjust your lawn mower to a higher setting. A taller lawnshades roots and holds soil moisture better.• Check the root zone of your lawn or garden for moisturebefore watering using a spade or trowel. If it’s still moist2 inches under the soil surface, you still have enough water.• Choose shrubs and ground covers instead of turf forhard-to-water areas, such as steep slopes and isolated strips.• Spreading a layer of organic mulch around plants retainsmoisture and saves water, time and money.
Outdoors• Use a broom instead of a hose to clean your driveway.• Don’t forget to check outdoor faucets, sprinklers and hosesfor leaks.• When the kids want to cool off, use the sprinkler in an areawhere your lawn needs it the most.
Courtesy Bill Powell, of the Water Conservation Staff in the PublicWorks and Natural Resources Department for the city of Longmont.
News and Press ReleasesHome & Real Estate Weekly welcomes news on hirings, advance-ments, awards, classes and other information of interest to the realestate and home community. Please submit information to the editorby email, fax 303-774-8088 or mail to 350 Terry St., Longmont, CO80501. The deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. the week of publication.
On the CoverConserve water througha xeriscaped yard.(Matrix Gardens)
Summer Stair
AdvertisingThe display advertising deadline is Tuesday at 3 p.m., and theclassified line advertising deadline is Thursday at 3 p.m. – both theweek of publication. For advertising information, call 720-494-5445.
Peck says it’s important to conserve water because water is thenext oil, meaning clean water is limited.“(Remember) the water we are using is from some stream or
river, so it has less water than it had historically for wildlife usage.The Colorado River is already over allocated, meaning that it hasmore commitments than there is water.”Saving water this summer may seem like it doesn’t do much be-
sides decreasing water bills. However, in the bigger scheme ofthings it has a huge impact.“Our population is growing, which is putting more stress on
our resources. At the individual level we need to be responsible tomake sure we all have enough (water),” Peck says.
For more information about the Slow the Flow Inspection Program, visitwww.conservationcenter.org or call 303-999-3820 ext. 217.
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July brought brisk start to housing recoveryThis is being written in the face of
pessimism in the stock, currency andbond markets. Yet still, there remains aglimmer to the beginning of a housingrecovery that will lead the United Statesout of recession, much like it has six outof the last eight recessions. The truebeginning signs came this July.Longmont area sales increased 82 per-
cent over unit sales for July 2010, jump-ing from 61 single-family homes sold, to111 for July 2011. Lest one thinks it wasa mistake, the numbers gathered fromthe Longmont Association of Realtorsbased on information provided by IRESLLC through July, 30, 2011, showedFirestone, Frederick and Dacono salesup 62.1 percent in July, and BoulderCounty unit sales up 10 percent.Just weeks ago, the local story showed
a 23 percent year-to-date loss in real es-tate transactions in the Longmont mar-ket, yet I was forecasting that we wouldend the year down 3 percent from 2010,
which was a “stimulated” year in the in-dustry. It now may look like we couldend the year ahead of 2010 stimulatednumbers. In studying the da-ta, and seasonal supply anddemand trends, it appearedthat on the whole the stimu-lus did more to shift businessthan it did to create business.As housing is under tighterregulations, the only thingthat stands in its path is poli-cy and regulation. The recentproposal by industry regula-tors of the Qualified Residen-tial Mortgage (QRM) is suchan example.Ron Phipps, president of
the National Association of Realtors re-cently was quoted saying, “Despite theeconomic setbacks Americans have ex-perienced in today’s current climate, it isclear that a strong majority still believein homeownership and aspire to own a
home.” However, achieving the dream ofhomeownership will become increasing-ly difficult for buyers if they are required
to make a 20 percent downpayment, which may be a re-ality for many of tomorrow’sbuyers if a proposed Quali-fied Residential Mortgagerule is adopted. That is whyRealtors are strongly urgingregulators to go back to thedrawing board on the pro-posed rule.According to the National
Association of Realtors, aproposed rule by federal reg-ulators to impose a mini-mum 20 percent down pay-
ment, stringent debt-to-income ratio re-quirements and rigid credit standardswill deny millions of Americans accessto safe, low-cost mortgages. The Nation-al Association of Realtors is trying todefeat this.
