Snowmelt

Long after the accumulations from our last snowstorm disappeared, I still had snowbanks slowly melting into the areas I planted in back. I thrill at the thought of moisture seeping into the ground where my plants need it.

The average two person household (two people at home all day) uses about 75,000 gallons of water a year. The first two years we lived here our household water use was about 50,000 gallons. Like all Santa Fe residents, we were water thrifty, we installed new low flow toilets, and we have no lawn.

Then, last summer I put in my self-installed Shrubbler irrigation system to dribble water on all my new gardens and by the end of 2020 our water bill showed we had used 79,000 gallons for the year. It's like my plants are the equivalent of one whole additional adult living here for a year, showering, flushing, drinking and doing laundry.

That's 29,000 gallons of water dripped onto my gardens -- city water. I also irrigated from our rain barrel when we had rain.

But we had so little rain. This winter we've had snow, in several storms that dropped at least 5 or 6 inches each time. 

A foot of snow equals about an inch of rain, but when it's dry and fluffy it's less. Our snow evaporates when the sun comes out, or blows away, doing less to replenish soil moisture than you would think.

And yet. There along the fence line in back where I have thirsty clematis and a transplanted peony and a new redbud and other new plants that need good moisture to thrive, there is lingering snowmelt.

This will help. Other garden areas in my yard are dry and bare of snow now, but the entire back edge of my planted gardens is staying wet. 

Lucky happenstance or garden placement genius? You decide.