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Conserving water is important for all of us everywhere, but it becomes more so for people who are living in drought prone areas. If you live in a state or area that is arid or drought prone, then it becomes all the more necessary to save water as and when possible in order to avoid possible water shortages and droughts. Water consumption in the garden takes up the lion’s share of water expenditure in a home, especially in an area that is dry where the garden needs to be irrigated everyday. Therefore, it is important that you optimize your garden for saving water, so that you do not have to face water shortage problems or droughts in your area. Some tips on how you can optimize you garden to save water are:

· Do not let water run unattended in your garden. You should switch on your watering hose only when you are there and water the plants manually. Leaving the water running can waste hundreds of gallons in just a few minutes. If you use a sprinkler system, then make sure that you time it and turn it off as soon as your garden is watered. If possible, get an automatic mechanism to turn your sprinkler on and off.

· Your choice of sprinklers can make a lot of difference to the amount of water that goes waste in your garden. When you install your sprinklers, make sure that they sprinkle only on the planted area instead of washing your sidewalk or drive. When buying sprinklers, get ones that create heavy droplets instead of the ones that create a fine mist. This reduces water loss due to heat and evaporation and your garden will get watered faster too.

· When planting grass and ground cover, make sure that you use plants that are native to the area that you live in or come from another dry area. These plants will adapt more easily to your lawn or garden and will also require less water because they would be used to your local climate.

· A large amount of water in gardens is lost to evaporation. Therefore, you should take steps to minimize losses due to evaporation in your garden. Watering plants early morning or late afternoon reduces losses due to evaporation when compared to watering during the day. Use sprinklers and hoses that are less prone to evaporation and if you have any fountains or water bodies, locate them in the coolest area of your garden to minimize evaporation.

· If you use a hose to water you plants, then you can easily attach a spray nozzle to it in order to regulate the amount of water that passes through the hose. This small step itself can save gallons of water everyday as you move from one place to another in your garden or provide your potted plants with only as much water as they actually need.

· If you are planting turf or grass, try doing it during the spring or fall. Not only will it give you the best results, it will also save a lot of water as compared to planting in summer months.