In conclusion, all signs are pointingto a housing recovery, which this writerdoes not believe will be nationallyrecognized until about September. Theindustry only needs for Congress to becareful what they tweak. As the recentsuggestion of the 20 percent down andthe recent reduction of FHA loan limitsnow taking place, tend to send the samemessage to housing, as Joan Riverssent when she said, “I knew I was anunwanted baby when I saw that my bathtoys were a toaster and a radio.” Oddsare that the National Association ofRealtors will be successful, and thehousing recovery has in fact startedand will be confirmed in the comingmonths.
Dave Wagner is the president of the LongmontAssociation of Realtors. Contact him by calling303-684-6356, emailing [email protected] or visit the association’s website atwww.longmontrealtors.com.
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Dealing withscorched trees“What’s wrong with the tree?” is a question frequently asked in
our office at this time of the season. And for the most part, the an-swer is: tree scorch and symptoms of lack of winter water.
Winter is a tough time for folks to think of watering trees, whatwith all of that chilly weather and bare branches. But roots dehy-drate in dry soils and this past winter was bone dry. Here’s the sur-prise for most people: the result of no winter water is seen in mid-summer, when trees struggle with scorched leaves.
Yes, it seems counter-intuitive, but if you don’t have the roots tosupport a lush canopy, the leaves lose water faster than the stuntedroot system can replace. This means leaves brown for seeminglyno reason and drop from the tree.
If your tree is starting to look peaked in the summer heat, checkthe leaves. Look for evenly discolored spots, typically from thetips inward (although not always). The discolored area have no
rings, halos of colors or spores – if you seeany of those things, you should suspectfungus or bacteria.
On pines, the needles will brown withno rings or banding, becoming brittle anddry. Deciduous trees may loose a bit ofcanopy at this time as well, in response tohigh heat and low water. This is normal,but if the tree loses a lot of the canopy it’sprobably under too much stress.
Other culprits besides lack of winter wa-ter are low relative humidity, wind, soilwith high salt concentrations, compactedsoil, new construction near the tree andplastic weed barriers. In short, anything
that interferes with the tree getting water. Near where I live ashocking sight caused me to swerve to the curb, hop out of the carand take photos. Several Lindens and honeylocust trees were infull fall color, brilliantly yellow against the blue sky. In early Octo-ber this might be a cause for joy, but when it happens at the end ofJuly, it spells trouble.
Disease, insects and herbicide are all possible suspects beingconsidered by Ken Wicklund, city forester in Longmont, who hadalso been out to examine the trees. Though he doesn’t yet knowthe cause, he took a moment to urge caution on using weed killersaround trees.
“The problem is the amount people use; they give the weeds alittle extra spray to be sure to kill them,” he says. “And some arereally harmful to trees.” Care should be taken when using anyproduct in your landscape; read and follow the label instructions.
Don’t forget the effect of heat reflected from bright surfaces, es-pecially on conifers. Light-colored siding gets hot, particularly onsouth or west sides. Symptoms become obvious following hot, dryweather in late summer. Evergreens may have tip dieback of nee-dles, progressing from the tree’s top, moving downward and fromouter branches inward.
You can’t cure the tree, but you can help it be healthier nextyear. Try deep watering to a depth of 12 to 18 inches once a monthin summer and winter. Organic mulch under trees helps reducemoisture loss, but avoid polyethylene plastic under mulches – useporous weed fabrics instead.
Carol O’Meara is a horticulture entomologist with the Colorado State Universi-ty Extension office at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont. Contacther by calling 303-678-6238 or emailing [email protected]. Formore gardening tips, check out her blog at gardeningafterfive.wordpress.com.
Carol O’MearaColorado State
University Extension
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