It amazes me the amount of people who think you just water, mow, and trim trees and shrubs thinking that is all landscaping is about. They must think that if you just put gas in your car and keep the tires inflated and your done. No No No! If that is all you do to your car it isn't going to last very long.
Why do we water the landscaping? Not just because if we don't plants will die. We really aren't watering the plants when we apply water. We are watering the soil. Why? The soil contains all the nutrient and gases plants need not the water. The problem is that they aren't in the soil in a usable form. Water is a solvent that dissolves the nutrients in the soil to create a soil solution. This soil solution then makes the nutrients available for the roots to suck up the nutrient.
However, for the water to be able to do this there must be a balance of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and oxygen gas available in the soil. If these gases aren't available the water will not be able to soak in deep enough to make a soil solution that is easily wicked up by the roots.
Think of the soil like a sponge. Without all the pores the sponge would not have any air therefore would not be able to absorb liquids. If the soil cannot penetrate the soil it is because the particles of dirt has no air between them. Without the air the soil cannot create the negative pressure needed to absorb the water to create the soil solution. If the soil solution is defective in this way the soil is infertile and doesn't contain organic matter needed for the growth and metabolisms for a healthy stress free landscape.
The primary cause of this is compacted soil. In AZ compacted soil is caused by clay! Clay Clay Clay! Clay is great for building on provided it doesn't shrink and swell a lot and provided it stays moist. If clay dries out you basically have huge clumps of something that will never absorb water. We make clay pottery and dry it out then use it for flower pots.
In Suntree/Indian Bend Village the soil is called Laveen (LaA) by soil scientists. The soil is up to 27% clay down to 60" or 5 feet. Because clay is heavy and compact the amount of water available to plants is only .18 of an inch for every inch of soil. This causes roots to come to the surface and stresses plants because the soil doesn't want to let go of the water causing the plants to struggle to suck the water and nutrient out of the soil. With organic matter at only 0.0 to .5% in the soil components needed for plant metabolism doesn't exist.
Soil that has all the components needed to grow healthy landscape also has the ability to churn it's self and create more soil that comes to the surface all by it's self. If that was the kind of soil here in Suntree you would never need to add, amend, fertilize, or do anything to the soil. But, in Suntree the soil is so compact and dry the soil does not churn or get created. For one there is not any organic matter in the soil for it to break down grass roots. Peat moss is grass that is composted by nature.
Without the ability to churn and create new fertile soil when the soil becomes infertile it has to be replaced with good composted organic matter. You cannot just churn the soil a few inches with something to "loosen the soil". It will not work! Maintaining the landscape means maintaining and replacing the soil and not with chemicals. The cost for removing 2 feet to 3 feet of clay and replacing it with a good mixture of composted manure, peat moss, and top soil (not fill dirt). Fill dirt is clay and sand!
Good soil is cool to the touch, soft, can be molded without falling apart but, can be broken apart easily. It's rich in nutrient and dark in color. If you want you can add a small amount of native soil into the new soil just so trace minerals that are in native soil do not have to be added artificially. After applying water a few times the soil will settle causing more soil to be added.
The landscaping will never look good or be considered maintained if the soil is not not fertile and maintained / replaced with a growing medium that can sustain plant life. Replacing the soil is the most cost effective way to reduce water usage.
Other reasons we water the landscape
Besides a soil solution watering also helps plants survive the AZ summers. In the AZ summers the soil can get hot and if you use landscape rocks it gets even hotter. So, when the sun goes down say around 10 or midnight adding water to the soil helps to cool things off. Plus, it allows the water to remain in the soil longer before getting utilized by the plant roots before getting evaporated by the morning sun. This will also reduce the amount of calcium in the soil. Remember use cool water to water your landscaping with. Hot water will scald roots and kill whatever your watering.
We also water to keep roots warm in the winter. Again do not use hot water to water plants with. Don't use soft water the salt will burn the roots.
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