Tips to help you conserve water and beautify your landscape:

• Avoid overwatering. Overwatering landscape plants is more common than under-watering.
  
• Know how much water to apply.   Become familiar with scheduling irrigations based on Sunset Zones, which encompass smaller geographical areas than do the larger USDA zones. 
• Hydrozone by planting plants with similar water needs together so they can be irrigated on the same schedule and valve.  Become familiar with microclimates within your landscape.
• Know when to water.  Get your hands dirty!  Use a shovel or trowel to dig a small hole six to eight inches deep in your garden soil, being careful not to disturb plant roots.  
• Know your soil type (texture).  This goes hand-in-hand with knowing when to water.  Sandy soil holds less water but drains much faster than heavier clay soil. 
• Add composted greenwaste to your soil, mixing it in evenly six inches to one foot deep.  Compost increases the water-holding capacity of sandy soils and the drainage rate of clay soils, making both more manageable and less prone to water waste.
• Apply three inches of mulch on the top of soil around your landscape and garden plants.  Be sure to keep it at least one foot away from tree trunks to avoid wet crowns subject to disease-forming pathogens. 
• Irrigate ornamentals and vegetables with a drip system.  This will save water by applying moisture directly into the root zone of plants, which minimizes evaporation of water off the soil surface between plants. 
• Consider downsizing your lawn area to what you actually use and enjoy.   When irrigated effectively, warm-season grass such as Bermudagrass is relatively drought-efficient. 
• If you do keep your turf, water it efficiently.  The University of California Lawn Watering Guide http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/Items/8044.aspx  lists the number of minutes per week to water your warm or cool-season lawn year-around based on its water use rate seasonally and how much water your system puts out.
• Consider installing a ‘smart’ irrigation controller that applies water based on plant water needs and may be hooked up to a weather-based network. 
• Learn to recognize plant drought symptoms.  Turf will hold a footprint and tree and shrub leaves lose their luster and may shrivel or turn light brown when dry.
• Water early in the morning to reduce water waste from soil evaporation.
• Check your irrigation system, faucets, and hoses regularly and repair leaks and broken parts. 
• Use a broom rather than a hose to clean patios, driveways and walkways.

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