Many people think that landscaping is a great way to preserve water. On the other hand, most critics challenge this fact by saying that landscaping is the number one water consumer. This is because they believe that the more colorful and organized the garden is, it just has to be consuming a larger amount of water.

Over recent times research has shown that landscaping actually only uses up 2.9% of the overall national water consumption and this could be lowered still if people would just stop to consider the limitation of the water supply.

So how are the excesses in water consumption accounted for? According to some experts, the major cause of unnecessary water consumption in landscaping is when it is not used properly and only the people who carry out improper use of the water can be held responsible for this.

Poor landscaping plans and incorrect irrigation systems are just two of the common mistakes made by people using water when landscaping their gardens or yards.

Many experts state that the natural resource of water can supply up to 67% of the total amount of water used in any given year, so taking this into account we are faced with an immense opportunity to preserve water.

The fact remains however, that gardeners and landscapers are a mind to themselves and make their own decisions in choosing what to do, regardless of any guidance supplied by the experts on how best to preserve water when preparing their gardens.

How can we make a difference? Well, the perfect example would be a water sprinkler set on an automatic timer providing the required use of water for a controlled amount of time. If the sprinkler is set to operate during hours of low temperature, immediate evaporation would not occur and the plants would receive more benefits of the water.

Any reasonably experienced landscaper is aware that the life of his plants does not depend entirely on water alone. Pests need to be done away with in order to maintain the gardens landscaped appearance and to keep the plants healthy.

There are many natural ways to destroy pests, such as encouraging pest-eating bugs to live in your yard. These include ladybugs, stink bugs, and assassin bugs. These various bugs eat anything from aphids and potato bugs to mealy bugs and spider mites.

Another way to discourage pests is to alternate the planting of different species of plant. Pests like certain plants, and if a bunch of the plants are grouped together the pests will have a population explosion. By spacing out the plants, fewer pests are attracted and so there are fewer offspring.

People should always keep in mind that it is not necessary to use a large amount of water to maintain a well landscaped garden or backyard. Water conservation and gardening should go hand in hand, concluding that the use of water should be both efficient and controlled.